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FCC to Develop 'Super V Chip' To Screen All Content
Posted by
Zonk
on Fri Aug 03, 2007 08:49 AM
from the any-chance-we-could-stop-thinking-about-the-children-now dept.
from the any-chance-we-could-stop-thinking-about-the-children-now dept.
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.'"
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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.
Re:Why not... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Why not... (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
I dunno if this is Eugenics but... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Why not... (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:Why not... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
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.
Parent
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.
Parent
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.
Re:Censoring for Children is like... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Censoring for Children is like... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
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.
Parent
All content? (Score:5, Insightful)
How many parents actually use the V-chip? (Score:5, Interesting)
Parental Responsibility? (Score:4, Informative)
Protect us from ourselves! (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, good luck with that, folks.
They're still missing one form... (Score:5, Interesting)
Obligatory User Friendly Strip [userfriendly.org]
Parent
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.
The same Mark Pryor... (Score:5, Informative)
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)
Oblig.: (Score:5, Insightful)
- Bender
Re:So does this mean... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent