Senate calls for FCC to consider content-blocking technologies

The Senate on Wednesday unanimously voted in favor of providing parents with more control over the content their children receive through various technologies.

The Child Safe Viewing Act, introduced last year by Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., requires the Federal Communications Commission to issue a notice of inquiry to examine what advanced content-blocking technologies are available for various communication devices and platforms. It also calls for the FCC to consider how to develop and deploy such technologies without affecting content providers' pricing or packaging.

The bill defines "advanced blocking technologies" as technology that enables parents to protect their children from "indecent or objectionable video or audio programming, as determined by the parent, that is transmitted through the use of wire, wireless, or radio communication."

The legislation still must go through the House of Representatives before being sent to the president.

While the bill does not empower the FCC to do anything other than to produce a report on its findings for Congress, it is one of a handful of steps Congress has taken in recent weeks to address threats new technologies can expose children to.

[CyR00k]

This just seems like a ridiculous waste. Don't get me wrong children should be protected to some degree but the onus is not on the FCC or the ISP's, the onus is on the parents. I limit what my daughter can access on line. It seems only reasonable to assert that, as a parent, protecting your child is your responsibility.

[Renegade Knight]

Your job is easier of the net was sorted into zones.
Call it G, PG, R, and X. Or any other combo. The FCC can arrange for that. They can also arrange for your child not being able to creat an online account anywhere without your explicit permission (or your kid lying about their age which is a different problem).

[QMT]

Such a device already exists. I believe it's called the "power button", previously known as the "on/off switch".

[sythara]

Leave it to the Dems to have the Government provide you with a solution to keep you safe from invisible threats that cannot be identified. Not to make this political though....

People just need to take some personal responsibility once in a while. Children need to be protected by their parents, thats their job and thats how it has been for as long as humans have existed. We do not need the Gov't to save us from ourselves, we need people to take some personal responsibility for their actions, and educate their children on what to and not to do. How hard can it be? Seriously. Last thing we need is Gov't developing a content blocking system, because once its out there it can potentially be used for other things, like protecting you from harmful information and such.

[cephalis]

You nailed it exactly. Don't let this camel get its nose under the tent. Next thing you know, the Chinese government will look liberal compared to ours. If an administration can politicize the DOJ, the Internet would be child's play. Look what they have done to PBS.

[fdunn3]

The best and only EFFECTIVE means of keeping your children out of trouble is by vigilant Parents.

It seems that parents (and everybody else for that matter) don't want to take personal responsibility for their obligations. When things do go wrong those same people are always looking for someone else to blame.

TAKE A GOOD LONG LOOK IN THE MIRROR...and take responsibility.

[certifiable1]

That's where the Chi-Com's made their rhetorical mistake. They really should buy a good PR firm with all our money they have. They should have been protecting the children, not the State.
Then everyyone would understand and agree with the brave new world we've entered. The children must be protected from the ugliness of opposing views regarding the State, or our political handlers.