cannabisnews.com: AOL, MSN, Yahoo to Label Sites for Content AOL, MSN, Yahoo to Label Sites for Content Posted by FoM on October 22, 2001 at 21:28:53 PT By Dina ElBoghdady, Washington Post Staff Writer Source: Washington Post Owners of three of the nation's most popular online destinations -- America Online, Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and Yahoo -- have agreed on a uniform system for labeling Web sites to help parents steer children from questionable content, the companies plan to announce today.The three online content providers are using a voluntary system developed by the Internet Content Rating Association, a nonprofit industry-backed trade group. The system allows the companies to describe the content available on their Web sites based on a common set of categories -- such as whether the sites include sex and nudity, violence, gambling or promotion of drugs. The descriptions would be translated into coding on the site that could be read by Internet filtering software. Parents then could preset their Web browsers to selectively block access to certain coded sites.By next spring, the ICRA hopes to offer free filtering software that parents can download via the Internet to help them set their preferences. Until then, parents can use the Content Advisor, a function built into Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which already can be set to recognize many of the new labels, ICRA officials said.The agreement is the industry's way of averting government regulation as concern about protecting children in cyberspace escalates, industry experts said. The movie industry was facing a similar threat when it decided to come up with a rating system to appease angry lawmakers. The hurdle is finding the balance that protects free speech while shielding children from indecent, or dangerous, online material."This is a very user-friendly system that gives parents lots of control," said Mary Lou Kenny, ICRA's director of North American operations. "The parents, not ICRA, make choices on what material is appropriate for their children."MSN should have all the sites under its control labeled by Thursday, ICRA officials said. AOL Time Warner Inc.'s America Online has most of its sites labeled and Yahoo is not too far behind, they said. Of the three, Yahoo is the one with the least control over its Web sites, many of which it does not produce. But it is encouraging the sites it hosts to adopt the labeling system, ICRA officials said.A bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers plans to introduce a resolution this week urging all members of Congress to label their sites, ICRA officials said. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department has labeled content on its site and the U.S. Postal Service plans to follow suit.But some critics say the system is flawed and invites the kind of government regulation it hopes to discourage."They're opening the door to government regulation that otherwise would not be technologically feasible," said David L. Sobel, general counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "Either the government will start requiring that all content must be rated or the government will criminalize or penalize people for not rating Web sites properly."Gary Daniels, spokesman for the National Coalition Against Censorship, said the new labels also do not provide a good basis for parents because they are too vague and leave it to the provider to determine what material might disturb or set a bad example for children."It's an attempt to pigeonhole all the diverse information that's on the Internet," Daniels said. "It muddies the situation instead of helping."Complete Title: AOL, MSN, Yahoo to Label Sites for Questionable Content Source: Washington Post (DC) Author: Dina ElBoghdady, Washington Post Staff WriterPublished: Tuesday, October 23, 2001; Page E05 Copyright: 2001 The Washington Post Company Contact: letterstoed washpost.comWebsite: http://www.washingtonpost.comCannabisNews Justice Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/justice.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by schmeff on October 23, 2001 at 08:19:51 PT Pharmaceutical companies? You can bet your Golden Goose that sites coded for promotion of drugs will fail to include the makers of Prozac, Ritalin, Zoloft, Thalidomide, etc. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by xxdr_zombiexx on October 23, 2001 at 04:45:50 PT Chinese, anyone? I saw this article shortly after I saw that CNN-AOL-Timewarner had signed a "landmark" deal to deliver internet and cable tv to China.We all know how much China hates for their people to have any access to outside information, so this must be a very odd arrangement.As soo as I saw this article I thought that the rating system would somehow be assisting China in censorship of the very same cable service its apparently requesting.I think the ratings systems here have been less for outright political suppression and have been a focus of the "Culture War". I also think that the ratings system understands the impact of prohibition on desirable products, rated R movies being a great example. Kids want to see movies that are rated R and an R rating guarantees more public interest. Just like when that sucky 2 Live Crew was banned...then went platinum.In America we just black out what we censor: the cannabis legalization and medical cannabis movements, for example. Cannabis culture is to the US Government what Falun Gong is to China. They are to be blacked out or villified over the "public" airwaves.So what could cable access in China look like? Will they have CNN telling then that Tienaman Square was reality? That they were headed towards a democracy similar to ours. Except ours is becoming more similar to THEIRS,: less democratic. Our airwaves are used to spread propaganda and PSYCHWAR against cannabis culture, to lie to the people about "marijuana" and perpetuate the dismantaling of the Constitution.We see from NORML that 2000 set a record for cannabis arrests - over 730,000, 640,000 being for simple possession. 88,000 were for "manufacturing" (growing) and trafficking (selling it to people who ask for it). These numbers are from the FBI so they have to be totally and completely accurate with no margin for any possible error.But even if off 20% either way, the War on Druuugs is NOTHING but a war on cannabis culture.They don't give 1 goddamn about you or me. They don't care about people. Like the Unabomber, they are a group of people who have searched to find a cause to HATE in their lives through which they can pursue their anti-social values. Yet the cannabis culture movement remains non-violent, pro-social, and concerend about the well-being of pretty much everyone. (fascists, liars, NAZI's DEA, all those people who hate freedom are usually not included - but hey...if they'd give up, lay down their arms against us, stop working nights to do us in - there's forgiveness).Like the truth of Tienaman Square, cannabis culture is here , solid, and immovable.FREEDOM ENDURES [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by dddd on October 23, 2001 at 00:17:06 PT It Wont be Long ......no takeover of a government can be completely successful,,unless they tame that darn internet......So,,now,,I guarantee,,,we are going to see a gradual increase in the takeover of the internet...They are sorting out the proper technologies,,and mapping out all the routing systems,,and the new Anti-terror laws,and homeland security are going to assist to further the corporate domination of the web.These will be the same corporations that are now in bed with the government,and own the other media....Filters,like the ones in this article,can be applied to entire sectors of internet servers/providers,,and much like cable TV,corporate entities will buy up the rights to large sectors,and internet subscribers will be limited to only one ore two ISPs,,and there you have it,,,control of the internet........ ..yes,,,that all sounds kinda wacky,,,,but wait about a year.......The internet is a thorn in the side of the Evil Empire....that's why they are channeling billions into getting a handle on it..........you know,,perhaps the most disturbing part of what's going on,is that billions of dollars of OUR tax money,,is being spent to f*ck US!!............dddd [ Post Comment ] Post Comment