The list of participants at the end should not be missed. Kaaren Koomen of
the ABA is a media contact.
Amongst others, like RSAC, Childnet and gov. authorities from around the
world, we find a rep from W3C. What was that about W3C changing its
stripes? The PICS consortium claim they don't endorse/support/develop any
particular rating system. Hmm... they mightn't officially but there's a
number of the members, including W3C, on the list.
~~~~
http://www.internetwatch.org.uk/press.html
"WORLDWIDE INTERNET CONTENT LABELLING DEVELOPMENTS
An international group of Internet industry, independent and non-profit
organisations concerned about promoting free speech have committed
themselves to developing a practical means of protecting children from
material that may be harmful to them.
[Sounds reasonable - no government censors. Presumably the ABA and numerous
other government-related entities fall into the "non-profit category". ]
The group agreed to develop a coded means of describing Internet content,
which can be used worldwide. The description will be contained in a label
generated by the content producer using guidelines and software developed
by the new International Working Group for Content Rating. The labels
produced will be compatible with the PICS protocol developed by the World
Wide Web Consortium.
The descriptions will be in objective terms, not specific to any one
country or culture.
[But they then go on to talk about country "profiles"...]
Individual users will be able to decide for themselves what kinds of
content they do not wish to see. The Group will encourage individual
countries to develop profiles which will match the categories and levels in
the internationally agreed labelling system to existing familiar standards
(eg age-based movie rating systems). In this way parents will be able to
ensure, for example, that their children only see content rated PG
(Parental Guidance) in their own country at the click of a button.
[So, if each country has a "profile" just like movie ratings - are we
talking about rating the Net here, or movies? - then what happens when a
content provider labels their pages using a country specific profile?
Sounds to me like if the browser isn't set to accept that profile, it's
blocked as if unrated. Global rating system?]
These proposals were greeted with considerable interest and support by
participants at a meeting yesterday (30/9/97) drawn from around the world
and covering a wide range of interests in the Internet - users, content
providers, service providers, browsers, governmental and inter-governmental
bodies (see attached participants list).
[There are no ordinary "users" on the list, few "content providers", few
"service providers" and many many gov. bodies]
Given this support, the group will map out a programme of work for
international consultation on the categories and levels to be applied in
the new system, and to get the necessary software installed into browsers.
Although the system is built on the principle of self-rating, the Group is
committed to thorough quality control checks to ensure accuracy.
David Kerr of the Internet Watch Foundation in the UK, which hosted the
first meeting of the working group, said after the meeting:
"The technology and systems for content rating and user filtering already
exist. This approach has been widely supported in principle by
governments, industry and users as recently as the Global Information
Networks Conference in Bonn this July.
[Anyone have any info about this mysterious conference which keeps being
referred to but there doesn't seem to be any information available to the
public about - at least least time I looked.]
The decisions of this meeting start the production of a practical means of
making rating and filtering work, in a way which gives people worldwide an
easy way to customise their experience of the Net, within a realistic time
scale."
[I just can't wait ;-) ]
Further information from:
David Kerr, Internet Watch Foundation chief@iwf.org.uk (5 Coles Lane,
Oakington, Cambs CB4 5BA, UK; Phone +44 1223 237700)
Stephen Balkam, RSAC - Recreational Software Advisory Council, (5301
Wisconsin Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20015; Tel: 202 237 1833)
Nigel Williams, Childnet International (35 Piccadilly, London W1V 9PB, UK
+44 171 525 4019)
Kaaren Koomen, Australian Broadcasting Authority (PO Box Q500, QVB Sydney,
NSW 1230, Australia; Phone +61 2 9334 7821)
Michael Schneider ECO Forum (c/o Schneider and Partners Law Firm, Dickstr.
35, 53773 Hennef; Phone: +49 2242 92700)
PARTICIPANTS
Ms Kaaren Koomen, Australian Broadcasting Authority
Ms Janet Henderson, BT Multimedia Services
(Mr Eugene Jordan, BT Multimedia Services - substituting)
Mr Nigel Williams, Childnet International
Mr Stuart Goold, Confederation of European Computer User Associations
(CECUA)
Mme Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, Conseil d'Etat, France
Mr Michael Schneider, Electronic Commerce Forum (ECO), Germany
(Mr Peter Reifenrath, Electronic Commerce Forum (ECO) - substituting)
Mr Akio Kokubu, Electronic Network Consortium, Japan
Mme Nathalie Labourdette, European Commission DG X
Mr Richard Swetenham, European Commission DG XIII
Dr Margot Blunden-Willms, International Electronic Publishers Research
Centre (IEPRC)
Ms Yvonne Gartner, Microsoft Europe
Mr James Dean, Netscape
Ms Teresa Peters, OECD
Ms Suzanne Settle, NTIA, US Department of Commerce
Mr Stephen Balkam, Recreational Software Advisory Council [RSAC]
Ms Elly Hardwick, UK, Department of Trade & Industry
Mr Richard King, UK, Department of Trade & Industry
Mr Josef Dietl, World Wide Web Consortium
Mr David Kerr, Internet Watch Foundation, Chief Executive
Mr Clive Feather, Internet Watch Foundation, Chairman of Management Board
Mr Bernard Jauregai, Internet Watch Foundation, Technical Advisor
Mr Nicholas Lansman, Secretariat - International Group on Content Rating"
~~~~
Regards
Irene
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Irene Graham, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. PGP key on h/page.
The Net Labelling Delusion: <http://www.pobox.com/~rene/liberty/label.html>
"...PICS-type systems...might have to be enforced" Peter Webb, ABA, June 96
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~