[Gllug] Stupid laws

[North London John]

On Tuesday, May 6, 2003, at 09:38  am, John Southern wrote:

> A discussion has started on the Mandrake Cooker list about a new 
> German USK
> (Unterhaltungssoftware-Selbstkontrolle) law. The law requires every 
> game that
> is sold to be rated (at a cost of about a 1000 Euros), otherwise it 
> cannot be
> sold to under eighteens.
> Does the UK have anything similar in law?
>
> Regards
> John
>

I'm not familiar with this law, or the debate around it - could you 
post some links (pref. in English) either to the list or to me directly?

I guess you're asking whether there is a mandatory license system for 
computer games in the UK. I think this is a bit of a grey area, in that 
there are a number of authorities and rating systems, as outlined on 
this page:
http://www.ps2home.co.uk/video_games_age_ratings.htm

The BBFC (the film censors) have legal powers to stop retailers selling 
18- and 15- rated video games to minors, and games featuring graphic 
adult content must be rated by them.

Perhaps the question re the USK is whether *all* games must pay for a 
license, even frozen bubble and klines. Then (I'm speculating) linux 
distros might be liable as they bundle in loads of games. Perhaps an 
appeal could be made on the grounds that free software is free, and so 
not sold.

This sounds a lot like the recent Greek farce, where all games were 
briefly outlawed.

John



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