Today the Supreme Court handed down its long-awaited decision in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, invalidating a California law which purported to restrict the sale of violent video games to minors. Seven members of the Court voted to strike down the law. Justice Scalia wrote the opinion for the majority.
Since many video games are directly downloaded online, the Computer & Communications Industry Association was concerned this case could have implications for states trying to regulate Internet content. CCIA and others filed amicus briefs supporting the respondent.
The following may be attributed to CCIA President Ed Black:
“We are encouraged that the Supreme Court declined to endorse government regulation of speech in the form on interactive computer games. Every new form of expression, including motion pictures, comic books, television and the Internet, has been threatened by the eager hand of the censor. Instead of succumbing to the techno-panic du jour, the Court reaffirmed more than 200 years of First Amendment principles, reminding us that neither the states nor the federal government have the ‘freedom to disregard these traditional limitations’ on the regulation of speech.”