Video virus: criminalizing game sales.

• Author: Sullum, Jacob
• Position: Government-funded research on effects of electronic entertainment on children - Brief article

LAST YEAR Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) said the electronic entertainment that kids enjoy is "a kind of contagion," a "silent epidemic" threatening "long-term public health damage to many, many children and therefore to society." Now she wants to find out if it's a problem.

In March a Senate committee approved Clinton's bill authorizing government-funded research on "the effects of viewing and using electronic media, including television, computers, video games, and the Internet, on children's cognitive, social, physical, and psychological development" Fittingly, since Clinton likens these diversions to a plague, the research would be overseen by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Before a single CDC grantee has confirmed there's a problem, Clinton already has proposed a solution: the Family Entertainment Protection Act, which would make it a federal crime to sell video games with "mature" or "adults only" ratings to anyone under the age of...