Here Comes V-Chip 2.0… But Is It Actually Needed?

from the why-mandated-by-law? dept

Jennifer DeLeo writes “Beginning on March 15, the FCC says it will require all new products with digital television receivers to incorporate parental control capabilities by way of a new “open” version of the V-chip that can be reprogrammed to adapt to changing standards. But studies have found that few actually take advantage of the chip’s capabilities. To the CEA, which represents TV and other consumer-electronics manufacturers, the V-chip represents unnecessary governmental intervention.” Why not just offer it as an option for parents who want it?


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Comments on “Here Comes V-Chip 2.0… But Is It Actually Needed?”

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16 Comments
Anonymous Coward says:

http://www.BlowMeUpTOM.COM

out with parents taking control of their children and in with just dropping them in front of a TV screen until age 18… when kids will have more rights and will be able to watch whatever they want to watch (but by that time, the only TV that will be available, will be BROAD-cast.. ie; metrosexual television for women and the men who want to be women)

(feminist groups: notice how I didn’t even mention “tank-top”, aka “wife-beater t-shirt”)

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re:2 http://www.BlowMeUpTOM.COM

I bet she walks around with them as a trophy around her neck proudly showing them off to her friends. Plus, I bet the neighbors and her boss are happier that you have no balls… This way they can have her.

Unless, of course, she is one of the bible thumping family oriented fakes that I so love to piss off by being the atheist arsehole at work in the bible belt here in “souf werst geiorja”.

The V chip is a piece of crap that parents wouldn’t need if they treated their homes the way they should… Being a parent is not like being a democratic leader. It is more like being a dictator. Parent says, child does. Nothing between. I hate to say it, but these parents that think that this touchy feely crap is helping their children are fooling themselves. Their children grow up to become the same spineless pieces of uneducated crap that I have to fight with to even come to work every day. Not to mention no work ethic ever. The only time they care is when you take their checks away by firing them.

It doesn’t matter what I think… personal responsibility, ethics, proper home training, and the like are gone… replaced by complacency, apathy, and hopelessness.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re:3 http://www.BlowMeUpTOM.COM

Bible thumping family oriented fakes? I believe:

Proverbs 13:24 He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.”

Aka “spare the rod spoil the child”

And the same book that puts disobeying your parents on par with murder has a lot to say about being weak-willed pushover parents. Sure does…

But go on being the atheist arsehole, I absolutely love your worldview.

Squegie says:

Re: Re: Re:4 http://www.BlowMeUpTOM.COM

Not sure what the original poster truly meant by “Bible thumping family oriented fakes” but when I first read it, I was reminded of some people I know that are “Bible thumpers” in word only, but not in action. I believe the word is “hypocritical.” Or maybe he was calling all “Bible thumpers” fake.

There is an ever growing gap (ok, I’ll accept that it’s always been this way) between those that follow God’s word and those that use God’s word to further their own viewpoints, and for those that are used to experienced the latter, the former get lumped in the same category.

TJ says:

DTV appears to be the catalyst

I agree that it seems like the current V chip has had little value, but it seems that way in part because a vocal few keep complaining about not being able to stop trash on TV despite having a technology to help them block whatever they wish. However, the summary of the linked article fails to mention that a key reason for the new chip is that the old V chip cannot support digital TV (DTV), therefore in three years no new TVs would have over-the-air V chip capability. Since a new DTV V chip was being designed, the design was also modernized and made more adaptable for the future.

To me this issue goes beyond the V chip. With 90% of USA’ns getting TV signals from cable or satellite, why in the Hell must new TVs require the expense of an over-the-air tuner at all? No tuner, no need for a V chip, even less expense, which might benefit 90% of buyers. However, I suggest that no company would build them that way regardless.

What manufacturer would want theirs to be the only TVs without a built-in DTV tuner? None of course, which is why “HDTV-ready” TVs have been selling for two years or more that we now know will almost certainly not provide HDTV quality for copy-protected content. Marketing will generally trump the unit cost to add an already engineered feature to the latest version of a commodity gizmo, just as supply and demand and other market factors will trump manufacturing costs when setting the retail price for the gizmo. This is business 101.

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