The Information Age Crackdown

Here’s the deal: it is the Information Age. You can’t hide from it. Everyone’s got to face it some time. Many people are afraid to face it, and some face it a little too much. For those of you that are afraid to face it, I am not telling you what to do, but I would suggest trying to trust the associations that work toward keeping you and your families safe and I also suggest for you to be more vigilant in the technology world.

Some of you parents may not want your children being exposed to certain content in video games. That is respectable. The ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) is in charge of rating each marketed video game before in the United States before its release. Their ratings are based on the content of the game, and they provide age specifications for each rating. There is EC for early childhood games, E for games that everyone can play, E+10 for games recommended for everyone age 10 and up, T for games that are recommended for teens ages 13 and up, M for games that contain mature content and are recommended to be viewed only by people ages 17 and up, and lastly AO which is for games that are recommended for adults only.

The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) is responsible for rating each film released in the United States. The ratings are: G for General Audiences, PG for Parental Guidance, PG-13 for films recommended for everyone age 13 and up, R for Restricted (in which anyone under 17 must be accompanied by parent), and NC-17, which is for films in which you MUST be 17 or older to be admitted to.
The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is responsible for marking each music album in the United States that contains explicit content (i.e. drugs, sex, strong language) with a PAL (Parental Advisory Label).
While these associations do a great job of providing their ratings for the benefit of consumers, many retailers fall short of maintaining the rules and regulations set by these associations. By law, a retailer is restricted from selling anyone under 18 a Mature rated game, yet a recent undercover shopping survey (in which the FTC had teens ages 13-16 shop at different retailers for mature content and see how many of them were able to buy the products) shows that about 20% of undercover teenage shoppers were able to purchase titles with a Mature rating. This result was a definite improvement over the estimated 42% in 2006, but it’s still not 0%. The same study showed that over half of the shoppers were able to purchase R and Mature rated DVDs and CDs with a PAL. This, if anything, should encourage everyone afraid of facing the Information Age to become involved and make sure you know that retailers your family buys from abide by the rating laws.

The rating violations aren’t all you should pay attention to. With social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube, you should watch for Net Banging. Net Banging is the term used to identify gang recruitment over the Internet. Gang members expose the lifestyle to thousands each day through those popular sites.

The main point here is for you to not live in fear on this new age, but just for you to be more vigilant.

Thanks,
Sup3r501d13r