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In 2009,will it be possible for the government to turn off our TV sets at their will with digital technology?

Say, for instance, if the government hypothetically wanted to stop someone from watching a particular television broadcast on the new digital television format (starting in 2009), will the techology exist to allow such an interuption of a person's ability to receive certain television signals. For instance, if there is a cult in Waco, Texas, and they are hooked on a religious broadcast - - will the U.S. government simply be able to flip a switch and turn off their individual television sets? Does this technology exists within the new all digital television sets? Can they be individually identified, and can one tell what another person is watching on a digital television with the use of a special device that somehow reads what channel is being watched on a digital television set? Thanks. Any additional thoughts concerning this matter are certainly welcomed.

Public Comments

1. I don't think the switch to digital video gives them any more control than they already have. The digital signals will be distributed in the same way as current analog broadcasts, via cable, satellite, and broadcast. There is certainly no way to control a set tuned to a broadcast. With satellite and cable, the service providers already have varying amounts of control over your connection. Many systems use a remote authorization, so your cable access can be turned off from a computer somewhere in the local system. This is achieved by setting access codes in your decoder box. Programming is not individually streamed to your receiver, so controlling or identifying what you are actually watching right now is not generally a system capability. It's probably possible to build that into the decoder box, though. Government control of any of this is unlikely. If they're after you in particular, they already have all sorts of means of monitoring what you're doing. In general, though, they'd be looking for something a little more actionable than what TV programming you're watching. They'll be more concerned about personal communications. A certain amount of paranoia about government intelligence is a good thing, but I think your concern is misplaced in this case.
2. Don't underestimate your government to spy on you and manipulate your world to the nth. degree --- right before your eyes and you may not even be aware of it, yet. This country is no longer the one that it use to be before organized religion and business hijacked are true American values and create the New World Order. But more directly related to your question: going digital with HDTV is going to make television far more personal and interactive. It is an exciting advancement for the public---but don't let your guard down---the V-chip is far more than what the government is telling people about. Interactive TV http://www.media-visions.com/itv-vchip.html
3. if u subscribe to ip tv,ur reception can be held by the company providing the service if u dont pay the bill. if it is a govt company,the ans to ur quest is yes. if the govt is not comfortable with the content,it nwwds to get court orders to stop its transmission. otherwise it cant stop as it againgt right to freedom of media.
4. The government can turn off at least some TV's (seem to be mostly larger ones) at will with analog technology. You can turn them right back on again and it's non-selective, but certain static/dead air patterns will turn off some TV's *now*. We had that in my high school 10 years ago, and one of the TVs at my parents' house will repeatedly turn itself on/off all the time on one particular "dead space" cable channel. I wouldn't be too freaked out. I really doubt that the government is really that bored to set up a system like this. . . unless, of course, they're trying to see if we watch shows about how to become a terrorist. :) Those Nielsen boxes (in ratings-monitoring households) and apparently at least some DVR's already are watching what you watch even if you have an analog TV. Just ask the TiVo folks what the most popular Superbowl commercials are.
5. No. Quite the contrary. They will want them on. The LCD display can actually be scanned during each pixel's "off" time and an image of what the TV "sees" in front of it can be stored and sent back over the cable. Some cable systems do this to monitor programming, i.e., how many people are watching particular shows. This data is then used to set advertising rates. This isn't possible with an older analog set due to the continuous nature of analog. JUST KIDDING!!!