Free-speech and privacy watchdogs squawked, but America Online and other major Internet companies went ahead and formed an advisory body aiming to create a global Web rating and content filtering system.
The advisory body plan was unwrapped at last weekend's Internet Content Summit in Munich. The Internet Content Rating Association ended the summit by deciding to name members to the advisory body next month, CNET says, hoping to make recommendations by next summer to push content control tools forward.
But the civil liberties groups who took part in the summit warned a worldwide Internet rating system could mean compromising free expression online, since governments could use the Net world's effort as an excuse for mandates to control Web content, CNET says.
And they added that such ratings schemes would mean only "mainstream" - arbitrarily defined - Web content would be accessible easily, with controversial sites being shoved aside by online gatekeepers.
But the supporters of the rating system idea say it would be done on a voluntary basis, with co-regulation seen as the only long-range and sensible solution to balance freedom and law, CNET adds.
