STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER MIGNON L. CLYBURN
Re:  Implementation of Child Safe Viewing Act; Examination of Parental Control 
Technologies for Video or Audio Programming, MB Docket No. 09-26; Report
I commend Senator Mark Pryor and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and 
Transportation for compelling the Commission to take stock of the current technologies that 
afford parents greater control over the content available to their children through various media.  
Today’s Report is a small step forward in our larger quest to ensure that the digital age is a 
thoroughly positive one for parents and their children.
On a daily basis, parents are faced with the seemingly insurmountable challenge of 
monitoring what their children are viewing.  Especially in today’s economy, where parents may 
be forced to work harder and longer to make ends meet, many children have more time without 
direct supervision.  Under these conditions, our duty is to find ways to help parents maintain a 
presence even when they are not actually there.  Families deserve that level of security and peace 
of mind.
Today’s Report catalogues the myriad blocking technologies available across a variety of 
platforms and describes the lack of consistency among and within those platforms.  It appears that 
many parents are unaware of these technologies or, even if aware, they have been unable to figure 
out how to use them.  The upshot is that parents are currently wading around in a digital gumbo, 
either unfamiliar with the many available tools or simply overwhelmed by them.
What remains unexamined is exactly why parents have not adopted the various advanced 
blocking technologies.  Are they simply unaware?  Are the technologies too confusing?  Is the 
discontinuity in the ratings a factor?  These are critical questions that must be answered if we are 
to come to grips with why the V-chip and other technologies of its kind have failed to become a 
meaningful part of the viewing experiences of American families.  The information is out there; 
our job is to find and cultivate it.
I thank the various bureaus and offices that worked hard to produce this Report in a 
timely fashion.  I look forward to working with them, the Chairman, and my fellow 
Commissioners to further this inquiry and provide families with meaningful control over the 
many forms of media available to their children.