ESA President Doug Lowenstein responds to Hillary Clinton
Here is the full text of ESA President Doug Lowenstein's response to Senator Clinton's call for legislation and an FTC investigation of the percolating Hot Coffee scandal:
"The legislation proposed by Senator Clinton is unconstitutional on its face as it amounts to government enacted restrictions on creative and artistic expression protected by the First Amendment. This is not just our view, but the view of every Federal Court which has rendered final judgment on similar laws enacted by states in recent years, including appellate courts in the Seventh and Eighth Circuits, and the Western District United States District Court. So while we understand Senator Clinton's motivation, in the end her solution will never pass constitutional muster and thus will do nothing to help parents raise their kids
"That said, we agree with Senator Clinton and Dr. Walsh far more than we disagree with them: retailers should not sell Mature games to minors, parents should watch what their kids watch, and parents should and can rely on the ESRB ratings to make the right choices for their families. And we hope that after further reflection and dialogue, Senator Clinton will abandon the bill and work cooperatively with industry and others to ensure that parents take advantage of the effective tools on the market to regulate the games their kids play.
"We reject any suggestion that parents cannot trust ESRB ratings. In fact, a scientific national survey by the highly regarded Peter D. Hart Research shows parents themselves agree with the ESRB ratings 83% of the time. Further, even the National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF) usually agrees with the ESRB. In fact, for the 10 games recently highlighted and rated on its web site, the NIMF ratings almost always agree with the ESRB rating. In a pluralistic society, any rating system which gets it right 83% of the time is doing a pretty good job.
"We also disagree with those who suggest that violent video games are harmful. The most objective science in the world from the U.S. Surgeon General, the State of Washington Health Department, and the Government of Australia, among many others, has not found that games cause actual aggression or real-life violence. Indeed, one federal court after another has dismissed as unpersuasive and flawed much of the very research Sen. Clinton cites in support of her bill.
"Finally, as Dr. Walsh and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) have repeatedly said, and the FTC itself has reported, the video game industry has been a proactive leader in self-regulation and we have a long standing track record in encouraging retailers not to sell Mature-rated games to children, and we will continue to do so. The last word on enforcement is this: according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), parents are involved in the purchase and rental of games more than 80% of time, which means that in the vast majority of cases when kids get games that may not be appropriate, they get them from Mom and Dad. You can introduce all the bills in the world but none of them will ensure that parents exercise the necessary control over the games they buy for their kids."
posted by Agent 1138 @ 11:53 AM
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