Websites could get film-style ratings | Technology | Reuters
Source: uk.reuters.com (follow the link for the full article)
LONDON (Reuters) – The kind of ratings used for films could be applied to websites in a bid to better police the Internet and protect children from harmful and offensive material, Culture Secretary Andy Burnham has said.
Nice idea- but only if it is done a) worldwide b) providers do something on the server side to take care of their own timezones c) every user accessing Internet shows location and rating limits
Broadcasting just in UK is easier to control- but still, it does not protect when the channels’ broadcasting is visible via satellite in other timezones (say- BBC2: 9pm in UK is mid-afternoon in NY)
As per using the movie-rating system: buy any DVD- and you will see that there is no world-wide rating system
Actually, if they were to scrap broadcast tv and dvds and other “customer side” media… it would be easier to apply the suggested control system
So, once this happens- it could be a worldwide rating, with a Swedish- or Chinese-style filtering by timezone/country, compounded by a national/regional filtering
If the same approach had been applied to Gutenberg,Martin Luther 95 Thesis would not have been spread in days and weeks across Europe
Tags: andy, burnham, culture, movie, rating, secretary, uk, web, websites