I'm reporting my own interests here, not acting as moderator. In their hope to avoid government censorship, companies that depend on the Internet for business have been crafting a rating system for the Web. So far, it is not clear how much the system depends on each site's willingness to rate itself, versus having some third party do the rating. But Microsoft proudly announced that Internet Explorer comes already with ratings for 7000 sites that some people would find objectionable. I'd like to find out what sorts of sites ended up on that list--it would tell us a lot about the values of the ruling class (or should I say, the values the ruling class would like the rest of us to have). Sorry for the editorializing. Back to factual reportage... You can adjust the list of 7000 sites to match your own tastes, I should mention. The players in the rating game, besides Microsoft, include: * the World Wide Web Consortium, which is run by Tim Berners-Lee and is supported by a wide range of computer companies * the Recreational Software Advisory Council, which started in order to rate video games, and is now starting RSACi, RSAC on the Internet * a number of smaller companies that we've heard about on this list Here are some press releases and other sites from which to learn more about what the players are saying: http://www.rsac.org http://www.surfwatch.com http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/PICS/960306/ATT-and-MicroSystems.html http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/PICS/960228/RSACi.html http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/PICS/960228/NYTimes.html http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/PICS/960228/Microsoft.html http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/PICS/960228/SafeSurf.html http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/PICS/960228/SurfWatch.html Andy ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by Andrew Oram - •••@••.••• - Moderator: CYBER-RIGHTS (CPSR) Cyber-Rights: http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/ ftp://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/Library/ CyberJournal: (WWW or FTP) --> ftp://ftp.iol.ie/users/rkmoore Materials may be reposted in their _entirety_ for non-commercial use. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
