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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (51899)	6/25/2002 10:59:40 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Online Giants Offer Kid-Friendly Web Surfing By David McGuire washingtonpost.com Staff Writer Tuesday, June 25, 2002; 7:44 AM Three of the nation's largest Internet portals today will announce that they have made good on a promise to promote more kid-friendly Web surfing. America Online, Microsoft Corp.'s MSN service and Yahoo will report that they have now tagged most of their online properties with electronic labels designed to work with new filtering software being made available free of charge to the public. The three online media giants said they have labeled about 93 percent their Web sites with electronic identifiers that work in conjunction with free Internet filtering software developed by the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA). Representatives for the companies will announce the fruits of their labeling efforts at a press conference in San Jose later today where ICRA will unveil it's free filtering tool. Since the ICRA filter relies on Web site operators to label their sites, ICRA North America President Mary Lou Kenny said the participation of the "big three" Web portals has been invaluable. "Since they are the most trafficked sites, anytime they show leadership in an effort, it encourages others to participate," Kenny said. "When the leaders in any segment label their sites and encourage others to do the same, it begins a viral effect of labeling." In addition to AOL, MSN and Yahoo, several smaller sites -- including adult operators like Hustler.com -- have agreed to label their sites by ICRA standards. Unlike other content filters that block sites based on criteria developed by filtering companies, ICRA's filter relies on content providers to specify what sorts of words, images and content appear on their sites. Because Web site operators that participate in ICRA go into substantial detail about the nature of the content they host, users of the ICRA filter can be very specific about the sorts of content they wish to filter, Kenny said. For instance, parents may set their filter preferences to allow their children to view nudity that is presented in an artistic, medical or educational context, but block such images when they are presented in an adult entertainment context, Kenny said. Filter users can also choose to block any Web sites that don't contain ICRA labels. AOL, MSN, and Yahoo agreed to adopt the ICRA labeling standards last year. Although the companies' agreement only applies to the Web sites they operate directly, Yahoo is urging the operators of sites it hosts to also adopt the ICRA standards, Kenny said. Some free speech advocates have criticized the ICRA rating system, saying that it could pave the way to government censorship at some later date as more and more Web sites electronically identify the nature of the content they provide. Starting Tuesday, the filter will be available for download from ICRA's Web site -- www.icra.org. © 2002 TechNews.com