A
2006 Minnesota law sought to fine kids - not retailers - $25 for
attempting to purchase a game for which the ESRB rating deemed
them too young. The law was promptly overturned by U.S. District
Court Judge James Rosenbaum, who, in a novel judicial move,
tried out several violent games on his law clerk’s Xbox.
Following Judge Rosenbaum’s ruling that the law was
unconstitutional, Minnesota opted to appeal to the 8th U.S.
Circuit. That case was argued before the Court in February of
last year. Now, as reported by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the
8th Circuit has upheld Judge Rosenbaum’s finding that the
Minnesota law is unconstitutional.
From the newspaper report:
While the judges upheld Rosenbaum’s ruling
that violent games are entitled to First Amendment protections,
they did so reluctantly.
[Judge] Wollman wrote that whatever our intuitive (dare we
say commonsense) feelings regarding the effect that extreme
violence portrayed in the above-described video games may well
have upon the psychological well-being of minors, precedent
requires incontrovertible proof of a causal relationship between
exposure to the games and some psychological harm.
The state failed to meet that burden, Wollman wrote… Indeed,
a good deal of the Bible portrays scenes of violence, and one
would be hard-pressed to hold up as a proper role model the
regicidal Macbeth, Wollman wrote.
See
full article
from
Game Politics
The
Massachusetts legislature will hold a hearing on Tuesday to
consider House Bill 1423, a video game measure introduced last
year but not acted upon.
In its current form the bill closely resembles the Jack
Thompson-authored Louisiana video game law, which was ruled
unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court judge in 2006. Indeed,
Thompson was involved in drafting the original version of the
Massachusetts bill.
Although Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has been an advocate of
HB1423, the main legislative sponsor is Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry.
HB1423 is a “games-as-porn” bill which would seek to restrict
minors from buying violent video games under the same 'harm'
rationale used to block them from buying sexually explicit
materials.
Update:
Game for an Appeal
17th April 2008
The state of Minnesota has filed an appeal of a recent 8th
Circuit Court decision which invalidated its 2006 “fine the
buyer” video game law.
Perhaps more than any previous case, the unusual Minnesota law,
which would fine underage buyers of violent games $25, has a
chance to beat the video game industry’s legal challenges.
Update:
Sent into Study
10th May 2008
The Massachusetts measure has been “sent into study,” which
essentially means it is on life support. From the Business
Journal story:
Menino’s proposal, which would make it
illegal for minors to buy video games with graphic content, was
sent into study in March — a big win for the state’s burgeoning
video game industry…
But the mayor, seeing a link between violent content and violent
behavior, still is in favor of the proposal, and plans to
continue to push for it on a grass-roots level, said Larry
Mayes, chief of human services for the city of Boston. To get
this through, we’re really going to have to do a statewide push.
We want to go to the communities, particularly to the parents
and sit with them and show them the material.