Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has signed into effect a new anti-violent video game law that makes it a crime to import “violent” video games, with offenders being forced to pay a heavy fine or even spend up to five years in prison.
Gamethirst has translated the “Ley para la Prohibición de Videojuegos Bélicos y Juguetes Bélicos” (Law for the banning of violent video games and toys) and posted it (reposted here):
1. Violent video games: Video games or programs that can be use on personal computers, arcade systems, video game consoles, portable devices or mobile telephones, or any other electronic or telephonic device, that contain information or images that promote or incite violence and the use of weapons.
2. Violent toys: Objects or instruments that in form mimic any kind of weapon used by the National Bolivarian Armed Forces, weapons of war used by any other nation, citizen or state security forces, as well as those that, though not promoting war, establish the kind of game that stimulates aggressiveness or violence.
Article 13. Those who in any way promote the purchase or use of violent toys or video games as defined by this law will be punished with a fine of between 2,000 and 4,000 tax units.
Article 14. Those who import, manufacture, sell, rent, or distribute violent toys or video games will be punished with 3 to 5 years in prison.
The law seems pretty clear, distribute these violent video games and spend time in a Venezuelan prison.
Result for: mobile telephones
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has passed a law that will force phone and internet companies to keep full logs of their customer’s internet usage. The data will also need to be made readily available to the police if they need it.
The law, dubbed the “Communications Data Bill”, is an offshoot of the EU’s “Data Retention Directive”. Last October the first part of the bill was passed and forced telcos to “keep records of phone calls to and from land lines and mobile telephones.” That will now be extended to internet usage, emails, and VoIP records.
“The aim of the [Directive] is to ensure that certain data is retained to enable public authorities to undertake their lawful activities to investigate, detect and prosecute crime and to protect the public,” added a Home Office spokeswoman.
“The first part of the [Directive] was transposed into UK law in October 2007 but the Government made a declaration … to postpone its application to the retention of communications data relating to internet access, internet telephony and internet email until 2009. So the measures referred to in the Communications Data Bill will complete the transposition of the Directive for IP [internet protocol] communications data,” said the Home Office spokeswoman.
If the Bill follows the lead of the Data Retention Directive then the ISPs will have to keep the data logs for 12 months. Police and other law enforcement agencies can get access to the files through a court-ordered warrant.
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