Content Rating for Children
As Patriotic Americans, we are strongly committed to
freedom of speech and freedom of speech. In many areas of the world, freedom of speech is
notional — it is not a reality; in some other areas it is simply not
tolerated. In fact, in even the most enlightened countries, true
freedom of speech is rarely found, and those wishing to express a non-conformist
point of view can find it very difficult to be widely published. Almost all
media has a political bias, and one of the first things web publishers learn is to
write according to an editorial philosophy — even if they themselves do
not adhere to that philosophy.
The Internet provides, for the time being, a platform for
true freedom of speech, with control resting with the writer. However, while
this might be desirable, there are some long recognized problems stemming from
the fact that there is no one controlling body.
Most internet e-mail users will receive numerous unsolicited e-mails (SPAM)
each week. Many of these e-mails will come from adult-oriented web sites — which
are reported to be the most frequented sites on the web. Clearly, there is
popular demand for such sites, but equally clear, they are not appropriate for
young web users. The idea of censorship is always controversial, and given
the nature of the Internet it could hardly be applied effectively. Yet, some of
the information available on the web today would be offensive to many people for
many reasons, and few would not argue that some information is highly unsuitable for
viewing by young children.
The sale and/or distribution of adult-oriented material via web sites can be
managed responsibly, and legitimate vendors of such material make strenuous
efforts to prevent access to it by younger surfers. Site registration, password
access and the ratings system are tools they commonly use. There exists,
however, an insidious group of vendors who attract visitors by devious, if not illegal means,
such as e-mail spamming. They then employ a technique known as site (or web)
spamming: they use JavaScript coding to prevent the site visitor leaving the
site, and each time the visitor attempts to close the browser window, a new
pop-up, or pop-under javascript window is displayed. Pop-up and pop-under
filters are also available.
Another dangerous risk for young people using the Internet, is the predatory paedophile.
There is substantial evidence to support that paedophiles monitor chat rooms designed to
attract young people, and there are many other ways that paedophiles can
obtain information about children from the Internet.
Software/Web developers and others recognized that it is
difficult for parents to adequately monitor their children's web surfing, and
as a result they devised a system of filtering that could be applied through
the web browser. In effect, this system allows parents to 'censor' the sites
their children can view. It is not, though, only parents who can use this
system, for anyone not wishing to view certain types of material can apply the
filter, and so avoid wasting time and money visiting sites that are of no
interest to them, or worse, that are offensive to them.
The Internet's system of filtering is based on a "PICS" label, as described
by the W3C, which is
an HTML META tag added to the header of a document. Browsers recognize
this code, and if necessary, apply the filter according to the user's settings.
While this is undoubtedly a form of censorship, it is a censorship applied voluntarily
by the computer user. The system therefore supports the Web publisher's freedom of speech while
supporting the user's freedom of choice.
The use of "PICS" labeling by web sites is entirely
voluntary at this time. However, it is likely that at some time in the future some of the
more popular browsers will by default ignore pages that don't have a rating.
Indeed, this is the default setting for current browsers with site rating
enabled.
Web Publishers and Web Developers wishing to obtain a rating for their site can apply to agencies such
as the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) and SafeSurf.
USResolve.org believes that the protection of children from
the potentially harmful aspects of the Net is of paramount importance, and that
the ratings system, while avoiding censorship, is the best currently available method of achieving
this. We employ both rating systems on USResolve.org.
Further information on the ratings system can be found at
ICRA and at surfsafely.com.
