Grand Theft Auto Ban To Be Decided By Courts

Wingchild writes "Haitian civil rights groups in Florida have filed a lawsuit with the circuit court in Palm Beach County, which Rockstar Games has asked to be moved up to a federal court for a final decision on whether or not their game has to be banned from stores. This move happens as the court of media opinion begins weighing in on the subject (facts irrelevant, of course), a fact which Slashdot Games noted a scant two days ago."

Comments

A Game Is Freedom of Speech

[BoldAC]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Parents should just do their job.

AC

Re:A Game Is Freedom of Speech

[CSZeus]

It's not as easy as all that. I'd imagine that all sorts of issues get involved, from racial/ethnical issues ("Kill the Haitians!") to obscenity (which, according to the Supreme Court, is not protected by the Freedom of Speech clause).
It'll be interesting to see how they play the cards.

(and yes, putting all the legalities aside, I rather agree with you - if the parents don't like it, they should just keep their kids from playing it. Doesn't mean they don't have a case, though.)

Re:A Game Is Freedom of Speech

[AntiOrganic]

First off, where do you get off that everyone defending the Constitution and the rights enumerated therein is a "liberal?" It seems like it's almost trendy these days to refer to the Constitution like it's some antiquated relic preventing this country from being run the way it ought to be. I happen to consider myself a centrist on most issues, leaning slightly to the right on economic issues and slightly to the left on social ones. Though, the broad-stroked brush with which you paint everyone with opposing ideals ought to say enough about you without even needing to go into detail concerning your actual views.

A video game is a form of expression, a work of art, just like a movie or music. I'm not trying to imply a "slippery slope" chronology here, which has been all too cliched recently, but legally, to permit a "ban" of this game would set a legal precedent permitting songs with racist lyrics or movies deemed "politically incorrect" to be banned just for insensitivity to certain cultures. You don't see anything wrong with that?

Haven't we lost enough of our civil liberties in the last two and a half years?

Re:A Game Is Freedom of Speech

[runlvl0]

Next thing you know, you'll be telling us to think for ourselves!

If someone tells me to thinks for myself, and I do it, then did I?

Re:A Game Is Freedom of Speech

[Daimaou]

Okay, let me make sure I have all this straight.

Source code is not free speech.

Religion is not free speech.

Anti religious speech is free speech.

Politics ARE free speech, except prior to an election, where anybody caught speaking at all will be run through with a spoon.

Pornography is free speech.

Pro gay speech is free speech.

Anti gay speech is not free speech.

Games depicting white people in futuristic battle gear, aliens, robots, skeletons, and other obvious "bad" people being killed are free speech.

Games depicting gay, athiest, Hatian politicians, turning tricks with alien robots, and then being killed with a sharpened religious symbol are not free speech.

The definition of freedom seems to be escaping me.

It's just a game.....

[mike300zx]

People are getting to dang PC if they can't seperate the goings on within a game to what's actually going on in real life. This does need to be allowed to stay in stores if for nothing else then for free speech. If a particular retailer doesn't want to sell it than so be it, but an all out ban on a game being sold is stupid.

0th3r m3d14

[Deraj DeZine]

Yet if all of the game's anti-Haitian material was put into a book, people would call it free speech...

Why Tort Reform is neccesesary

[Crashmarik]

Anyone who is famillar with the florida courts can understand why Rockstar Games wants the lawsuit moved to the federal system.

This case illustrates a deeper problem. The very nature of the legal system lets irate idiots inflict a death of a thousand cuts. There is no barrier to be overcome to bring a lawsuit. No penalty for bringing a frivolous lawsuit. Just the sound of society grinding down, under the weight of too many lawyers.

Argh! NYPost Is Not Credible!

[the_mad_poster]

Slashdot can REALLY get on my fucking nerves now and then. I think I'm going to have to use a Louisville slugger to beat this point into the editors' and submitters' thick skulls...

The NY Post is NOT a credible news source. The NY Post is a TABLOID RAG that INTENTIONALLY writes up utterly ridiculous bullshit for the sole purpose of entertaining and/or selling magazines (and, it might be noted that the NY Post sells like week old baked horseshit, and for good reason).

I'm in Pennsylvania and they sell the NY Post here. However, they pull a dirty trick - most places put it with the regular newspapers instead of with crap like National Inquirer and Weekly World News. Then, people buy it and mistake it for upstanding journalism with some level of integrity. They wrote the piece to incite people. I mod the entire NY Post staff, and the writer of that article in particular, with -1 Flamebait.

PLEASE stop thinking that the NY Post is a newspaper. It is a tabloid, nothing more. It doesn't represent popular opinion, and, in fact, when they write garbage like that, it doesn't even necessarily represent the NY Post's opinion. It's JUST A TABLOID.