Congressman Dan Burton has been a champion for parental rights and for the protection of children for decades.  He saw the need to protect children from violent or sexually explicit material, and he didn't stop until he succeeded.

Congressman Burton co-sponsored "The Parental Choice in Television Act of 1995 - H.R. 2030" and "The Children's Protection from Violent Programming Act of 1997 - H.R. 910."

In his words, "We need a system where a parent can block out a whole category of violence and sexually explicit programs if they want to, so that a two-parent working family can go to work and know their children are not going to see two women, two men, a whole bunch of people having sexual experiences, or see horrible violence in the home.

Give the parents, not government, but the parents the control over what their children see. Ninety percent of the people in the country want that. This is something that is vital for the moral well-being of the Nation.

There have been boycotts in the past that have not worked. This is the greatest boycott in the world because the parents in the home control what is coming into their homes, what their children are seeing, and if they block that out, then by gosh we are going to see some changes in this country.

The violence we see in our streets and the sex crimes are directly related to what our kids are consuming on television, and here is a chance not for Government but for the parents to control it.

For God's sake, we have been talking about this for years. It is time we gave the parents the tools."

 

V-Chip: Viewing Television Responsibly

In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Public Law 104-104, in Section 551, "Parental Choice in Television Programming," Congress enacted the following;


The FCC then adopted rules requiring all television sets with picture screens 33 centimeters (13 inches) or larger to be equipped with features to block the display of television programming based upon its rating. This technology is known as the "V-Chip." The V-Chip reads information encoded in the rated program and blocks programs from the set based upon the rating selected by the parent.

Pursuant to the Commission's rules, half of all new television models 13 inches or larger manufactured after July 1, 1999, and all sets 13 inches or larger manufactured after January 1, 2000 must have V-Chip technology. Set top boxes that allow consumers to use V-Chip technology on their existing sets are now available.

Congress gave the broadcasting industry the first opportunity to establish voluntary ratings. The industry established a system for rating programming that contains sexual, violent or other material parents may deem inappropriate and committed to voluntarily broadcast signals containing these ratings.

The rating system, also known as "TV Parental Guidelines," was established by the National Association of Broadcasters, the National Cable Television Association and the Motion Picture Association of America. These ratings are displayed on the television screen for the first 15 seconds of rated programming and, in conjunction with the V-Chip, permit parents to block programming with a certain rating from coming into their home.

Resources

TV Parental Guidelines

Questions about the V-Chip - Frequently Asked Questions

Parental Choice in Television Act of 1995 - H.R. 2030

The Children's Protection from Violent Programming Act of 1997 - H.R. 910