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V-Chip: Televisions
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The V-Chip is in every television set 13 inches or larger manufactured after January 2000 and some sets sold after July 1, 1999. This means if you bought a new television set after July 1, 1999, your television is most likely equipped with a V-Chip.
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The new V-Chip isn't really a chip. It's software that blocks programs that stray outside a ratings boundary set by the television user. The new technology is designed to accommodate changes in the ratings standards used by broadcasters to rate their content. The analog V-Chip was designed for the technology used to communicate the ratings when the technical standard was drawn up in the late 1990s.
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One final note regarding the implementation of the V-Chip: It is not likely that the V-Chip will appear in the television receiver as a chip at all! The embedded micro-controller already resident in modern television receivers would handle the XDS data recovery/comparison and implement the program blocking feature attributed to the V-Chip. Indeed, IC manufacturers Mitusibishi, Motorola, Sanyo, and Zilog already offer microcontrollers with built-in Closed Caption and On-Screen Display (OSD) functions. Implementation of V-Chip technology would simply require a software change.
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The constitutional status of the V-Chip is inextricably linked to the special constituitonal treatment of broadcasting in American constitutional law. For many years, broadcast media have been subject to much greater content-based regulation than print media. For example, in FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of FCC restrictions on indecency as applied to a radio broadcast of George Carlin's "Filthy Words" monologue.(8) More recently, the D.C. Circuit upheld "safe harbor" provisions that permit indecent speech on broadcast television only from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.(9)
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The V-Chip intercepts a ratings code transmitted by broadcasters or video. Itthen interprets the code and transmits a signal to your television givinginstructions to deny access to all programming or video exceeding your presetratings limitations. When the television receives this code, channels displayinginappropriate programming, will display an "unauthorized to receive message" ona blank screen.
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In the US legislation was introduced into Congress which called for a TV rating system and a V-Chip component in new television receivers. In Canada, the CRTC set up a program classification system to be in place by 1997 for incorporation into the V-Chip technology. The European parliament followed suit.
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