From: stewarts@ix.netcom.com (Bill Stewart)
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 95 17:02:37 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Sex & Crime TV filter
Message-ID: <199508010000.RAA28911@ix3.ix.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


>Yesterday I heard in the radio that someone in America has developed
>some device which darkens the TV screen if there is sex or crime on TV. 

It's the "V-Chip" for blocking television programs marked as "Violent" 
by the broadcasters, which some politicians are proposing to require that
all TV makers install in new TVs and all broadcasters label all programs.
The descriptions in the press have made it sound like there's one bit of
control info,
which would be very stupid; multiple bits would at least allow parents to
block programs separately for
violence/sex/nudity/nasty-words/political-correctness.
That would also be offensive, and more likely to be used.

Unlike VCR-plus, which is a complex hash of the time and channel for a given
program
(complexity included so you have to buy TV Guide magazine), any V-chip codes
could be handled automatically.  (Also, V-chip is designed to turn the TV off,
while VCR-plus is designed to turn the recorder on.  If the designers were
clever,
the V-chip mechanism can probably also block video-tapes with V-chip codes?)

If somebody wanted to develop a free-market rating service, the most convenient
mechanism would probably be to broadcast VCR-plus codes with detailed
information
about programs to a set-top box, so you could sell features like
        - block speeches by annoying politicians
        - record all football matches but not other sports events
        - record the closed captioning from infomercials and parse for
                telephone numbers so you can order things automatically!
        - turn on the Nintendo whenever Barney the Dinosaur is on.

Blocking commercials would be fun, but would probably be illegal :-),
or at least stations that supported it would have trouble getting advertisers.
(It would almost certainly be illegal to block the "Enhanced Underwriting"
on public broadcasting, since otherwise you wouldn't get to hear
"The Environmental Correctness Show has been brought to you by a grant
from BigOil corporation, lubricating the Alaskan shoreline for 15 years!".)

        
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