The SurfSafety.com news letter is *NEVER* sent unsolicited. If you feel you have received this news letter in error or wish to unsubscribe DO NOT HIT REPLY! Automatic removal instructions are at the end of this newsletter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you enjoy reading this newsletter as much as we do writing it, by all means, pass it on! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In this issue: 1. Dawn over Singapore 2. ICRA revisited ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dawn over Singapore =================== It is no exaggeration to say that the 54 hours of total flight time and the thousands of dollars out of pocket it took for me to be at Safe Surfing 2001 in Singapore pale compared to the benefits I, other speakers and exhibitors, and the rest of the world received as a result of this convention. I dare say that never in the history of the online safety movement has there been assembled in one place such an elite group of experts in this field. The atmosphere was positively charged with excitement and the exchange of ideas and creativity took place on a level without equal. Friends were made, information was shared, ideas were born and a new era in online safety has begun. The visionary it took to make this happen is Mrs. Carmee Lim, chairman of PAGi (Parents Advisory Group for the Internet) and recently retired Singapore school principal. Her zeal for children shines brightly in everything she does. Together with the help and backing of the Singapore Broadcasting Authority, she literally changed the world. To Mrs. Lim and the many others who helped her take up the cause, thank you for your vision, determination and love you expressed for children the world over by making this event a reality. May it continue to teach and inspire us all. Dawn has risen over Singapore. It shines brightly over all humanity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ICRA revisited ============== As a participant in the ICRA (Internet Content Rating Association) field trial evaluations a few weeks ago, I reported to you my initial findings of their new PICS (Platform for Internet Content Selection) labeling standard. I made some rather uncomplimentary remarks about it. I wish I had the opportunity at that time to talk with the authors of the new system and discuss their reasoning on certain matters. My trip to Singapore and subsequent face to face meetings with the likes of ICRA executive director Stephen Balkam, Internet Watch Foundation director and Secretary General to the ICRA David Kerr, Childnet International founder and ICRA chairman Nigel Williams and others had a tremendous impact on my understanding of their reasoning and the wisdom of their actions. I now know that much of my own reasoning resulted from thinking inside the box, inside the boarders of my own country. Part of my favor towards SafeSurf as opposed to ICRA was because it is "easy" to understand. What makes it easy for me is because SafeSurf is a social value based labeling standard, the social values of my own country. However, what's socially acceptable here may not be there and visa versa. This is the danger of a value based system. What the folks at ICRA have done is to create a labeling standard that does not rely on social standards, but rather on content alone. This was no small task. Stepping back far enough to be objective about a project that you are so passionate about is much easier said than done. What they have accomplished is, in my estimation, nothing short of a small miracle. At the Singapore convention I also learned that there is still much work being done to enhance the new ICRA labeling system. They called it "Phase II." I call it the icing on the cake. I'm not going to bore you with the details of how it works but I do want to touch on some of the new key benefits and how they address some of my former concerns. The greatest shortcoming of this, and any PICS filtering scheme, is it can do only two things with unrated content; allow it or block it. To use it most effectively, browsers must be set to block unrated content. This is bothersome for most because 99+% of the web today is still unrated. Almost every site your child would go to would be blocked. The solution ICRA came up with is to allow parents to create their own Yes/No lists of sites to be allowed and blocked. These lists can also be created as templates with other criteria preset by third parties, imported to the browser and would take precedence over any other settings. Of course, another solution is to collect PICS rated sites in one place for families to choose from. Obviously I speak of my own search engine at http://surfsafely.com/. These two systems make an unbeatable combination which is why I have asked Mr. Balkam to consider linking to SurfSafely.com from the ICRA web site. Although the new ICRA system is not yet bundled with either major browser, it is reverse compatible with the former RSACi standard which both major browsers do have. Thus, web developers have no reason not to rate using the new system. The new ICRA system is clearly superior to RSACi and I highly recommend making it a part of your browser right now. For now, it can only be added to MSIE version 4.x and up but 5.5 is recommended. We're still waiting for Netscape to catch up. Instructions how to add the new filter can be found at http://www.icra.org/parents.html. It's been a while since I visited Internet Explorer to see if Microsoft has addressed any of my former concerns regarding the setting of individual content levels and separate preferences for more than just one user. If they have, combined with the ability to add the new ICRA standard, Microsoft might finally have earned from me a higher rating than Netscape for their browser. Stranger things have happened. ;-) I'll have to get back to you on that one. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's news for now. Until next time... Be informed, Be involved, Be well. Sincerely, Mark Brasche ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~