Thursday, September 27, 2007

The Political Game: The Public Nuisance

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Each week Dennis McCauley contributes The Political Game, a column on the collision of politics and video games:

nuisanceOnce again, Miami attorney Jack Thompson is attempting to have a video game -- Halo 3 this time -- declared a public nuisance. He failed badly in such an attempt in 2006 with Rockstar's Bully.

Under Florida law the term "public nuisance" is generally applied to the likes of brothels and illegal gambling operations, things which, as the law states:

"...tend to annoy the community, injure the health of the citizens in general, or corrupt the public morals..."

It's difficult to imagine anyone but Thompson trying to shoehorn a video game into that legal definition. But this isn't really about public nuisances, or even Halo 3.

It's video game legislation -- through the backdoor.

Continue reading The Political Game: The Public Nuisance

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[via] Joystiq

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