Federal Game Legislation Announced

Today, Senators Hillary Clinton and Joseph Lieberman have announced their intentions of proposing a national piece of legislation pertaining to the sale of violent video games to children. Known as the Family Entertainment Protection Act, the bill is set to be introduced to congress, when the legislative body reconvenes two weeks from today.

Clinton and Lieberman’s proposed legislation would essentially mimic the body of law present in the states of Illinois, Michigan, and California, as the three previous states have already passed laws prohibiting the sale of “violent video games” to under age children.

The Senator’s five pronged bill encompasses numerous new concepts that are intended to protect the country’s children from the violent acts presented in several popular titles.

“There is a growing body of evidence that points to a link between violent videos and aggressive behavior in children. We are not interested in censoring videos meant for adult entertainment but we do want to ensure that these videos are not purchased by minors. Our bill will help accomplish this by imposing fines on those retailers that sell M-rated games to minors,” said Senator Lieberman said.

Components of the Family Protection Act

Prohibition on Selling Mature and Adults Only video games to minors

Annual Analysis of the Ratings System

Authority for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to Investigate Misleading Ratings

Authority to Register Complaints

Annual Retailer Audit

The centerpiece of the legislation will prohibit the sale of “M”, “AO” (Adults Only), and game’s with pending ESRB ratings to those under the age of seventeen. Those in violation would face undisclosed fines.

“I have developed legislation that will empower parents by making sure their kids can’t walk into a store and buy a video game that has graphic, violent and pornographic content,” said Senator Clinton.

The bill also calls for an annual analysis of the ESRB intended to ensure that game ratings accurately reflect their content. Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission would be given the authority would be given the authority to investigate misleading ESRB ratings.

Stemming from the Grand Theft Auto scandal, the bill would allow the FTC to take action against a publisher who has, in their eyes, intentionally mislead the public.

Clinton’s new law is announced on the same day as the release of the National Institute on Media and the Family’s tenth annual Video and Computer Game scorecard.

The document has shown that have retailers of video games have become increasingly lenient in their enforcement of the ESRB ratings. The report claims that children as young as 9 were able to purchase “mature” rated games at various retail outlets. Specific retail chains were not mentioned.

“Today’s report is yet further proof that we need to make sure parents have the tools and support they need to make informed decisions for their children,” said Senator Clinton.

Clinton and Lieberman’s Family Protection Act would also provide parents with the ability to issue a formal complaint in regards to a game’s contents, if they see the game’s rating as misrepresentative of its content.

The Bureau of Consumer Protection, a branch of the FTC would be in charge of receiving the complaints, and formally reporting the number of such discrepancies to Congress.

As a final procedure in ensuring the protection of minors, the bill also calls for annual audits of retail outlets. These audits will incorporate so called “secret shoppers” to determine how the difficulty associated with minors purchasing violent video games. The FTC will report the findings to Congress.

Importantly, Clinton notes that video games are a “fun” and viable form of entertainment, and thus their production is protected by the first amendment. “This is about protecting children,” said Clinton, the Family Protection Act will in no way impede the sale of video games to consenting adults.

The Advanced Media Network will report on this story again when Congress reviews the legislation in the coming weeks.me