New York goes insane, Felony to sell M-rated games to minors Options

[Spectatrix]

http://gamepolitics.com/2007/05/30/another...rs-into-felons/
http://inventorspot.com/felonytosellgames
http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A08696&sh=t

Long story short: On May 30th, New York politicians proposed a bill that would make it a felony for retailers to sell games including "depraved violence and indecent images" (i.e. most M-rated games, possibly some T-rated ones too?) to folks under age 17. It would be a class E felony, which means 1-4 years in prison.

On May 31st, it passed in the New York Assembly 130 to 10. I'm not sure by what margin the corresponding legislation in the state senate passed by earlier in the month. The bill has passed and all that remains is for it to be signed into law by New York's governor.

Is it just me or is this MAJOR overkill? I'll admit that I disagree with putting legal age restrictions on the sale of games and movies in general, but I can see why people would support such legislation. However, anything more than a misdemeanor for such a "crime" is asinine.

[impala454]

I love how you slyly throw in your agument and then say it's futile to argue

instead of assuming what the terms mean, all we have to do is go back to the code:
http://law.onecle.com/new-york/penal/PEN0235.20_235.20.html

§ 235.20 Disseminating indecent material to minors; definitions of
terms.
The following definitions are applicable to sections 235.21, 235.22,
235.23 and 235.24 of this article:
1. "Minor" means any person less than seventeen years old.
2. "Nudity" means the showing of the human male or female genitals,
pubic area or buttocks with less than a full opaque covering, or the
showing of the female breast with less than a fully opaque covering of
any portion thereof below the top of the nipple, or the depiction of
covered male genitals in a discernably turgid state.
3. "Sexual conduct" means acts of masturbation, homosexuality, sexual
intercourse, or physical contact with a person's clothed or unclothed
genitals, pubic area, buttocks or, if such person be a female, breast.
4. "Sexual excitement" means the condition of human male or female
genitals when in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.
5. "Sado-masochistic abuse" means flagellation or torture by or upon
a person clad in undergarments, a mask or bizarre costume, or the
condition of being fettered, bound or otherwise physically restrained on
the part of one so clothed.
6. "Harmful to minors" means that quality of any description or
representation, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual
excitement, or sado-masochistic abuse, when it:
(a) Considered as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest in sex of
minors; and
(b.) Is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult
community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for
minors; and
(c.) Considered as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic,
political and scientific value for minors.
7. The term "access software" means software (including client or
server software) or enabling tools that do not create or provide the
content of the communication but that allow a user to do any one or more
of the following:
(a) filter, screen, allow or disallow content;
(b.) pick, choose, analyze or digest content; or
(c.) transmit, receive, display, forward, cache, search, subset,
organize, reorganize or translate content.

so... what shouldn't be much surprise, we see that the law ends up being.... drumroll.... vague and open to interpretation! (although "nudity" is described very explicitly... (LOL "penis in a 'turgid' state")). also, if you look at #6, all of those terms are anded together. I think you'd be pretty hard pressed to find many video games (especially at stores where minors are allowed to shop) which will fit this bill.

now go to the new part of the bill:

1. A PERSON IS GUILTY OF DISSEMINATING VIOLENT AND INDECENT VIDEO
GAMES TO MINORS WHEN, WITH KNOWLEDGE OF ITS CHARACTER AND CONTENT, HE OR
SHE SELLS OR LOANS TO A MINOR FOR MONETARY CONSIDERATION ANY VIDEO GAME
WHICH INCLUDES DEPRAVED VIOLENCE AND INDECENT IMAGES THAT ARE ACCESSIBLE
TO A USER.

note the anded part, then the defintion of those two terms. for a person to be guilty of breaking this law, the game must have both of B and C here:

(B.) "DEPRAVED VIOLENCE" MEANS ANY PHOTOGRAPHIC, PHOTO-REALISTIC OR
SIMILAR VISUAL REPRESENTATION OR IMAGE DEPICTING THE RAPE, DISMEMBER-
MENT, PHYSICAL TORTURE, MUTILATION OR EVISCERATION OF A HUMAN BEING.
(C.) "INDECENT IMAGE" MEANS ANY PHOTOGRAPHIC, PHOTO-REALISTIC OR SIMI-
LAR VISUAL REPRESENTATION OR IMAGE OF A PERSON OR PORTION OF THE HUMAN
BODY WHICH DEPICTS NUDITY, SEXUAL CONDUCT OR SADO-MASOCHISTIC ABUSE AND
WHICH IS HARMFUL TO MINORS.

and even if all of these things get a checkmark, we still have the sentencing we talked about earlier, where on a first offense, the judge may opt to give a less than one year sentence (which we decided saves our best buy employee).

again I'm not defending the law. it's just that when people get all melodramatic about some new law, I think it's important to learn about it myself rather than take what the criers say as the honest to God truth. some of the blogs and sites i've seen talking about this act like they could never sell rated M games again.