A favorable 18-9 vote from the House Judiciary Subcommittee on The Family Movie Act is the first step in a campaign to allow technology manufacturers to create filters that censor sex, violence, and profanity from movies.
The bill, known as House Resolution 4586, is meant to give parents a tool to protect their children from potentially harmful entertainment. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the bill’s author, likens the technology to skipping a paragraph in a book. “Parents should have a right to show any movie they want and skip or mute any content they find objectionable,” he said in a recent statement.
Opponents of the bill claim that the law will benefit the Utah-based company, Clear Play, which already markets a filtering system that expurgates material from over 600 DVD releases such as Cocoon and Barbershop 2.
Hollywood argues that such devices alter their copyrighted material without their permission and could aid consumers in removing commercials from network television. They claim that companies like Clear Play utilize their property without paying the proper licensing fees.
The Directors Guild of America recently filed suit against Clear Play for alleged copyright violations. Dan McGinn, a representative for the group, recently lambasted Clear Play’s practices. “You’re getting a doctored reinterpretation of the product,” he said. “What they have is a new version of the product. It should be licensed.”
The bill requires ratification from both the House of Representatives and the Senate to become law.
