Editorials
Wednesday, June 2, 1999Entertainment media
shouldn’t be regulatedTHERE is clearly too much emphasis on violence in the electronic media -- movies, television and video games -- but government should maintain a hands-off policy. Otherwise constitutional rights of speech and press would be threatened. Americans don't want government telling them what to view or read.The issue: A government study of how the entertainment industry markets violence to children
For this reason, President Clinton's order of a government investigation into how the entertainment industry markets depictions of violence to children is disturbing. It appears to be a foot in the door that could lead to another avalanche of government regulation -- in an area where it would be inappropriate.
In announcing his order, Clinton said, "Our children are being fed a dependable daily dose of violence. And it sells." Thirty years of studies, he said, have documented that by the time a typical child turns 18, he or she has seen 40,000 "play" murders and 200,000 dramatized acts of violence.
But the question is whether government intervention would be appropriate. The $1 million joint study by the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department, expected to take up to 18 months, will examine industry marketing practices. Similarly, the government investigated tobacco ad campaigns that it determined were aimed at persuading teen-agers to smoke.
The analogy is misleading. It has been established beyond reasonable doubt that smoking is harmful to health. That is an acceptable rationale for government restrictions on tobacco advertising.
Although there is suspicion that excessive exposure to violence in the media may be harmful to children, there is no consensus on how much is harmful.
It would be inconceivable to ban all depictions of violence, so where to draw the line? Do we want a bureaucrat to decide? Even if there were a consensus, government regulation of the entertainment media could constitute a dangerous erosion of constitutional rights.
According to a White House background paper, the study will review whether and how the video game, motion picture and recording industries purposefully market adult material to children and fail to restrict sales to minors.
The implication is that government would step in with new regulations if the study indicated a need -- and the expectation is that it would. This could lead to censorship of sales material and eventually of product content. It's not the way to go if we value our liberties.
If public opinion becomes sufficiently aroused it will force the entertainment industry to curb its excesses. This is already starting to happen, and efforts to achieve additional industry self-regulation should be encouraged.
When it comes to sales of cigarettes and guns to minors, government has an important role to play. When it comes to information and entertainment, government should keep hands off.
Computer hackers
must be stoppedCALL it virtual war. Hackers as far away as South America are claiming responsibility for vandalizing federal Web sites and issuing future cyberthreats as the government scrambles to repair its corner of the Internet. The cost is not in human lives but in damage that cripples an important medium and requires repairs, which translates into tax dollars. It should not be taken lightly.
The hackers started it and, when the FBI executed four search warrants in Texas following their attacks, including one against a White House site last month, the war escalated. Hackers incapacitated the FBI's own Internet site and attacked the U.S. Senate, sidelining it through the weekend. They left a message on the Interior Department's Web page saying they were "going after every computer on the Net with a .gov (suffix) ...We'll keep hitting them until they get down on their knees and beg" -- or whatever the computer equivalent might be.
The hackers are identified by such names as M1crochip, who lives in Portugal and belongs to a group called FOrpaxe, or Zyklon, believed to be a member of the group that took responsibility for the White House and Senate assaults. Zyklon, who has been identified as Eric Burns, 19, of Virginia, also is accused of breaking into a U.S. Information Agency computer in August and January.
The bloodless nature of this combat does not mean it should be dismissed as a harmless computer game. The Internet is an important medium for the government to increase its accessibility. Attacking government Web sites is property damage that should be taken seriously, striking at the free flow of information between government and the American people.
The attacks also create a potential of damaging national security, prompting the Defense Department to temporarily remove its computers from the Internet to install more secure "firewall" protection between Pentagon machines and those on the outside world.
Computer hacking also is white-collar crime that should be investigated and prosecuted. The FBI properly responded to the attacks and should continue to pursue the perpetrators.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
