Federal Communications Commission FCC 09-69 Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 In the Matter of ) ) Implementation of the Child Safe Viewing Act; ) MB Docket No. 09-26 Examination of Parental Control Technologies for ) Video or Audio Programming ) REPORT Adopted: August 27, 2009 Released: August 31, 2009 By the Commission: Chairman Genachowski and Commissioners Copps, McDowell, Clyburn and Baker issuing separate statements. TABLE OF CONTENTS Heading Paragraph # I. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................. 1 II. TELEVISION......................................................................................................................................... 8 A. V-Chip............................................................................................................................................ 11 1. V-chip Data............................................................................................................................... 15 2. Potential Improvements to the V-chip ...................................................................................... 24 a. TV Parental Guidelines....................................................................................................... 25 b. Rating Advertising.............................................................................................................. 32 c. White Listing – Use of Content Descriptors to Select Programming................................. 36 d. Independent and Multiple Rating Systems......................................................................... 39 e. Other Changes to the V-chip .............................................................................................. 47 f. Intellectual Property Issues Related to the V-chip.............................................................. 49 3. Educational Efforts ................................................................................................................... 53 B. MVPD Parental Controls ............................................................................................................... 56 C. Other Parental Control Devices for Television.............................................................................. 68 1. TiVo’s KidZone ........................................................................................................................ 69 2. TVGuardian .............................................................................................................................. 74 3. CC+........................................................................................................................................... 79 4. Digital Watermarking ............................................................................................................... 81 5. Other Technologies................................................................................................................... 84 III. VIDEO GAMES................................................................................................................................... 85 IV. AUDIO-ONLY PROGRAMMING ..................................................................................................... 89 V. WIRELESS DEVICES......................................................................................................................... 94 A. Wireless Industry Guidelines and Content Controls...................................................................... 97 1. Using Content Controls........................................................................................................... 101 2. Filtering Content Using Digital Watermarking....................................................................... 103 B. Non-Content-Based Blocking and Filtering Technologies.......................................................... 104 1. General Limits on Wireless Phone Use .................................................................................. 106 2. Location-Based Services and Other Technologies.................................................................. 110 C. Open Platform Issues ................................................................................................................... 112 D. Future Developments ................................................................................................................... 113 E. Educational Efforts ...................................................................................................................... 114 VI. NON-NETWORKED DEVICES ....................................................................................................... 117 Federal Communications Commission FCC 09-69 VII.INTERNET......................................................................................................................................... 124 A. Internet ......................................................................................................................................... 124 B. Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 125 C. Previous and Current Online Safety Work................................................................................... 130 D. The Availability of Video on the Internet.................................................................................... 133 E. Discussion.................................................................................................................................... 140 1. Software Solutions .................................................................................................................. 144 2. Network Service Provider Solutions....................................................................................... 153 3. Content Service Provider Solutions ....................................................................................... 154 4. Parent and Care Giver Driven Solutions................................................................................. 168 VIII. UNIVERSAL STANDARDS .......................................................................................................... 175 IX. ENCOURAGING THE DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF PARENTAL CONTROLS.................... 179 X. CRITERIA FOR PARENTAL CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES........................................................ 187 XI. NEED FOR ADDITIONAL DATA REGARDING PARENTAL CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES.............................................................................................................................. 205 XII. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................. 213 XIII. ORDERING CLAUSES .................................................................................................................. 214 APPENDIX A – Commenters Filing in MB Docket No. 09-68 APPENDIX B – Reply Comments I. INTRODUCTION 1. We submit this Report to Congress pursuant to the Child Safe Viewing Act of 2007 (“Child Safe Viewing Act” or “Act”).1 The Act directs the Commission to provide, by August 29, 2009, an assessment of the current state of the marketplace with respect to: the existence and availability of advanced blocking technologies;2 methods of encouraging the development, deployment and use of such technologies that do not affect the packaging or pricing of programming; and the existence, availability and use of parental empowerment tools and initiatives already in the market.3 2. The Act addresses the drastic changes in the media landscape that affect children. Specifically, in the last two decades, electronic media has assumed an increasingly integral role in the lives of children.4 As a result of a number of technological innovations and the growing convergence of media, children today can access the same content sources from a variety of media platforms, many of which are portable.5 This increasingly complex media environment carries both risks and opportunities 1 See Child Safe Viewing Act of 2007, Pub. L. No. 110-452, 122 Stat. 5025 (December 2, 2008). The Act requires the Commission to issue a report to Congress no later than 270 days after the date of enactment of the Act (i.e., by August 29, 2009). See id. at Section 2(c). Because this day falls on a Saturday, we are submitting this Report to Congress on the next business day, Monday, August 31, 2009. 2 Congress defined “advanced blocking technologies” as “technologies that can improve or enhance the ability of a parent to protect his or her child from any indecent or objectionable video or audio programming, as determined by such parent, that is transmitted through the use of wire, wireless, or radio communications.” Id. at Section 2(d). 3 See id. at Section 2(a). 4 For example, a recent Nielsen survey reports that children from two to 11 years of age are spending 63 percent more time online than they did five years ago. See The Nielsen Company, Growing Up, and Growing Fast: Kids 2- 11 Spending More Time Online, July 6, 2009, http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/growing-up-and- growing-fast-kids-2-11-spending-more-time-online/. 5 For example, according to a recent survey, 77 percent of teens in the U.S. have their own mobile phone. See The Nielsen Company, How Teens Use Media, June 2009, at 8, (continued….)