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Safe & Responsible Computing |
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Internet Content Rating & Filtering The First Amendment guarantees our rights to free speech –
spoken, written, or through other media like the Internet. This inevitably means that not everyone
will like everything they hear or see.
Since we can’t have an Internet Police to enforce community moral
standards, it’s up to parents and educators to take the extra steps necessary
to monitor and control what information children see. Fortunately there are tools available to
help. The first thing you can do is check your web browser for its
content filtering tools. For Internet
Explorer, go to the toolbar and select Tools.
From this list, select Internet Options.
Check out the options available on all of the tabs. When you are satisfied with your settings
you will be prompted to enter a password to save the settings. When someone attempts to access a site that
does not meet the restrictions you have set, the user will be prompted for a
password to grant access to the site.
Access can then be granted for that one time only or be added to a
list of approved sites. The advantage
to this type of tool is that no extra cost is involved; this is a standard
feature with Internet Explorer. This type of tool relies on Internet rating organizations that
gather information about websites and their content; one such organization is
the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA). ICRA is an independent, non-profit
organization that owns and operates the ICRA labeling system. On a voluntary basis, website operators
complete an online questionnaire about their site. The questionnaire asks for very detailed
information about the site’s content.
Areas covered in the questionnaire include violence, profanity and
sexual content. More information about
this organization can be found at http://www.icra.org. The most obvious disadvantages are: Ÿ
The content manager is dependent on the information it
receives – garbage in, garbage out.
Website managers provide their own description of their sites. ICRA does have a complaint process. When material is found that does not match
the description that the website owners have provided, the content rating can
be removed. Ÿ
Content rating is completely voluntary. There is no law requiring websites to
participate in content rating. Ÿ
New sites are added to the Internet daily. It’s impossible for any software to keep up
with such fast-changing content. The following are just a few of the commercial sites that
provide resources for parents in content filtering: http://www.software4parents.com/ The American Library Association has an excellent article on
the pros and cons of Internet content filtering and can be found at http://www.ala.org/ICONN/filteressay.html. Also, check out Tips for Keeping Kids Safer on Line
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