Signals & Noise: July 18, 1996

The V-chip debate

Steven H Leibson writes that he fails to understand "the sensitivity to an intrusion that you cannot detect unless you activate it" ("To V or not to V,"April 25, 1996 , pg 13). I am not sensitive to the V chip; I think it's a waste. Suppose we create a rating system and install this device into TVs so parents can "control" what their children watch. How will this chip prevent children from watching shows they shouldn't? As an engineer, I can think of countless ways to defeat this V chip. According to several studies, there is nearly one VCR per American household. Most VCRs contain a tuner that you can use to obtain cable or broadcast stations. All you need is around $10 to buy a cable and splitter to bypass the V chip.
David Gradin
via the Internet

What Leibson has overlooked is the effect on the supply of viewing choices. We can see this effect in the motion-picture industry. Studios go back to the cutting room to obtain a target rating. The NC-17 rating was created because theaters wouldn't show anything that received an X for violence. Even with the new rating, some theaters still won't show movies that can't get an R rating. This system means you can't see these movies in some places or that the movies never get made because the number of venues is too limited.

I find it ridiculous to think that the TV industry won't also target the ratings. I can foresee both a station's refusal to carry certain ratings and the regulation that mandates G-rated programming during prime time. Will Public Broadcasting System's Nature get violent ratings on the episodes that feature animals killing each other? There is sensitivity to the V chip because people suspect, and I believe rightly so, that the V chip will affect everyone, whether they use it or not.
Ken Descoteaux
via the Internet

The V chip allows parents to control programming for children. Perhaps it may allow broadcasters to lift censorship at their level, broadcasting shows "not edited for television."
Eric Woodbury
via the Internet

Who could argue with Leibson's position? With the V-chip concept, we may someday be free from the current censorship that the film-rating system arbitrarily imposes on us.
Thomas Becker
Kenosha, WI