Family Entertainment Protection Act

__NOTOC__The United States Family Entertainment Protection Act (FEPA) was a bill introduced by Senator Hillary Clinton, and co-sponsored by Senators Joe Lieberman, Tim Johnson and Evan Bayh on November 29, 2005. The bill called for a federal mandate enforcement of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) ratings system for video games in order to protect children from inappropriate content. [cite web | title=Senators Clinton, Lieberman Announce Federal Legislation to Protect Children from Inappropriate Video Games | url=http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=249368&& | accessdate=December 18 | accessyear=2005 ]

The FEPA would impose fines of $1000 dollars or 100 hours of community service for a first time offense of selling a "Mature" or "Adult-Only" rated video game to a minor, and $5000 or 500 hours for each subsequent offense. The bill also called for a FTC investigation into the ESRB to ascertain whether they have been properly rating games. [cite web | title=Game-restriction bill submitted to congress | url=http://www.gamespot.com/news/6141410.html | accessdate=December 18 | accessyear=2005 | author=GameSpot]

Similar bills have been filed in some U.S. states such as Michigan and Illinois, but were ruled to be unconstitutional.Fact|date=May 2008 (see Patrick R. Byrd, It’s All Fun And Games Until Someone Gets Hurt: The Effectiveness Of Proposed Video-Game Legislation On Reducing Violence In Children, at http://www.houstonlawreview.org/archive/downloads/44-2_pdf/5_Byrd.pdf)

This bill did not become law; it was referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and expired at the end of the 109th session of Congress without further action. [cite web|url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-2126 |title=S. 2126 [109th] : Family Entertainment Protection Act|author=Govtrack.us |accessdate=2007-08-31]

References

External links

* McCauley, Dennis. [http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/160116.html "Hillary Introduces Video Game Legislation"] , Gamepolitics.com, December 16, 2005

Criticism

* [http://www.videogamevoters.org/ "Videogame Voters Network: Take Action to Stop the Family Entertainment Protection Act"] , February 28, 2006
* [http://www.igniq.com/2005/12/opinion-say-no-to-family-entertainment.html "Say 'No' To Family Entertainment Protection Act"] , Igniq.com, December 18, 2005
* [http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051212-5740.html "Thompson calls FEPA unconstitutional"] , Ars Technica, December 12, 2005
* [http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html "Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked"] , Henry Jenkins, accessed December 17, 2005
* [http://www.houstonlawreview.org/archive/downloads/44-2_pdf/5_Byrd.pdf "It’s All Fun And Games Until Someone Gets Hurt: The Effectiveness Of Proposed Video-Game Legislation On Reducing Violence In Children"] , Patrick Byrd, accessed August 1, 2008