STATEMENT OF
ACTING CHAIRMAN MICHAEL J. COPPS
Re: Implementation of the Child Safe Viewing Act; Examination of Parental Control 
Technologies for Video or Audio Programming, MB Docket No. 09-26 
Graphically violent and indecent content is all too present in our media.  Parents 
are the first line of defense against these barrages of violent and indecent images.  But 
parents must be armed with information about programming content and the tools to 
prevent their children’s exposure to content the parents find objectionable.  Although 
advances in media technology present our children with new opportunities for learning 
and acquiring skills to succeed in our increasingly technology-driven society, at the same 
time they pose challenges to parents’ ability to control the content to which their children 
are exposed.  Even if a parent successfully programs the V-chip or cable or satellite 
parental controls to protect his or her children from objectionable television content, the 
children can find some of the same programming online or on advanced wireless devices.
I am pleased that Congress asked us to examine these issues.  I look forward to 
hearing from parents and children’s advocates regarding what tools parents need to 
protect their children from content they deem harmful, as well as from industry players 
regarding steps they can take to help parents do their jobs.  I also would like to hear from 
technology experts, and hope that they will apply the same creativity and talent to 
developing the next generation of blocking and parental empowerment technologies that 
they do in developing the advanced media applications themselves.