A new rating and labeling system for Internet content that purports to make it easier for large websites to rate and label themselves as well as keep kids from accessing adult material has been unwrapped by the Internet Content Rating Association.
Based on the Resource Description Framework standard and used in new Web applications like blogs, RSS, and shared bookmarking, RDF is seen by the ICRA as a way to make labeling across large, complex websites simpler. That, the ICRA said, will make it easier to differentiate between medical and porn indicators in common terms, encourage more major sites to label themselves, and make the Net safer for children.
The new ICRA system also will use a revised questionnaire to show the continuously changing nature of digital content, and short-cut buttons to generate labels quickly for adult and gambling websites. The international group said RDF will help search engines and similarly sophisticated cyberspace tools filter content based on user preferences, including blocking what users do not want.
"RDF is a modern technology with an active and growing body of support from both the digital content production and distribution industries and academia," said ICRA chief executive Stephen Balkam when he announced the new program this week.
"With digital content now flowing freely across national boundaries, media platforms, and delivery devices, this new system will allow ICRA and its many industry partners and supporters collectively to deliver a broader child protection effort than was previously possible along with a significantly improved means of self -egulation to the industry on a global scale," he said.
AOL Germany managing director Stan Laurent said in his own prepared statement that the new labeling system is an important step in the Internet industry's bid to make cyberspace safer. "We at AOL have long supported ICRA as part of a wider self-regulatory approach to safety and security," Laurent said, "and we look forward to working with ICRA to implement the system across our own sites."
