Proponents of local and state laws that ban the sale of “violent” video games to minors should just give up. One court after the next has overturned these laws as violations of the First Amendment’s guarantees of free speech.
In case after case (Minnesota, Illinois, California, Michigan), federal judges have been unequivocal in their views that these fuzzy laws can’t be justified. The latest example: U.S. District Court Judge James Brady struck down a Louisiana state law that barred the sale of violent video games to minors.
In his opinion, Judge Brady said that the law was an “invasion of First Amendment rights” of everybody — game makers, game retailers and game players. Brady said in no uncertain terms that violent speech is protected speech. “Depictions of violence are entitled to full constitutional protection,” he wrote in his opinion.
He dismissed the argument that violent video games are psychologically harmful to minors and said that even if it’s true that these games stir fear or violent attitudes in young people (a much disputed contention among social scientists), free speech rights still triumph.
“The state may not restrict video game expression merely because it dislikes the way that expression shapes an individual’s thoughts and attitudes,” he wrote.Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 10:42 AM | Print | Comments (0)
The New York Times’ Ken Belson has this piece today about the growing rivalry between phone companies and cable operators. The article focuses mostly on one nice and often overlooked benefit of competition: improved customer service. It’s gratifying to switch communications providers if customer service stinks.
One customer, Joe Bender-Zanoni, just up and switched to Cablevision for voice service when repeated calls to Verizon didn’t fix his phone problems.
“Sheer anger led me to Cablevision,” he said. “Once I got aggravated with the phone company, I looked at their triple play. They actually answer their phones.”
Although price is a big variable in competition, customer service is often overlooked as a motivation for choosing providers. Anger over unanswered phones or botched installs can drive a $120/month customer into the arms of a competitor, no matter what the comparative cost of service is.
That’s why both cable and phone companies are putting greater emphasis on keeping customers happy, even if improved customer service eats into the bottom-line.
Cable and phone companies do not disclose how much they spend on customer service. But keeping customers happy is not cheap. Companies often find it hard to quantify how service contributes to the bottom line. So executives walk a fine line between spending on services with uncertain results and trimming budgets when times get tough, hoping customer complaints do not rise.Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 8:42 AM | Print | Comments (0)
Blogs We Read
