- - - Policy Themes
US FTC: Report on access and content of virtual worlds
The H.R. 1105 Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 which became Public Law No: 111-8 on 11 th March 2009 states in the notes to ‘DIVISION D-FINANCIAL SERVICES AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2009′ the following:
US FTC: Marketing of Violent Entertainment to Children
Since 2000 the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has provided reports to Congress on ‘Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children’. These report cover the Motion Picture, Music Recording and Electronic Game Industries.
EU Kids Online
The EU Kids Online research network concluded their work with a one day conference in London on 11 June 2009. The network also published a Final Report provides a unique summary of EU-Based research on children online.
The Final Report and other resources can be found on the network website here: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/EUKidsOnline/
Your attention is drawn in particular to the Online Database of European Research (Repository) collated by the network.
OECD Virtual Worlds Study – Proposed ToC
The OECD may produce a report on virtual worlds. You are invited to comment on the proposed scope of this report.
Read more…
CoE: A New Notion of Media
On the 28th and 29th of May 2009 the Council of Europe (CoE) Ministers responsible for Media and New Communications Services met to discuss ‘A New Notion of Media’: http://www.ministerialconference.is/
CoE: Guidelines Protecting Human Rights on the Internet
In 2008 The Council of Europe released Guidelines for protecting human rights on the Internet. These comprised two documents:
- Human Rights Guidelines for Online Games Providers
- Human Rights Guidelines for Internet Service Providers
The Guidelines seek to outline how these two industries can promote rights as defined in the “Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms” (in particular Article 10 – Freedom of expression) in the context of their customers and citizens generally.
BERR-OECD 2009
the Virtual Policy Network organized themes and speakers for a a workshop on 11 March 2009 convened by the UK Government’s Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) with OECD’s Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy (ICCP). The workshop examined the following themes:
- How can virtual worlds contribute to innovation, to transformation of business, government and public services and to increasing transparency, improving innovative services delivery, and creating employment?
- Should public policy frameworks be adapted to support governments, citizens, and businesses using virtual worlds to improve their performance? If so how?
Speakers included Mr Tom Watson MP (UK Minister for Digital Engagement).
A summary of the workshop can be downloaded here: http://www.virtualpolicy.net/_Downloads/OECD/IE(2009)_8_virtual worlds.pdf
CETIS-Eduserv-VW2009
16th January 2009, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK: Ren Reynolds lead a conference discussion at ‘Maximising the effectiveness of virtual worlds in teaching and learning‘ exploring the policy road blocks to the greater adoption of virtual technology in education.
Event Tag “cevw09″
Player Governance & EvE
7th November 2008, Reykjavík, Iceland: tVPN’s Ren Reynolds was invited by CCP, creators of EvE Online, to act as the neutral moderator at the pubic meeting / Q&A session of the EvE Council of Stellar Management (CSM). The CSM is the largest experiments in ‘player democracy’ in a current MMO.
The video of the session can be seen on the EvE site’s Fanfest ‘08 films page.
More Fun, More Risk?
17th October 2008, Berlin, Germany: Ren Reynolds was invited by the Hans-Bredow-Institut to give the closing address at ‘More Fun, More Risk? Digital Games as a Challenge for the Protection of Minors‘ a conference of European content regulators and academics.
Ren discussed the contingent nature of the conceptual frames that are used in regulation and the necessary relations that are implied in their current construction e.g. the relation between ‘children’ and ‘video games’ is one predicated on risk, whereas neither the categories nor the relations are theoretically or practically necessary.
