Ldonyo

What makes this a bad bill is not that the FCC will be able to fine publishers and/or developers for hiding rating-inappropriate content. The bad part is that this bill is a first step toward governmental regulation of games by the FCC. Once the FCC has fining powers, it is only a bill away from being given authority to rate the games itself, rather than allowing the ESRB continue to do so. Once that happens, there will be no turning back.

I write reviews for a hardware site. Sometimes, I get the review samples from manufacturers or their distributors for free. If the product I am reviewing was received for free, I make sure that this is disclosed within the first two paragraphs of any review I write. Similarly, if I am reviewing a product I purchased I also make that known within the first two paragraphs.

Most people are aware that reviewers are given products to review by manufacturers for free. Disclosing this within the review is still necessary, I feel, in order to let the reader know that there is a relationship between the reviewer and the manufacturer. I believe the same type of disclosure MUST be made by anyone with a similar type of relationship to a manufacturer.