August 20, 2009
The Associated Press reports that the Entertainment Software Association, which represents the interests of U.S. video game publishers, spent $1.2 million on government lobbying efforts during the period April-June, 2009.
Looking beneath the surface, GamePolitics has obtained an actual copy of the ESA's latest federal lobbying report. The document shows that Big Gaming has its fingers in a surprising number of legislative and governmental pies. The following are issues which the ESA reports that it lobbied on in Q2:
- Media regulation
- First Amendment protection
- Entertainment industry ratings
- Parental control technology
- Content/video game sale regulation
- Retailer enforcement of ratings
- Piracy
- Copyright Act (believed to be the DMCA)
- Anti-circumvention
- Patent modernization
- Intellectual property enforcement
- Customs reauthorization
- PRO-IP Act appropriations
- Dept. of Justice appropriations
- Dept. of State reauthorization
- Free Trade Agreements
- Special 301 Designated Countries
- Trade Policy Reform
- Domestic regulatory & administrative issues
- Trade enforcement
- Doha Round Proceedings (trade talks)
- Trade Promotion Authority
- Internet Governance
- Virtual worlds
- Online gaming
- Highly skilled workforce
- H1-B visas
- Green cards
- Immigration reform
- ISP management
- Copyright Enforcement
- Broadband deployment
- Broadband policy
- Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act implementation
Agencies lobbied by the ESA include some surprising entities. Here's the list:
- U.S. House of Representatives
- U.S. Senate
- Federal Communications Commission
- Federal Trade Commission
- National Telecommunications & Information Administration
- U.S. Copyright Office
- U.S. Customs & Border Protection
- U.S. Trade Representative
- Department of Commerce
- Department of Homeland Security
- Department of Justice
- Patent & Trademark Office
- FBI
- National Security Council
DOCUMENT DUMP: Grab your own copy of the ESA's lobbying report... (9-page PDF)
