A company called ClearPlay has released a new DVD player that automatically filters inappropriate content. What does this mean? The player skips past the "bad" scenes and mutes curse words.

ClearPlay first released a version of their player in 2004, only to find themselves in a legal battle with Hollywood directors who did not want the company to edit their films without their approval, according to a 2004 USA Today article. Then, in 2005, Congress passed the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, designed "To provide for the protection of intellectual property rights, and for other purposes." Part of this bill made it "explicitly legal for companies like ClearPlay to sell software which automatically edits out anything that anyone might possibly find objectionable from DVDs," according to Engadget.

As a practical matter, what does all this mean? ClearPlay creates a list of films that you load onto their DVD player via a USB drive called a FilterStik™. "The ClearPlay DVD player seamlessly skips and mutes content based on 12 categories that you can set," according to ClearPlay's Web site. The filtering is only available on DVD players specifically manufactured for use with ClearPlay's filtering technology. At the moment only one player has been manufactured using ClearPlay's technology.

One major "gotcha" is the fact that access to the filters requires a ClearPlay Membership -- $7.99 per month, or $79.99 per year if you pay in advance.

Another issue is artistic integrity. Will filmmakers be frustrated by having their work censored without their knowledge? Movies shown on airplanes and network television are already edited for content. This is different, however.

In 2006, four companies -- CleanFlicks, CleanFilms, Family Flix USA and Play It Clean Video -- were successfully sued by a group of Hollywood directors and studios for offering edited versions of popular movies. (Think "GoodFellas" without the swearing or "Terminator 3" without violence.)

The major difference between those companies and ClearPlay is that with ClearPlay, the DVD itself is not changed at all. It's like having someone else hit the mute or fast-forward button whenever something "objectionable" pops up on the screen.

Of course, "objectionable" is in the eye of the beholder. To paraphrase former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, we know it when we see it.

Even the Disney/Pixar film "Up" -- which ParentDish's Rachel Campos-Duffy recommended highly in her column Why You and Your Kids Should See Pixar's 'UP' -- has "Threatening Dialogue," "Intense Life/Death Situations" and "Criminal/Gangster/Mob Themes," according to ClearPlay's movie database.

Internet retailer Sewell Direct is selling the new player for $99.95 and describes the product thusly: "Achieve 'Cool Parent' Status by letting your kids watch more movies with the Clearplay filtering DVD player." It's unclear how filtering the "bad words" out of a film would make your children think of you as "cool." Or why being "cool" is a parenting goal.

Are you interested in a ClearPlay DVD player?

Related: Do You Censor Your Children's Music?