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The Internet Content Rating Association has unveiled the second phase of its Web site labelling programme, a new Internet filtering system.
Last year the ICRA rolled out a Web site content labelling programme that assigned "neutral" descriptive terms to Web sites such as "Adult" or "Educational." Following that rollout, over 50,000 Web sites have signed on to the programme including Yahoo, MSN and AOL, the three sites responsible for over 50 percent of the Web traffic in the US.
Now the organisation has launched a filtering tool that 'reads' existing ICRA labels on Web sites so that Web surfers can compile personalised lists of sites that they feel are suitable for viewing for themselves or for their children. Other features in ICRAfilter, the organisation's first commercial product, include the ability to shut off access to specific parts of the Internet such as e-mail, chat rooms, newsgroups and e-commerce sites.
What makes ICRA's new filtering tool different from other commercial products available on the Net is that within the existing ICRA labels, there is source code that the filter can detect, making it easier for the filtering software to detect and block out inappropriate material. Additionally, ICRA's product is available free of charge at www.icra.org
Currently the ICRA filter is available in English and German and will soon be available in French.
Interestingly ICRA also says that it sees other Web filtering companies not as competitors, but as potential collaborators, and is hoping that they will incorporate the elements of ICRAfilter into their products.
"It is important to state that no organisation, including ICRA, can guarantee a 100 percent safe surfing experience," admits Stephen Balkam, chief executive officer of ICRA. "Having said that, ICRA does give consumers the most democratic, culturally neutral, self-determining option available. We are offering the first modular approach to Internet filtering based on participation by everyone, content providers, template creators, parents and other concerned adults."
The organisation currently runs on donations and government funding, including an EUR1.3 million grant from the European Union in 2000.
The product's launch took place at the BT Conference Centre in England where Home Office Minister, Beverley Hughes, Chair of the Government Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet expressed delight that the product was being launched in the UK where the government is currently running an awareness campaign regarding safe Internet use and children.
A number of other companies and industry representatives expressed their approval of the new product including AOL Europe, MSN, Verisign, and Bell Canada.
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