AfterDawn: News

V-chip 2.0 could censor everything

US Democratic Senator from Arkansas, Mark Pryor has noble thoughts in mind. He wants to shield the American youth from such travesties as foul language and indecent adult content. Which is why he's submitted a proposal to expand the current coverage of the FCC's V-chip. For those who are not aware, the V-chip was put in place by the FCC in 1996 and it allows concerned parents to Block certain television shows depending on their TV rating. If a rating comes through marked for offensive language or sexual content, the V-chip, when instructed, can keep your children sheltered from viewing adult themed content.

Senator Pryor's proposal states that he feels this V-chip should be implemented on VCRs, DVD players and even the Internet itself. While this seems like an extreme endeavor, the Senator feels that where technology stands today, its not something that is impossible to do.



Senator Pryor hasn't offered up any solutions on how this V-chip will be able to magically detect a swear word on a YouTube stream or how it will, as proposed, circumvent TV ratings and block a nipple that may have passed through the TV14 rating, but insists that this type of censorship is needed for today's youth. The Senator states, "My bill simply lights a fire under the FCC to take a fresh look at new options in the marketplace."

Since its inception, the FCC has taken little effort to improve or regulate the current V-chip, so it will remain a mystery on whether they would like to latch onto this proposal.

Source:
ARS Technica

Written by: Dave Horvath @ 4 Aug 2007 12:02

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• 32 comments

• narmo

  so how would that chip know that the viewer is not an adult? by the way how in the world would that stop teens and kids from swearing or looking at adult content? sooner or later they are going to hear swearing from their friends or some stranger on the street
  for adult content how will that v- chip stop those magazines ? and limewire and torrents i doubt this will work

  4.8.2007 12:23 #1

• GEO8621

  XX (Edited for racial slurs. Davedough)

  4.8.2007 12:38 #2

• narmo

  Originally posted by GEO8621: XX (Edited for racial slurs. Davedough).
  that is just racist

  4.8.2007 12:41 #3

• windsong

  Muslims aren't a race..they're a religion. Similar to Wicca..Hinduism..Buddhism..etc.

  4.8.2007 12:55 #4

• narmo

  Originally posted by windsong: Muslims aren't a race..they're a religion. Similar to Wicca..Hinduism..Buddhism..etc.
  Islam is a religion muslims are people who's religion is islam
  similar to christians who's religion is christianity

  4.8.2007 13:07 #5

• chubbyInc

  Are parents that lazy to where they need something to monitor what their kids watch. Take your kids outside and throw around a ball or something. Stop using TV's as babysitters. Oh and get rid of cable all garbage anyways.

  4.8.2007 13:07 #6

• narmo

  Originally posted by chubbyInc: Are parents that lazy to where they need something to monitor what their kids watch. Take your kids outside and throw around a ball or something. Stop using TV's as babysitters. Oh and get rid of cable all garbage anyways.
  straight up about parents being lazy sometimes and cable sucks get satellite

  4.8.2007 13:12 #7

• bobiroc

  Thats right lets censor the world instead of teaching our children right from wrong. Lets keep blaming TV, Movies, Video Games, and the internet for people doing bad things instead of going after the real source of the problem. I think it should be the parents and the family of the child's who teaches them what is right and what is wrong. I grew up with guns in the house (Father was a cop) and played video games/watched TV and Movies that had violence and bad language. The difference here is my parents and family taught me good moral values so I knew the difference between right and wrong and could differentiate between what was on TV and reality. But I guess this is the result of lazy parents and parents who do not care and expect the school systems and the government to raise their children instead of taking responsibility for their own.

  4.8.2007 13:12 #8

• narmo

  Originally posted by bobiroc: Thats right lets censor the world instead of teaching our children right from wrong. Lets keep blaming TV, Movies, Video Games, and the internet for people doing bad things instead of going after the real source of the problem. I think it should be the parents and the family of the child's who teaches them what is right and what is wrong. I grew up with guns in the house (Father was a cop) and played video games/watched TV and Movies that had violence and bad language. The difference here is my parents and family taught me good moral values so I knew the difference between right and wrong and could differentiate between what was on TV and reality. But I guess this is the result of lazy parents and parents who do not care and expect the school systems and the government to raise their children instead of taking responsibility for their own.u said it all man, u said it all

  4.8.2007 13:19 #9

• mspurloc

  Quote:Originally posted by GEO8621: XX (Edited for racial slurs. Davedough)
  that is just racistYeah, I agree with the others.
  It's not technically racist.
  But it IS ignorant, has trollishly bad grammar, impolite shouting and idiotic spelling errors.
  That's got to count for something, right?

  4.8.2007 13:53 #10

• ZippyDSM

  Ya A chip for the TV and players and even game consoles, as for the internet we have blocking software for that so a chip for the net shows how out of date he is,but for the other stuff ya it reasonable..

  4.8.2007 14:04 #11

• Iguana775

  Yea, to hell with proper parenting and responsibilty for the child you raise...

  4.8.2007 15:32 #12

• c1c

  TV is the ultimate babysitter. There is so much foul language on TV that it is the networks fault. Hell's Kitchen, bleep this bleep that. I think kids can fill in the blank. Plus with a Tv in every room, you can't get away from it. It will only get worse. Look at Europe, their Tv is a lot worse than the garbage we get in the states.

  4.8.2007 15:42 #13

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by Iguana775: Yea, to hell with proper parenting and responsibilty for the child you raise...
  so you are saying havign the TV assist them in not letting the kids learn foul language or being frighten by something on TV is a bad thing?
  
  Its not like they can control content from the board cast studio,this is for idavenauls to use to help filter out things its not a great evil, 100$ person person insruacne on cars is fcking ridiculous the insurance companies are far more the greater evil.

  4.8.2007 15:47 #14

• jcur31

  Why stop at a V-chip, why not start from the top, How about when you get your first get your period or your first woody you get an IQ test. If you don't pass, you should be sterilized. That way the government can spend time actually trying to do there job instead of trying to raise every body's kids.

  4.8.2007 17:35 #15

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by jcur31: Why stop at a V-chip, why not start from the top, How about when you get your first get your period or your first woody you get an IQ test. If you don't pass, you should be sterilized. That way the government can spend time actually trying to do there job instead of trying to raise every body's kids.Oh sure mameing people is somehow better than giving parents or anyone who hates foul worlds a god damn chip in the TV to bleep them out, grow up...

  4.8.2007 17:44 #16

• duckNrun

  I like this IQ test thing... but you have to remember the bell curve for standard distributions and how the populations IQ is represented by it....
  
  For example the 50% percentile is about 100 for IQ... so 100 is average in the strictest and most real terms....sterilize at 100 or less and you not only eliminate 50% of the pop from procreating but all the under averages as well...
  
  I personally would say that this number needs to be closer to.... oh I don't know.... say 135 IQ... this eliminates about 90% of the population from having kids and keeps the top 10% of the smarties in the running...
  
  and lets not just stop at sterilization... lets castrate the men under this mark as well.... heck... those dummies not only don't need to breed but shouldn't be able to skew the competition for a 'happy ending' from a date on saturday night either.....
  
  of course... just like censorship this type of conversation is also biased towards the person who is making the comments.
  
  Censorship or any type of 'cleansing' diatribe automatically reflects the speakers biases and beliefs... no one ever says censor that movie I like.. kill people of my ethnicity...and no one says steilize those 'dummies' unless they believe themselve to have an IQ sufficiently above the cut off line as to keep themselves secure.
  
  I would hope that jcur31 was being as sarcastic as I am in this post... if not then perhaps he would find himself considered 'below average and undesireable to society' and under the knife as well
  
  :-)
  
  peace

  4.8.2007 18:58 #17

• jcur31

  Even though I thought my first post to be funny, here's the real deal.
  
  Here is the real deal, Here is a government official, Spend our tax dollars, wasting time on a device that will ultimately in some way raise the price of a device that I will be purchasing in the future.
  Parents should be taking the responsibility of raising there kids instead of making excuses and blaming everyone else for there shortcomings.
  
  A TELEVISION IS NOT A BABYSITTER!!
  
  Whats next, a device that scans a book an blacks out all the ofensive paragraphs.

  4.8.2007 21:39 #18

• bobiroc

  Originally posted by jcur31: Whats next, a device that scans a book an blacks out all the ofensive paragraphs.Now don't be giving them any ideas. If they start doing that I am going to blame you. :)

  4.8.2007 22:03 #19

• venomX05

  So this is going to stop kids from cursing in schools or anyone for that matter...and stop nude pics from getting being d/l'ed off the net...and yeah, and let's not forget about since most household have pc's anyways, they honestly think that it is going to stop people from doing that?
  
  The internet...not on your life, I don't know what kind of variety of crack Pryor is smoking, but is DEFINITELY not playing with a full deck.
  
  You know, I remember a time when parents used to monitor what the child was doing. I know mine did, but it just amazes me how some let the tv babysit their kids cause they are too busy with their own lives to do anything about it...how sad.

  5.8.2007 07:55 #20

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by venomX05: So this is going to stop kids from cursing in schools or anyone for that matter...and stop nude pics from getting being d/l'ed off the net...and yeah, and let's not forget about since most household have pc's anyways, they honestly think that it is going to stop people from doing that?
  
  The internet...not on your life, I don't know what kind of variety of crack Pryor is smoking, but is DEFINITELY not playing with a full deck.
  
  You know, I remember a time when parents used to monitor what the child was doing. I know mine did, but it just amazes me how some let the tv babysit their kids cause they are too busy with their own lives to do anything about it...how sad.No its only to help parents manage the environment the kids will be in............

  5.8.2007 11:30 #21

• aone

  censor the internet...ROFLMAO.

  5.8.2007 18:10 #22

• mspurloc

  Originally posted by jcur31:
  A TELEVISION IS NOT A BABYSITTER!!
  Whats next, a device that scans a book an blacks out all the ofensive paragraphs.We have that now.
  It's called the San Francisco school system.
  
  And everyone knows it's the Internet that's the babysitter.

  5.8.2007 18:55 #23

• jcur31

  Your right about the SF school system, They censor anything that is not extreme liberal thinking.

  5.8.2007 19:22 #24

• bobiroc

  Originally posted by ZIppyDSM: No its only to help parents manage the environment the kids will be in............You mean one more thing Parents are not going to know how to work for the most part and one more thing for them to blame when their kids are exposed to things they do not want

  6.8.2007 05:07 #25

• plazma247

  Really anyone would think that Senator Pryor had maybe a vested financial intrest in the project for the way its being pushed, but dont get me wrong im sure he doesnt...
  
  I mean its not like anyone in goverment has ever owned shares in a company or technology that got awarded goverment contracts .....
  
  Seening as when it comes to the internet this ideas old, it just wont compete which is why they probably feel is best to push it into the tv market first... but when cable and sat channels are now normally dedicated content to a said channel surely the pin protect system thats on virtually all devices now would be fine....

  6.8.2007 09:50 #26

• borhan9

  Lets just censor everything and go and live in a bubble so no one can be affected by anything :)

  9.8.2007 04:32 #27

• RNR1995

  Land of the what????
  HOW ABOUT TRYING PARENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  I am so sick of these fossils trying to legislate morality
  He douche bag I want my teen to see boobies OK you FAG go raise your own kids and leave it up to PARENTS TO DECIDE WHAT IS GOOD AND BAD
  Quit trying to make the world "SAFE" for 5 year olds OK!

  9.8.2007 15:21 #28

• editmon

  What Kids need today.
  Parents who spend more time with their children and less time making as much money as they can to please the kids and keep them out of their hair.
  Parents who raise their children with real values not the ones the hired help, ad-agencies, and government offer.
  A little more time outside and working with their hands instead of their ass.
  An understanding that you don't need government hand outs and crappy paying jobs to make it through this world.
  An understanding that some things in life are worth paying for.
  We don't need government and in my own personal opinion some politician determining what we should and should not see and hear.
  Something on the media you don't want your kids to watch? You should be old enough to turn the content off talk to your child and make them understand what the problem is.
  If that doesn't work you could always kick their ass.
  
  Sorry, I forgot this is a "P.C." world we live in.

  10.8.2007 07:27 #29

• editmon

  What Kids need today.
  Parents who spend more time with their children and less time making as much money as they can to please the kids and keep them out of their hair.
  Parents who raise their children with real values not the ones the hired help, ad-agencies, and government offer.
  A little more time outside and working with their hands instead of their ass.
  An understanding that you don't need government hand outs and crappy paying jobs to make it through this world.
  An understanding that some things in life are worth paying for.
  We don't need government and in my own personal opinion some politician determining what we should and should not see and hear.
  Something on the media you don't want your kids to watch? You should be old enough to turn the content off talk to your child and make them understand what the problem is.
  If that doesn't work you could always kick their ass.
  I would rather my child get a butt whipping from me than to wait and let them see the consequences of bad choices in prison or the grave.
  
  Sorry, I forgot this is a "P.C." world we live in.

  10.8.2007 07:43 #30

• editmon

  What Kids need today.
  Parents who spend more time with their children and less time making as much money as they can to please the kids and keep them out of their hair.
  Parents who raise their children with real values not the ones the hired help, ad-agencies, and government offer.
  A little more time outside and working with their hands instead of their ass.
  An understanding that you don't need government hand outs and crappy paying jobs to make it through this world.
  An understanding that some things in life are worth paying for.
  We don't need government and in my own personal opinion some politician determining what we should and should not see and hear.
  Something on the media you don't want your kids to watch? You should be old enough to turn the content off talk to your child and make them understand what the problem is.
  If that doesn't work you could always kick their ass.
  I would rather my child get a butt whipping from me than to wait and let them see the consequences of bad choices in prison or the grave.
  
  Sorry, I forgot this is a "P.C." world we live in.

  10.8.2007 07:50 #31

• PetahG

  I get mad when I read governmnet plans like this...The more rules and restrictions people create ...the more you want to brake them..u create shit like this....hey ppl will just get it illegaly so they can get the foul language...and u think its all tv and video games...suck my ass u pieces of government shit....FUCK YOU>>>AND FUCK ALL OF U FAT ASSES SITTING ON R SEAT MAKING UP STUPID SHIT LIKE THIS...if parents dont want their kids to talk like that...theyll just tell em not to...they only reason kids are bad cuz parents cnat control em...if u want ur kids to be good tell the parents to stop being a pussy and give the kid a nice spanking or a s lap on the face...im european and i grew up like that and i am perfectly fine and healthy and i dont do anything bad...and i play video games and watch bad tv...just that when i watched bad stuffw hen i was little my parents would change the channel or tell me that was bad and there u go...no need of the chip...if they create a chip i hope they just stick it up their asses..why does everyone want to control everything..you might as well put chips in our heads to tell us what to do...but hey, the way its going right now it looks like itll be like that one day..
  im out peace..

  10.8.2007 09:11 #32