...are the law makers.  First they decided that they wanted to tax virtual assets, and now some legislators in Germany want to make acts of "virtual violence" punishable by jail time:

Players and creators of video games could face imprisonment for acts of virtual violence under draft legislation being drawn up by two of Germany's state governments.

Politicians in Bavaria and Lower Saxony have proposed a new offence that will punish "cruel violence on humans or human-looking characters" inside games. Early drafts suggest that infringers should face fines or up to 12 months' jail for promoting or enacting in-game violence.

I don't even know where to begin with this.  Punishing violent acts against real people?  I'm all for that.  Punishing violent acts against a bunch of bits on a screen?  Who's the victim?  The correlation between video game violence and real violence is tenuous at best.  In fact, it's not hard to imagine that the increase in video game violence has helped stem the tide of real life violence for many people.  Think of it like hitting a pillow when you're upset.  Oh wait, maybe they want to make that illegal too.  (Via Transterrestrial Musings)

On top of that, we now have the next brilliant idea for John "I Want to Make Sure Nick Never Votes for Me for President" McCain:

Millions of commercial Web sites and personal blogs would be required to report illegal images or videos posted by their users or pay fines of up to $300,000, if a new proposal in the U.S. Senate came into law.

The legislation, drafted by Sen. John McCain and obtained by CNET News.com, would also require Web sites that offer user profiles to delete pages posted by sex offenders.
...
After child pornography or some forms of "obscenity" are found and reported, the Web site must retain any "information relating to the facts or circumstances" of the incident for at least six months. Webmasters would be immune from civil and criminal liability if they followed the specified procedures exactly.

I better say this now before it becomes illegal...  Fuck You John McCain.