V Chip

Inside the book-lined study of his orderly, wisteria-draped Tudor, Tim Collings rummages around his desk until he finds it -- the half-inch square of wired black plastic labeled "V." This is the apparatus that once generated wild praise from politicians, rampant fear of lost ratings and stifled free speech among broadcasters, and a glimmer of hope that technology could help save children from violence on the airwaves.

Inside the book-lined study of his orderly, wisteria-draped Tudor, Tim Collings rummages around his desk until he finds it -- the half-inch square of wired black plastic labeled "V." This is the apparatus that once generated wild praise from politicians, rampant fear of lost ratings and stifled free speech among broadcasters, and a glimmer of hope that technology could help save children from violence on the airwaves.

Contrary to the pre-election year rhetoric of Republican and Democratic leaders, the v-chip technology currently being touted as a tool to protect children from the dangers of television may very well result in de facto censorship. If pending congressional legislation becomes law, the v-chip will be able to block out any programming deemed "objectionable" according to the guidelines of a yet-to-be-determined ratings system. Unfortunately, television advertisers have a long history of fleeing from controversial programming.

Acacia Research Corp. said Friday that it lost a patent infringement claim against television makers over its "V-chip" technology in the early stages of litigation. The claim was dismissed by the U.S. District Court in Connecticut, the Newport Beach company said. Acacia might pursue antitrust charges or file an appeal. V-chips, designed to let parents block adult and violent shows from their sets, are required in televisions with screens larger than 13 inches and sold after 1999.

Howard Rosenberg's lukewarm support for the "V" chip is a hesitant step in the wrong direction ("A Chip Off the Same Old Block," Calendar, Feb. 4). I would summarize his argument as, "Gee, if people want it, what the heck, what harm can it do?" Au contraire, Mr. Rosenberg, the "V" chip can do plenty of harm.

Question: Ted Turner warned that the adoption of the V-chip and a ratings system is going to cost the entertainment industry some money. Do you think he's right about that? And in any event, is it a good trade-off for that industry as well as for the country? * Answer: Well, I don't know whether he's right or not.

Almost half of the new television sets in the United States will be equipped with a V-chip by July 1, and manufacturers are on track to meet a year-end deadline for including the blocking device in all new sets, federal officials said Wednesday. The V-chip is designed to allow parents to black out shows that they find objectionable. The industry rates programs on content and suitability for age.

If print media had the same token constraints TV does, this article would be rated Newspaper-14 due to references to sex and violence and some big words they indubitably don't teach before high school age. And most parents probably wouldn't pay the content warning much mind, just as, a new study shows, they aren't doing with the TV ratings.

Forget about a v-chip to block the smut and violence shown on TV. What this country really needs is a chip to block TV infomercials. VERNA JOHNSON Oceanside

Despite strong concern about children's exposure to sex and violence on television, parents remain split about how to approach the problem, according to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation released Tuesday.

If print media had the same token constraints TV does, this article would be rated Newspaper-14 due to references to sex and violence and some big words they indubitably don't teach before high school age. And most parents probably wouldn't pay the content warning much mind, just as, a new study shows, they aren't doing with the TV ratings.

Despite strong concern about children's exposure to sex and violence on television, parents remain split about how to approach the problem, according to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation released Tuesday.

The June issue of Glamour magazine has national affairs editor David France writing about a word association game he played in New York City with campaigning Texas Gov. George W. Bush. France reports the game took a "dark turn" when Bush, a lock for the GOP presidential nomination, was asked to respond to "Sex and the City," an urbane, ribald comedy series that chronicles the libidinous adventures of four single females in New York City.

So here I am with this new TV, the kind with a V-chip in its belly, which lets me screen out objectionable shows and make television safe again. It's a fine TV, with a little window in the corner that lets me watch two shows at once. And a remote control that I can read with my fingertips, like Braille. But it's this V-chip I'm curious about. Starting Jan. 1, almost every new TV will come with this V-chip. It lets parents program out stuff they don't want the kids to see. Language. Sex.

TV sets equipped with the V-chip gizmo are now in stores, but there have been no reports of a mad stampede by consumers to snap them up. The V-chip is a device that enables parents to block out TV programs above a certain parental-guidance rating level--say, TV-14--so their kids can't watch such shows. The V-chip has always seemed a shaky notion, intrusive in concept and very complicated to operate.

Tim Collings admits feeling a bit like an expectant father on the eve of his creation, the V-chip, becoming available in the U.S., as new TV sets featuring the technology finally begin finding their way into American homes. An assistant professor at Technical University of British Columbia in Surrey, B.C.

Nina J. Easton's examination of the precarious relationship between "reluctant warrior" Jack Valenti and the V-chip crusaders is a lucid, finely crafted treatise on the sordid nature of paternalistic government and interest-group politics ("He Knows What You Want," Oct. 20). Even more strikingly, Easton demonstrates the outright absurdity of Valenti's election as arbiter of this cultural dispute. The genesis of the V-chip imbroglio is this: It is what free-market-oriented economists call the "tragedy of the commons"--that is, the intractable and vicious conflicts that arise when a given resource, such as television, is "publicly" owned, controlled or supervised.

The June issue of Glamour magazine has national affairs editor David France writing about a word association game he played in New York City with campaigning Texas Gov. George W. Bush. France reports the game took a "dark turn" when Bush, a lock for the GOP presidential nomination, was asked to respond to "Sex and the City," an urbane, ribald comedy series that chronicles the libidinous adventures of four single females in New York City.

If you thought programming your VCR was tough, wait until you try blocking out offensive programming from your television. Starting July 1, half of all televisions coming off the assembly line with 13-inch screens or greater will have to be equipped with the so-called V-Chip, a device that allows parents to block television programming that they believe may be harmful to their children. By the end of the year, all of these televisions will have to be manufactured with the chip.

Almost half of the new television sets in the United States will be equipped with a V-chip by July 1, and manufacturers are on track to meet a year-end deadline for including the blocking device in all new sets, federal officials said Wednesday. The V-chip is designed to allow parents to black out shows that they find objectionable. The industry rates programs on content and suitability for age.