In a recent post, Gabe Rottman with the ACLU discussed the connection between the self-censorship of comics and HR 4204, a bill introduced in Congress that requires that all games with a rating above E (for Everyone) carry a label warning parents that exposure to violent video games has been linked to violent behavior. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has already voiced their opposition to the bill, starting a a letter-writing campaign to legislators.
Rottman begins the article with a rundown of the events that led to the censorship of comics, including the publication of Fredric Wertham’s specious Seduction of the Innocent and Congressional showboating on the issue. Click through for excerpts from Rottman’s article linking the Comics Code with today’s furor over violence in video games.
The CBLDF has been active in opposing such laws and bills such as HR 4204. In the Brown v. EMA case, we wrote an amicus curiae brief citing the history of attempts to curb constitutionally protected content, including the Comics Code. The brief was cited by the Supreme Court in their majority decision to strike down a California law that would have made violent speech a category of unprotected speech, alongside obscenity.
Joe Sergi, blogger for 