Parental Controls for Television Viewing: Can They Be Trusted?

Many people who don't "worship" every new technological advancement that is made are now saying that the world's artificial intelligence future isn't looking so bright when people begin suggesting that parental control should be left to TV remote controls. The article, "Smart TV Remote Could Censor Shows for Kids" explains how research is being conducted to enable parents to censor the shows and programs their children can view. Test remote controls were equipped with sensors capable of detecting how they are handled by different individuals. For example, the way in which a person holds the remote when changing channels, adjusting the volume, color, brightness, contrast, or any other feature, is picked up and "remembered" or recorded by the sensors in order to "profile" the user. A study of the efficiency of these sensors in modified TV remote controls was conducted and found to be between 60 and 90 percent accurate in their identification of each user based on that user's way of handling and using the device.

Many people still believe that parental control should be exercised by parents, not by TV remote controls or any other electronic device using artificial intelligence. Why? There are several valid reasons for these beliefs. Most parents who attempt to use parental control are very deficient in their knowledge of computers and the jargon used by adolescents and teens to communicate with one another in "code" in the very presence of their parents or guardians without being detected. For example, some parents have attempted to surprise their child in the act of viewing prohibited sites or engaging in forbidden conversations with shady internet characters. A teen-aged girl remembers chatting with one of her friends via instant messaging (IM) when her mother unexpectedly walked up next to her to take a peek at her conversation. The teenager had been previously warned by her mother that she might be monitored without prior notice--a decision she had "agreed" to respect. Her mother had also agreed to only take a peek at her conversation in order to avoid invading her daughter's privacy. She simply desired to ensure that her child wasn't conversing with some strange adult she had met in a chat room or about things she shouldn't be discussing. However, her parental control controlled nothing. Her daughter would simply alert the person to whom she was talking with the warning "MOS" or "mom over shoulder" so that the true conversation, full of secrets, would not be discovered.

A good number of parents are also ignorant of the many technical ways in which even their very young children can get around restrictions without them ever realizing it. There's also the question of why the future of artificial intelligence appears to suggest that parenting will be taken over by computerized gadgets, robots, and perhaps androids who will serve as babysitters and parents in the absence of kids' real "parents." True parental control for surfing the Internet has not been achieved via even the most sophisticated software. Will TV remote controls prove to be any more successful than software developed for the same purpose? The best artificial intelligence is not a match for even common sense because it is artificial.