Family Entertainment and Copyright Act
• Amorous Pop Culture
Just don't watch the movie.
Last Tuesday, the practice of selling sanitized Hollywood movies cleared a substantial hurdle when the House passed the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act. The legislation, which is expected to be signed into law by President Bush, primarily benefits one company, Utah-based ClearPlay, which sells DVD players outfitted with a program that allows consumers to skip over material in any movie that they'd rather not see or hear.
Other companies, such as CleanFlicks, CleanFilms and Family Flix, provide simpler versions of ClearPlay's service. They buy the original Hollywood version of DVDs, painstakingly remove the material they judge inappropriate, and sell or rent it back to the consumer. Some even allow you to send them titles from your existing video library to be edited with far greater stringency than the MPAA ratings board applies to a G-rated movie.