Signals & Noise: June 20, 1996

Regarding censorship and the V chip ("To V or not to V," EDN, April 25, 1996), Steven H Leibson writes, "I do not consider the addition of V-chip technology to be censorship, because you control what you can and cannot watch." Unfortunately, this position neglects the group that does have a choice: TV manufacturers. Yet again, the private sector must accommodate an overbearing federal government that has no right to dictate what parts businesses must include in their products. The point is not the cost ("a negligible $1''), but the principle: the further intrusion by the government into business and the private lives of citizens.

Michael K Vance
Bethlehem, PA

I am not in favor of censorship; therefore, I am not in favor of the V chip. You can't separate the two. For now, you can turn the V chip off. But, can you guarantee that you will be able to do so in the future? A community could decide that it wants no sexually explicit or violent programming. Or, the local government could decide that it wants the chip on the transmitter of the local TV or radio station to stop "inappropriate" broadcasting. A few years ago, some TV stations decided not to show the season premiere of NYPD Blue over the local airwaves. This situation convinced me that no one else should have the right to tell me what I can or cannot view in the privacy of my home.

Henry Czajak
East Syracuse, NY

I already have parental control: It's called the on/off switch. If I can't trust my children when I am not around, no amount of V-chip technology will solve the deeper problems within the family. The V Chip is the first step in allowing government to control my personal life. If the government is really interested in my children, it would be pursuing a V-chip technology for beer bottles. Teen drinking (and driving) is far more serious and deadly than late-night TV.

Steve O'Shaughnessy
via the Internet

A government-mandated V chip is another incursion into the marketplace by those who don't participate. Why should television prices be increased across the board for something that, as Leibson writes, doesn't have to be activated?

I call the V chip another example of parental irresponsibility, not control. If you don't want your children to watch something, don't turn on the set. The V chip will encourage the "electronic babysitter" and the absence of parents' involvement in their children's lives.

Jim Perry
via the Internet

The presence of the V chip in TVs will absolve the broadcaster of responsibility. The broadcaster can show graphic close-ups of people's heads exploding, as long as he appropriately rates the program. Therefore, if I want to ensure that my family doesn't see this type of show, I am forced to buy a television receiver with the V chip and to become proficient at programming the feature. I can't complain to the broadcaster, because he will say, "Hey, the program is correctly rated; it's not our problem." As I foresee it, the net result will be a further reduction in the acceptability of average program content.

David Richards
Costa Mesa, CA

I predict that within five years of the V chip's implementation, we'll have soft porn and far more violence on the standard cable-TV package (not "pay-per-view"). The network programmers will start letting a few scenes filter through the morality checkpoint, because they know that more conservative people will already have installed the V-chip. Those people who are behind the technology curve will be able to view anything. Our unsupervised, latchkey, TV-raised kids will be violent sex fiends when they grow up. For these reasons, I am against the V chip. The anticensorship people, who tend to be in their 20s, should have their own cable channels.

David Haile
via the Internet

Even if every TV in the country has a fully programmed V chip, absentee parents could not keep video violence at bay. Most VCRs can easily double as a front end. (Hitting the "TV/VCR" button lets you remotely access all stations while leaving the TV itself on channel 3 or 4.) Children will have no problem getting around any lockouts on TV. Now, I suppose one could put V chips in every VCR, every cable-service decoder, every PC, and every toaster, but I hope that reason will prevail. Technical solutions should never be proffered to enhance political agendas.

Don Mennie
Mendham, NJ

The government is stepping in with a bad solution to a problem that is trivial and that already has a good solution. Compared with the real problems facing society (the national debt, drug abuse, decaying neighborhoods, to name a few), is the V chip an issue that should get high priority? Even if it were an important problem, the solution is as simple as not turning the TV on or turning it off if you don't care to see what is on. This solution has always existed.

Steve Ravet
via the Internet