Civil libertarians tend to quake at the possibility of sweeping Internet ratings, both nation by nation and on a global scale. But is it possible that Net ratings might actually be good for adult Web sites? Well, it depends upon whom you ask.
If you ask those watching - or working for - the major league adult sites, you'll likely hear that the ratings could well be a boon to them for one simple reason: they're more likely to comply with any voluntary system than the small mom-and-pop porn stops, effectively helping to eliminate a large source of competition, real and potential.
And the majors, such as Playboy.com, would be more likely to go along with a voluntary system in order to help prove to lawmakers local and federal that the business can police itself, thank you, without any help from Big Nanny, says the University of Virginia's Bryan Pfaffenberger.
"The porn vendors could definitely look at (voluntary Net ratings systems) as an opportunity," he tells ZDNet News. "Any site that doesn't go along with the ratings would be definitely out of the picture. The rest of the (high-tech) has been very successful, so far, in avoiding regulation by saying over and over again, 'We're regulating ourselves.' This could work very well for porn sites, too."
But a brand-name porn site operator, who spoke to ZDNet on condition of anonymity, says a ratings system could go either way. "A blessing or a curse," he told ZDNet News.
"On one hand," he says, "you don't want to be on the margins. But if we rate ourselves and our competitors don't, and the search engines ignore unrated sites, that's an advantage for us."
Moreover, some civil libertarians seem to think sites like Playboy.com, offering both free and fee content, would draw smaller audiences if they're branded with a triple-X - which adult entertainment industry people say is a legitimate cause for alarm in a business which draws in the hundreds of millions annually.
On the other hand, a Playboy Enterprises spokeswoman tells ZDNet the company isn't exactly worried about any ratings system affecting their business in the long term.
