FCC to Develop 'Super V Chip' To Screen All Content 408
An anonymous reader writes "The Senate Commerce Committee has stepped in and approved a legislation asking the Federal Communications Commission to 'oversee the development of a super V-chip that could screen content on everything from cell phones to the Internet.' Since the content viewed by children is no longer restricted to TV or radio Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., the sponsor of the Child Safe Viewing Act, feels that the new law is necessary. 'The bill requires the FCC to review, within one year of enactment, technology that can help parents manage the vast volume of video and other content on television or the Internet. Under the 1996 Telecommunications Act, TV makers are required to embed the V-chip within televisions to allow parents to block content according to a rating system.'"
Why not... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parents today obviously have ZERO interest in spending time with their children and monitoring their activities and habits.
This is ridiculous.
You can already block all content. (Score:5, Insightful)
Censoring for Children is like... (Score:5, Insightful)
It is our obligation, as adults, not to prevent the reality from reaching the senses of minors, but to provide adequate explanations and guidance. Those technical censoring measures are the result of the intention to avoid adult responsibilities, to "sweep the problem under the rug", so to say.
All content? (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
This wont work without... (Score:2, Insightful)
Wherever there's a person going through puberty, there you will most likely find prurient material.
Protect us from ourselves! (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, good luck with that, folks.
Parents, Supervise Your Own Children (Score:5, Insightful)
It's bad enough that some parents think that television is a babysitter. It's even worse that some feel the Internet is a more interactive babysitter. Now, it seems, your cell phone and ipod are capable of acting as babysitters.
Sadly, judging from my experience in the restaurant, technology might actually be a better babysitter than some parents...
Overkill (Score:5, Insightful)
This technology is all overkill anyway, and here's why:
To view content, you have to physically have access to a device that can display the content. As a parent, you should be able to remove that physical access for all 'locally controlled' devices; you can't prevent them from watching a friend's phone or whatever regardless of V-chips or whatever.
There is this thing called an 'off switch' and, failing that, circuit breakers.
You don't want them to have a phone, don't give them money to buy one. If they're old enough to get a job to afford their own, then they should already have the capacity to handle whatever content they can obtain anyway.
To me, these laws just take away responsibility and, with it, freedom from the general populace.
Re:Why not... (Score:5, Insightful)
Being that I am finally of the age where my friends and co-workers have young children and I myself may soon have a child, I am noticing more and more the teaching and parenting skills that people have.
Now, I am continuously out and about and watch the result of poor parenting when the little bastard bites your leg [bash.org] but recently I have been noticing a backlash against this. Parents are starting to spank their kids again (in public no less, the horror!), sternly talking to them instead of baby talk and asking what their true feelings are, and generally raising children that aren't going to run out in the middle of the street and then stare at you like it was your fault that you almost hit them.
What this is, aside from the vocal minority of those parents that are still parentally retarded, is the politicians doing everything they can to create more censorship and centralized control under the guise of saving the children. If anything, these people aren't bad parents because they can't control their brats, it's that they can't control their government.
Not controlling the government is far more scary than some little shithead not getting to watch Denis Leary call someone a fucking cocksucker and talk about his erection likelihood on Rescue Me.
Re:Why not... (Score:4, Insightful)
At some point, it becomes really, really obvious.. (Score:4, Insightful)
More concerning is the new anti-TV violence rules. I really don't want to go back to the days of the A-Team where you could have machine guns as long as they never hit anyone.
Society of bad parenting (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Censoring for Children is like... (Score:4, Insightful)
Sorry, but I disagree. It is our responsibility as adults to introduce children to reality as they are able to understand the explanations and guidance. A five-year-old is not likely to understand any possible explanation for a violent rape scene that he/she saw on TV. I'm really astounded that people think of the V-chip as censorship. Could somebody explain exactly how a screening tool that can be turned on or off by the owner is censorship? The V-chip is nothing more than a tool. It can be used for good and for bad. Good parents will carefully monitor what their children are watching (either to keep them away from inappropriate content or to explain questionable content). Bad parents will rely solely on the V-chip (a huge mistake) to allow them to shirk their responsibility. I have two children. I use the parental lock-down features on my cable box, but I also monitor what they are watching. The parental lock-down is nice because it cuts down on inappropriate content that may show up while I'm running through channels in the presence of my children. It also makes sure my eight-year-old isn't going to change channels to something that's not suitable for him (or his little sister) while I'm in the bathroom. But I'm also fully aware that it is not a substitute for responsible parenting. Some channels don't include rating informations for all shows (The Science Fiction channel and HDNet are two notable offenders), and the most questionable content comes from the commercials rather than the programming itself. Therefore, I make sure I'm there to explain behavior that is and is not appropriate. I like the V-chip as a tool, and nothing more. These laws aren't about mandating that people _use_ the V-chip. They are about making sure that it's available for those who _want_ to use it.
Oblig.: (Score:5, Insightful)
- Bender
Re:Censoring for Children is like... (Score:4, Insightful)
True, but it is mandating (I think) that every adult has to pay for it, presumably in everything from computers to phones, which is still an issue. What's wrong with overseeing the development to make it available as an option to those who want it?
There's also the question of how they intend to implement a rating system for the Internet.
Our savior.. the Super-V chip! (Score:2, Insightful)
Today it seems like kids are very limited in terms of what would be 'acceptable'. Now maybe I'm just crazy or too tired to think straight, but WHY are we watching/listening to this 'crap' on TV? If it's so bad for our kids, is it really that good for us adults? Sure, there's definite limits. Can't exactly show the evening news on Iraq on Nickelodeon, but it seems like TV is just getting more and more into the realm of 'not really worth anything'. Maybe Mr. Roger's had it right when
With using the 'N' word in music and the crap-tastic "reality shows", if it's not good for my kids, is it really good for adults? Is your point conveyed that much better adding the F-bomb to your sentence?
Sometimes I swear we're really all a bunch of teenagers rebelling against our parents and listening to the F-bomb and N-word just to rebel(are we trying to prove we're really adults?). Why don't we grow up and realize that crap isn't really doing us any good, and just quit allowing that junk on TV/Radio? Maybe I should enable this new Super V-Chip just to block out the garbage I shouldn't be watching anyway?
Disclaimer: I'm in my late 20's, so maybe my concept of what was on TV in the 50's is totally hosed.
How about an I chip? (Score:3, Insightful)
You know, so I could screen out shows that would insult my intelligence?
Just think of the possibilities:
Yeah, that's it! A chip for everyone! The world will finally be safe from itself ;-)
Come to think of it, I could just turn off the tv or change the channel... Hmmm...
Re:Why not... (Score:3, Insightful)
I have four with a 12 year age span. I spend a lot of time with all of them. I can't monitor everything they do, all of the time, and I don't want to.
Just because they know what they are supposed to do doesn't mean they actually will do it.
So yes, I use the TV parental controls to keep them from surfing where they should not be. I use McAcfee and SpectorPro on my computer to monitor and set internet access levels and time limits.
The technology gives parents the power to enforce the limits they wish to set. If you don't want to set any, or dont want to enforce them, that's your perogative.
Remember one thing (Score:2, Insightful)
THEY LIED.
Censors always lie.
If you think it'll be any different this time -- if you think that if you give them what they want, they'll go away happy -- then you're either hopelessly naive or just plain nuts.
Hate to be a jerk but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Parents, Supervise Your Own Children (Score:4, Insightful)
It's best to ignore such a child. You see, when you grow up, whining and screaming does not get you balloons. You want to learn that lesson early.
Either that or give the child some strong negative reinforcement. But I can see a mother being uncomfortable with that in a crowded restaurant.
Re:Why not... (Score:5, Insightful)
Technology alone cannot solve problems. Realize 2 things: First of all, your kids have way more time to figure out ways around your access control than you have to review whether your access controls work. And second, you have no control over the TVs of their friends. Even if your kids can't figure out how to circumvent the V-Chip, they simply go to their friends and watch that video there.
Re:Parents, Supervise Your Own Children (Score:2, Insightful)
I dunno if this is Eugenics but... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why not... (Score:2, Insightful)
It seems to be quite a challenge to find an valid argument that could possibly portray this in a bad light. I agree that the law doesn't seem necessary, but the effect of having the FCC overview the creation and implementation of a new V-Chip standard doesn't exactly sound too particularly Orwellian for my tastes.
Re:I dunno if this is Eugenics but... (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't be so quick to write off the children of those "under-performers". Most of them is what keeps this country functioning.
Re:Why not... (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't expect technology alone to completely solve anything. It can help though. No reason not to leverage the technology made available for the purpose. At this point I'm a lot more technically skilled then they are. My oldest already know that if they consistently abuse their privileges it will be easy for me to cut them off completely.
Just recently I put a new digital tuner tv in my kitchen. No premium decoder attached. My 5 year old is trying to find SpongeBob and instead gets 'HBO cathouse'. It seems that on-demand programming requested by your neighbors can get picked up by any digital tv on the block in a certain channel range. Leaving them unblocked makes no sense to me.
Just because I can't control what happens outside my house doesn't mean I shouldn't control what happens inside it.
Re:Why not... (Score:5, Insightful)
I want to opt out. (Score:4, Insightful)
I can't? Oh joy. Perhaps the parents should pay MORE for a TV with MORE FEATURES instead of the government forcing everyone to pay for it.
Re:How many parents actually use the V-chip? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I dunno if this is Eugenics but... (Score:4, Insightful)
So what you'll have is a class of people that know the value of a dollar and know how to save. Then you'll have everyone else that's in debt up to their ears, teetering on bankruptcy. The first class of people will be making money off the second since the second class is to stupid to learn anything.