News
Prosecutor calls 'cut' on redbox charges
March 7, 2010
The Indiana prosecutor who had threatened to take deployers of redbox and other movie kiosks to task for renting R-rated films to minors has decided not to press charges.
Steve Levco, prosecutor for Vanderburgh County in Indiana, said his decision was based on conversations with local citizens. It "seemed pretty clear to me that the community would not be behind the prosecution of this," he told the Evansville (Ind.) Courier & Press.
The law Levco would have used says businesses may be criminally liable if the material they provide to minors violates "community standards."
According to the story, Levco had been contacted by someone speaking for owners of local video stores who said the store owners checked ID so that age-restricted material was not rented to minors. Although the kiosks rely on credit-card usage and an assurance from users that they are 18 or older, they do not currently have the means to compare, say, a photo ID with the users.
A redbox spokesperson said that confirmation of age is a requirement of redbox.
"When renting a movie from redbox, customers must confirm they are 18 years of age or older with a valid debit or credit card. In the event a customer selects an R-rated title, the customer must confirm they are 18 years of age to proceed with their rental. The confirmation process also provides customers with an option to select an alternative film," the spokesperson said in an e-mail to this site.
In addition, he said, most DVD players have built-in parental controls which can block children from watching movies with offensive language or content.
"Whether renting movies online, from a kiosk, from a store or purchasing content from the Web, parental supervision is the most important factor in entertainment access and selection."
Jeff Dudash, a spokesman for NCR Corp., which operates the moviecube kiosks, said the company applauds Levco's decision not to proceed.
"We have processes in place for age-appropriate rentals," Dudash said. "We're affordable, accessible and family-friendly."
Dallas-based Blockbuster, which has partnered with NCR for a line of eponymous video-renting kiosks, continues to combat the loss of business not only to redbox, but to Netflix. The rent-by-mail innovator has begun offering instant downloads of movies, further digging into its revenue. Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes recently told investors that unless more major studios decided to withhold new-release titles from DVD kiosks by four weeks, the company would need to close even more stores than the 1,000 currently planned.
"If [the withholding] happened, you would want to keep more stores in operation, to enhance [our] consumer relevance," Keyes told Home Media Magazine. "[A retail window] would more clearly define the use occasions for those channels."
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