PC World & ESRB Agree: Utah Game Bill 'Dangerously Wrong'
Who would have ever thought that Jack Thompson wouldn't just slink away quietly - that's his style, right? Well, no, but the Utah game bill the former attorney has drafted is Thompsonesque right down to the corruption-of-policy-for-political-motive stink that's wafting across the state.
Now PC World's Mat Pechkham has offered us a glimpse into the black heart of the bill, and agrees with ESRB President Patricia Vance that the bill could, in fact, provide a disincentive to Utah game retailers, encouraging them to the wrong thing. Maybe on purpose:
The most recent amended version of H.B. 353 is a sobering bellwether of much worse to come if it passes the Utah state senate... Instead of ensuring game retailers do as they say, the bill in fact encourages them to do the exact opposite and stop promising they won't sell Mature-rated games like Fable 2 and Fallout 3 and Resident Evil 5 to underage kids and/or teens.That's because Utah's H.B. 353 effectively criminalizes retail sales of video games to customers who don't meet a game's ratings strictures...
The non-cynical view: H.B. 353 is an attempt to pull game ratings under the umbrella of Utah's prevailing "truth in advertising" guidelines.
The cynical view: The bill's promoters are trying to backdoor anti-ESRB legislation by using a potentially over-broad state policy to increase governmental control of private sector activities and declare self-regulatory triumphs null and void...
The consensus seems to be that the Utah bill is wrong-headed at best and deliberately dysfunctional at best - at least, that seems to be the prevailing attitude outside the Utah State Congress. Inside, it may be Opposite Day. Always.
Utah's "Truth in Advertising" Games Bill is Dangerously Wrong> [PCWorld via GamePolitics]
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Miscellany on 9 March 2009
Other stuff like this: esrb, jack thompson, patricia vance, pc world, utah game bill
