I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 602 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 2, 2008 

Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

AN ACT 

To develop the next generation of parental control 

technology. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Safe Viewing 

5 Act of 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Video programming has a direct impact on 

4 a child’s perception of safe and reasonable behavior. 

5 (2) Children may imitate actions they witness 

6 on video programming, including language, drug 

7 use, and sexual conduct. 

8 (3) Studies suggest that the strong appeal of 

9 video programming erodes the ability of parents to 

10 develop responsible attitudes and behavior in their 

11 children. 

12 (4) The average American child watches 4 

13 hours of television each day. 

14 (5) 99.9 percent of all consumer complaints 

15 logged by the Federal Communications Commission 

16 in the first quarter of 2006 regarding radio and tele17 vision broadcasting were because of obscenity, inde18 cency, and profanity. 

19 (6) There is a compelling government interest 

20 in empowering parents to limit their children’s expo21 sure to harmful television content. 

22 (7) Section 1 of the Communications Act of 

23 1934 requires the Federal Communications Commis24 sion to promote the safety of life and property 

25 through the use of wire and radio communications. 


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1 (8) In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 

2 Congress authorized Parental Choice in Television 

3 Programming and the V-Chip. Congress further di4 rected action on alternative blocking technology as 

5 new video technology advanced. 

6 SEC. 3. EXAMINATION OF ADVANCED BLOCKING TECH7 NOLOGIES AND EXISTING PARENTAL EM8 POWERMENT TOOLS. 

9 (a) INQUIRY REQUIRED.—Not later than 90 days 

10 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Com11 munications Commission shall initiate a notice of inquiry 

12 to consider measures to examine— 

13 (1) the existence and availability of advanced 

14 blocking technologies that are compatible with var15 ious communications devices or platforms; 

16 (2) methods of encouraging the development, 

17 deployment, and use of such technology by parents 

18 that do not affect the packaging or pricing of a con19 tent provider’s offering; and 

20 (3) the existence, availability, and use of paren21 tal empowerment tools and initiatives already in the 

22 market. 

23 (b) CONTENT OF PROCEEDING.—In conducting the 

24 inquiry required under subsection (a), the Commission 

25 shall consider advanced blocking technologies that— 


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1 (1) may be appropriate across a wide variety of 

2 distribution platforms, including wired, wireless, and 

3 Internet platforms; 

4 (2) may be appropriate across a wide variety of 

5 devices capable of transmitting or receiving video or 

6 audio programming, including television sets, DVD 

7 players, VCRs, cable set top boxes, satellite receiv8 ers, and wireless devices; 

9 (3) can filter language based upon information 

10 in closed captioning; 

11 (4) operate independently of ratings pre-as12 signed by the creator of such video or audio pro13 gramming; and 

14 (5) may be effective in enhancing the ability of 

15 a parent to protect his or her child from indecent or 

16 objectionable programming, as determined by such 

17 parent. 

18 (c) REPORTING.—Not later than 270 days after the 

19 enactment of this Act, the Commission shall issue a report 

20 to Congress detailing any findings resulting from the in21 quiry required under subsection (a). 

22 (d) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘ad23 vanced blocking technologies’’ means technologies that can 

24 improve or enhance the ability of a parent to protect his 

25 or her child from any indecent or objectionable video or 


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1 audio programming, as determined by such parent, that 

2 is transmitted through the use of wire, wireless, or radio 

3 communication. 

Passed the Senate October 1 (legislative day, September 17), 2008. 

Attest: NANCY ERICKSON, 

Secretary. 


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