>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.
and
>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.
Silly me, I was under the impression that the movie rating system
was applied by a third party (Motion Pictures Assn of America or
some such), not by the content creators. And then we use our
knowledge of the MPAA's values (violence is OK, sex is not; ie. its
ok to rape but not make love) combined with their ratings to make a
decision.
If a third party wants to publicise their moral values and rate my
content based on those values, thats their business. Just don't ask
me to rate my stuff; not everyone will agree with my ratings.
Regards, Mark
^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
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Message From : HUGHES, MARK *
* Location : AUSTRALIA-CCA HDQ *
* KOMAIL ID : N17503 (CCAMCQN1) *
* Date and Time: 10/23/97 16:47:30 *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *