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.[1]
The FEPA would have imposed 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.[2]
Similar bills have been filed in some U.S. states such as Michigan and Illinois, but were ruled to be unconstitutional.[citation needed] (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.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ "Senators Clinton, Lieberman Announce Federal Legislation to Protect Children from Inappropriate Video Games". http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=249368&&. Retrieved December 18, 2005.
- ^ GameSpot. "Game-restriction bill submitted to congress". http://www.gamespot.com/news/6141410.html. Retrieved December 18, 2005.
- ^ Govtrack.us. "S. 2126 [109th]: Family Entertainment Protection Act". http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-2126. Retrieved 2007-08-31.
[edit] External links
[edit] Criticism
- "Videogame Voters Network: Take Action to Stop the Family Entertainment Protection Act", February 28, 2006
- "Say 'No' To Family Entertainment Protection Act", Igniq.com, December 18, 2005
- "Thompson calls FEPA unconstitutional", Ars Technica, December 12, 2005
- "Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked", Henry Jenkins, accessed December 17, 2005
- "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
