|
Platform for Internet Content Selection,
a way of rating the content of websites. Pics was designed to
give parents, schools and companies control over thing that their charges
view on the internet. Although conceived primarily to prevent access to
pornography and hate speech, pics can be used to rate lost of
other thing, such as books or films. Although the primary responsibility for
rating sites rests with their owners, third parties can rate a list of sites
containing racist material. The pics software on a home computer
could then be configured to check that list before allowing access to any of
the sites.
The problem facing pics is that despite its
elegant design and relative ease of implementation, almost nobody users it.
Site owners have not shown the hoped-for public-spiritedness, and the web is
just too big for third parties to rate it reliably. Pics will
probably not go away, but its proponents may have to look for more
dependable means of governing access to undesirable material. |
