II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 602 

To develop the next generation of parental control technology. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2007 

Mr. PRYOR introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Video programming has a direct impact on 

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


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1 (2) Children imitate actions they witness on 

2 video programming, including language, drug use, 

3 and sexual conduct. 

4 (3) Studies indicate that the strong appeal of 

5 video programming erodes the ability of parents to 

6 develop responsible attitudes and behavior in their 

7 children. 

8 (4) The average American child watches 4 

9 hours of television each day. 

10 (5) Seventy-five percent of adults surveyed be11 lieve that television content marketed toward chil12 dren should be subject to compulsory principles. 

13 (6) Ninety-nine and nine-tenths percent of all 

14 consumer complaints logged by the Federal Commu15 nications Commission in the first quarter of 2006 

16 regarding radio and television broadcasting were be17 cause of obscenity, indecency, and profanity. 

18 (7) There is a compelling government interest 

19 in empowering parents to limit their children’s expo20 sure to harmful television content. 

21 (8) Section 1 of the Communications Act of 

22 1934 requires the Federal Communications Commis23 sion to promote the safety of life and property 

24 through the use of wire and radio communications. 


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1 (9) 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. EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVE PARENTAL CON7 TROL TECHNOLOGIES. 

8 (a) RULEMAKING PROCEEDING REQUIRED.—Not 

9 later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this 

10 Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall ini11 tiate a proceeding to consider measures to encourage or 

12 require the use of advanced blocking technologies that are 

13 compatible with various communications devices or plat14 forms. 

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

16 proceeding required under subsection (a), the Federal 

17 Communications Commission shall consider advanced 

18 blocking technologies that— 

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

20 distribution platforms, including wired, wireless, and 

21 Internet platforms; 

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

23 devices capable of transmitting or receiving video or 

24 audio programming, including television sets, DVD 


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1 players, VCRs, cable set top boxes, satellite receiv2 ers, and wireless devices; 

3 (3) can filter language based upon information 

4 in closed captioning; 

5 (4) operate independently of ratings pre-as6 signed by the creator of such video or audio pro7 gramming; and 

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

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

10 objectionable programming, as determined by such 

11 parent. 

12 (c) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘ad13 vanced blocking technologies’’ means technologies that can 

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

15 or her child from any indecent or objectionable video or 

16 audio programming, as determined by such parent, that 

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

18 communication. 

Æ 


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