Imagine parents putting in the movie "Titanic" to entertain a young child while they go off to do work around the house. The movie plays continuously - the impressionable child soaking in the dialogue and plot - until the scene where Kate Winslett's breast is exposed. Suddenly it skips ahead to avoid the material.

A bill signed by President Bush on Wednesday protects new technology that filters out or mutes sections of commercial movies. Called the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, the legislation stops Hollywood studios and directors from suing the manufacturers and distributors of DVD players with this type of technology.

Members of the film industry are rightly upset by the legislation. By enabling consumers to omit portions of a film, they are significantly altering the filmmaker's art. It's almost like throwing a shawl on the Venus de Milo.

What Bush and the legislators on Capitol Hill don't seem to realize is this type of technology is unnecessary. If parents do not want their susceptible children to watch offensive behavior in a movie, they shouldn't let them watch it in the first place.

There are reasons for the ratings put on movies. Those ratings are there so people, especially parents, can judge whether or not the content of the movie is appropriate for certain audiences.

Parents have a responsibility to raise their children with good values. Movies containing behavior parents find contrary to the morals they are trying to impart should be banned from the house or restricted from the children. Parents shouldn't depend on a DVD player to do their job censoring their children's movies. Furthermore, for the federal government to endorse what is essentially a form of censorship seems wrong.

This bill is the type of moral legislation that Bush has advocated so strongly for throughout his presidency.

People need to be more conscientious of what they are watching and letting their children watch. Depending on technology to do their job is lazy and poor parenting.