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Ex-Commerce Dept. Official To Head Videogame Group

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Thursday, May 17, 2007 11:15 AM

The Entertainment Software Association announced yesterday that former Commerce Dept. official Michael Gallagher will be its point man in Washington, D.C., and with state governments ESA members, include Microsoft, Nintendo, Electronic Arts and the videogame units of Sony and Warner Bros.

In particular, Gallagher may face off with New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who has proposed a state "Safe Games Act" as part of a broader child-safety agenda. The legislation would attempt to create a "mechanism" to stop the sale of mature games to children.

The ESA has a long track record of battling such legislation on First Amendment grounds, with state courts ruling nine times in the past six years that videogames are protected speech.

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