Filtering software & librarian reviewers

[Timothy G. Kambitsch]

I agree with Bill Drew's initial statement:

>I have a problem with us aiding the filter and censorship industry.  If
>we review their products and help them make up lists of words to block
>then we are supporting what they are doing.

I've been reading this thread and all the related threads on this issue
for months.  What I have haven't read is much discussion of PICS standard
self-rating efforts. For those unfamiliar with PICS I would suggest you
start your reading at:

	http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/PICS/


Before there is a flood of messages stating that PICS doesn't work because
nobody uses it, I would ask you to take a few moments and ask yourself
"Have I rated my own site?"

It take less than five minutes to add a metadata tag to your welcome page
and indicate that the scope of this rating if for your site or set of
pages.  PICS doesn't prescribe a rating scheme, but only outlines a
specification for allowing communities to come up with their own.  If
you abhor the proprietary CyberNOT <http://www.microsys.com> approach,
then you could use SafeSurf's <http://www.safesurf.com/> rating scheme or
Recreational Software Advisory Council's <http://www.rsac.org> rating
scheme.  If these are unsatisfactory you could develop your own.

In MSIE you can enable PICS and allow users access to unrated sites
(unfortunately 98% of the http://www.hot100.com Hot 100 adult sites are not
rated.)

Alternatively, you could allow users access only to rated sites at the
rating level you select. Unfortunately in excess of 98+% of the valuable
web sites I've tested have no self rating (including commercial products
like Ebsco Host and SIRS.) The last time I checked the Internet Public
Library didn't
rate itself.

So clearly PICS isn't a workable solution in either case unless you use a
third party rating service like CyberPatrol.


Here in Ohio there is draft legislation in the upcoming state budget
that would require blocking software at the state level in an attempt to
ensure that no materials which are "harmful to minors" are accessible
from library computers (pretty scarey, huh?)  If required, I would much
rather employ a voluntary mechanism that allows content providers to
decide on the appropriate audience than place my users at the whim
of a proprietary database.

If there is going to be a library-community initiative, I would much
rather you take the time to rate your own site, get the webmasters at sites
you link to rate their sites. While your at it, send a note to Netscape
to incorporates PICS support.


Tim

Tim Kambitsch <mailto://kambitsch@dayton.lib.oh.us>
Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library                   937-227-9560
215 East Third Street Dayton OH 45402                   fax:  937-227-9524