PICS filter labels

[JOSEPH MAXIMILLIAN MURPHY]

One important thing to remember about PICS is that it was specifically designed
to allow _anyone_ to design their own ratings system. It actively refuses to
support any given vocabulary. So in that sense, there's really nothing to
"implement," in the same way you can't just "implement" HTML. You still have to
have some sort of content.

Of course, this has its benefits. I happen to find animated GIFs morally
questionable ;-) , so I could design a PICS label for "animated-GIFs."
Similarly, you could have PICS vocabularies from NAMBLA, PETA, the YMCA, the
Oakland A's... all allowing people who agree with those groups to abide by
their various opinions about what's acceptable.

(You know, come to think about it, I'm morally opposed to the designated 
hitter, too. Maybe I should come up with my own ratings!)

On the other hand, Simon Garfinkel made a very good point in his column for
HotWired on Feb. 5, 1997, that PICS technology is strong enough that it would
be incredibly easy to abuse. When implemented on the server/firewall level, it
would be a marvelously effective way of ensuring that only "approved" documents
make it through to the user.

The PICS Web page does a really good job of presenting both sides of the
argument. OK, all the negative views are a link away (and you have to hunt
through the archive to find that HotWired column), but at least they're
including the critical opinions. Check out http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/PICS/ ;
it's good for you.

-Joe Murphy                       "We will not go down.
murphyj at cua.edu                    We will not be beaten down like grain."
                                           -"Thunderstorm," _Riverdance_