Judge Blocks Law Curbing Violent Video Games
from the unconstitutional dept
Just as a new Washington State law was going to take effect that would ban the sale of certain violent video games to children, a judge has blocked the law, saying that it looks to be unconstitutional, violating the First Amendment. The judge seems to be taking an open mind to the case – which still has to play out before him, but decided on the info so far, that it would be bad to let the law go into effect without it first being proven constitutionally sound. The judge found a number of reasons to criticize the bill, suggesting that it was not the least restrictive way to achieve their goal, and may be both too narrowly written and too broadly written at the same time. It certainly seems like the type of law that is designed to look good rather than do good. Kids wills till get their hands on violent video games (in fact, they may become more appealing), but it will just involve more hassle.
Techdirt is off for the long weekend! We'll be back with our regular posts tomorrow.

