News
Guilty Until Proven Innocent
Cordova, TN; January 1, in the year of our Lord 2016--Family
Friendly Gaming, the industry leader in covering the family
friendly video games is addressing companies that treat
consumers like they are guilty first, and must prove their
innocence. In my personal, professional, and legal opinion
companies doing this are completely backwards. In Coffin v.
United States the Supreme Court affirmed the presumption of
innocence. There is not a presumption of being guilty as many of
these companies are treating consumers. Here is what the Supreme
Court of the United States had to say:
”The principle that there is a presumption of innocence in favor
of the accused is the undoubted law, axiomatic and elementary,
and its enforcement lies at the foundation of the administration
of our criminal law. … Concluding, then, that the presumption of
innocence is evidence in favor of the accused, introduced by the
law in his behalf, let us consider what is 'reasonable doubt.'
It is, of necessity, the condition of mind produced by the proof
resulting from the evidence in the cause. It is the result of
the proof, not the proof itself, whereas the presumption of
innocence is one of the instruments of proof, going to bring
about the proof from which reasonable doubt arises; thus one is
a cause, the other an effect. To say that the one is the
equivalent of the other is therefore to say that legal evidence
can be excluded from the jury, and that such exclusion may be
cured by instructing them correctly in regard to the method by
which they are required to reach their conclusion upon the proof
actually before them; in other words, that the exclusion of an
important element of proof can be justified by correctly
instructing as to the proof admitted. The evolution of the
principle of the presumption of innocence, and its resultant,
the doctrine of reasonable doubt, make more apparent the
correctness of these views, and indicate the necessity of
enforcing the one in order that the other may continue to
exist.”
As many of ya’ll know Family Friendly Gaming recently went
through a server upgrade with CCGR.NET. There were a few issues
here and there. There always are. One of the most frustrating
issues was with the email server. Microsoft decided since the
server was a brand new server it must be up to nefarious deeds,
and blocked it. It took multiple attempts from multiple people
to finally get Microsoft to acknowledge we were legitimate,
honest, real, and true people. We had to prove to them we were
not spammers, or up to some other illegal activity. In essence
Microsoft decided we were guilty and had to prove our innocence.
Microsoft acted the exact opposite of the law. I am still
disgusted by Microsoft’s backwards business practice.
They are not the only ones either. A few years ago I was pulling
into my drive way by turning to the right. I had my blinker on,
and someone decided to pass me on the right. As you can probably
figure out from those facts, they hit me on my right side as I
was turning to the right. They got a ticket, and their insurance
company was paying for the damages their client caused. The
insurance company offered me a rental car. I was reluctant to
accept this at first because I figured we could survive one week
without my vehicle. I went down to the car rental place who
demanded a credit card. I follow Dave Ramsey’s system, and do
not use credit cards at all. Since I did not have a credit card,
they wanted access to my bank account to withdraw $300.00. Why?
In case I damaged the rental car, they would immediately have
money and access to get more from me. I refused, and after
talking to a manager I left. I had never wronged them, and do
not have any record of wronging them or any company like them.
Why should I accept them treating me like a guilty person?
I have noticed a variety of companies in the video game industry
treating consumers as if we are all guilty of piracy, and have
to prove we have legitimate copies of the games we paid them
for. I am personally sick of it. I am sick of having to connect
to their servers to prove the game I purchased from a local
retailer is legal. These companies need to stop treating us
consumers as guilty. They need to stop forcing us to prove our
innocence. I am waiting for someone to sue them, and have them
pay out a massive amount of money for their disobedience of the
law. Why do they even do it? Is it because of their greed?
God bless,
Paul Bury
Family Friendly Gaming