From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 13:03:52 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Using the V-chip to Filter Commercial Advertisements
Message-ID: <ad2d664210021004aa6c@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 11:05 PM 1/25/96, Sten Drescher wrote:

>their own.  But do you really think that MTV will use a V-Code?  (It
>could be amusing if they did - 10 minutes of blank screen, then 2
>minutes of commercials when someone cranks all of their settings to
>Full Filter.)

One way to kill the V-chip dead is to announce hacks to the V-chip box that
will do the _reverse_ of this: block commercials (advertisements, for any
non-American readers) but pass programs.

(Before anyone points out that such boxes have been built, based on volume
levels, spectral content, etc., sure. What I'm speculating about is a
subversive campaign to get the meme out there that the V-chip can be used
as a filter of commercials.)

Even if it is not done, fear of the possibility of this will kill the proposal.

--Tim


Boycott espionage-enabled software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1  | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."