When Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, it did more than lift restrictions on the telephone and cable industries. The law also included a provision requiring manufacturers to install a V-chip—a device that allows parents to block inappropriate programming from their televisions—in all television sets larger than 13 inches. The V-chip has received considerable support from Congress and even from the television industry. As stated by Madeline Levine, the author of Viewing Violence: How Media Violence Affects Your Child’s and Adolescent’s Development, the V-chip returns “some measure of control to parents who feel both horrified and helpless by the onslaught of fictional violence that their children face.”

However, the V-chip is criticized for various reasons. Some people believe that the V-chip will undermine parents’ responsibility for monitoring their children&rsquo...