Family Entertainment Protection Act

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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 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.^[2]

Similar bills have been filed in some U.S. states such as Michigan and Illinois, but were ruled to be unconstitutional.^{[citation needed]}

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

1. ^ Senators Clinton, Lieberman Announce Federal Legislation to Protect Children from Inappropriate Video Games. Retrieved on December 18, 2005.
2. ^ GameSpot. Game-restriction bill submitted to congress. Retrieved on December 18, 2005.
3. ^ Govtrack.us. S. 2126 [109th]: Family Entertainment Protection Act. Retrieved on 2007-08-31.

[edit] External links

• McCauley, Dennis. "Hillary Introduces Video Game Legislation", Gamepolitics.com, December 16, 2005

[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

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