PICS Picks Up Steam

America Online, AT&T, CompuServe, Microsoft, MicroSystems, NetNanny, Netscape, NewView, Prodigy, Providence Systems, Recreational Software Advisory Council, SafeSurf, SurfWatch Announce PICS Strategies

World Wide Web's Creator Sees PICS Becoming Worldwide Platform for Rating System Development In Next 12 Months

Contact:        Brian Ek        Daniel Weitzner  Heather McLellan
                (914)448-8811   (202)637-9800    (617)520-7037
                ek@prodigy.com  djw@cdt.org      hmclellan@webergroup.com

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- March 14, 1996 The Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) developed by MIT's World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is ready for prime-time. That's the consensus of a growing group of U.S. organizations and companies which announced plans to integrate the new content labeling platform into their Internet access control strategies.

"PICS has completed an incredibly quick eight-month ramp-up, going from a drawing-board promise to marketplace reality," said Albert Vezza, Associate Director of the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, and member of the PICS Steering Committee. "These announcements mean that, by early summer, any parent, using any popular Web browser or major commercial online service connected to the Internet, will have their choice of PICS-compatible rating systems for controlling their children's access to Internet content. Some of those systems will be available at no charge."

Meanwhile, based on PICS' accelerated domestic implementation, Tim Berners-Lee, Director of the W3C, and original inventor of the World Wide Web, predicted that, within the next 12 months, PICS will become the global technical platform on which most access control systems are built.

The W3C is the body responsible for developing common protocols and reference codes for the evolution of the Web. PICS was developed by the W3C as a practical alternative to global censorship of the Internet. PICS is not a rating service. It is a technical platform that empowers any individual, group or organization to develop their own rating systems, distribute labels for Internet content, and create label-reading software and services to give users control over access to Internet content.

It is the mission of the PICS group to encourage creation of the broadest possible variety of rating systems and services, representing a robust diversity of viewpoints. The PICS platform is now on the Web at http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/PICS/ and is available at no charge.

Specific company and organization PICS announcements include:

Netscape said it will incorporate the PICS platform into a future release of Netscape Navigator, supporting Windows, Macintosh and UNIX computer platforms. Consumers will be able to select any PICS-compatible rating system on the market, and it will work with Netscape. Netscape also said it plans to publish the information needed by developers to create new products and rating services through the Netscape Developer's Program.
The Recreational Software Advisory Council (RSAC), known for its video game rating system, has developed a new PICS-compatible rating system for Internet content, called RSAC i. The rating system will be included in future releases of Microsoft's Explorer Web browser, MicroSystems Software's Cyber Patrol, SurfWatch and Parental Guidance. In addition, RSAC has created a special Web site -- http://www/rsaci.com -- where Internet content owners can rate their own pages in PICS-compatible format and have the ratings included in RSAC. Content owners don't need to know the specific PICS platform code; they just fill out a questionnaire and the RSAC i system generates the label.
Microsoft said it will integrate the PICS platform into its next release of the Microsoft Explorer Web browser, as part of its Content Advisor feature. This means that, in addition to RSAC i and Safe Surf, consumers will be able to select any PICS- compatible rating system, regardless of who develops it, and it will work with the Explorer.
SafeSurf, a national parent's group that has rated up to 20,000 Web sites, has reconfigured its rating system in PICS-compatible format. This rating system will be included in future releases of Microsoft's Explorer, Cyber Patrol, SurfWatch, SolidOak's Cybersitter, Net Nanny and Teachersoft's InterGO. SafeSurf also maintains a Web site -- http://www.safesurf.com/ -- where content owners can fill out an easy-to-rate form that will generate a PICS-coded label to self-rate their own sites and be included in the SafeSurf system.
MicroSystems Software, Inc., creator of the Cyber Patrol access control software, said that its next release will be fully PICS-compatible, so owners of that product can choose to use MicroSystems' CyberNOT rating list, RSAC i, SafeSurf, and any other PICS-compatible rating system. MicroSystems Software also announced that its CyberNOT list has been rewritten in PICS format, for use by PICS-compatible rating services.
The Cyber Patrol product already is compatible with all major browsers, such as those offered by companies like Netscape, Spyglass and America Online.
SurfWatchSoftware, Inc., announced that its next software release, scheduled for second quarter 1996, will be PICS-compatible and will support the RSAC i rating system, as well as SurfWatch's own rating system.
NewView, Inc., said it is currently offering consumers a free beta version of its PICS- compatible rating service, which launches this Spring. Software can be downloaded from NewView's Web site (http://newview.com). NewView's inclusive database, which has rated 60,000 children's oriented sites, will be expanded to over 250,000 sites by mid-Summer.
Net Nanny, Ltd., which markets Internet screening software in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of the Pacific Rim, said it will support the PICS platform in a future product release.
Providence Systems, Inc., creators of the Parental Guidance access control software, said that America Online has chosen Parental Guidance as its approach to protecting children on the Internet. Parental Guidance will be marketed and published worldwide by Symantec Corporation. The Parental Guidance product will be fully PICS-compatible by this Spring, so it will work with all PICS-compatible browsers and online services. Providence Systems also said it is specifically working to support the RSAC i rating system in future releases.
CompuServe and Prodigy licensed MicroSystems Software's Cyber Patrol, and will make the software and periodic updates available to their members at no extra charge. Parents will be able to control their children's access to content both within the services and on the Internet using MicroSystems' CyberNOT list, RSAC i and any other PICS-compatible rating system. They also can take advantage of Cyber Patrol's customizing features, like pre-setting time limits for children's Internet access and adding or deleting sites the CyberNOT list doesn't cover.
Subscribers to AT&T's new WorldNet Service will be able to download and try out Cyber Patrol for 30 days. After a 30 day evaluation, they can buy the software and subscribe to three-months' worth of program updates. Or they can download Cyber Patrol Home Edition, a separate no-charge product which features the basic CyberNOT list without the time management and local access features.

The W3C said that more browser companies, online services, access control companies, publishers and third parties are currently working on PICS-compatible strategies, and those will be announced in the near future.

"With so much new content being added to the Internet daily, it is impractical, and certainly not desirable, for any government to attempt to control or censor that flow," said Berners-Lee. "The practical, workable solution is to give end-users the tools to control what ultimately flows into their homes. This non-censorship approach works not only on a national, but on a global basis as well. I'm encouraged by the rapid acceptance and deployment of the PICS platform in the U.S. If this trend continues at the international level, PICS could become a global platform in the next 12 months, and hopefully allay governments' desires to censor this incredible growing medium that is the Internet."

Thirty-nine companies and organizations are supporting the PICS initiative. They are: Adobe Systems, Inc.; Apple; America Online (AOL); AT&T; Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT); CompuServe; Delphi Internet Services; Digital Equipment Corporation; First Floor; First Virtual Holdings Incorporated; France Telecom; FTP Software; IBM; Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan; Information Highway Parental Empowerment Group (IHPEG); Information Technology Association of America (ITAA); Interactive Services Association (ISA); MCI; Microsoft; Microsystems, Inc.; MIT/W3C; Netscape Communications Corporation; Net Nanny, Ltd.; NewView; Open Market; O'Reilly and Associates; NCD; NEC; Prodigy Services Company; Progressive Networks; Providence Systems/Parental Guidance; Recreational Software Advisory Council (RSAC); SafeSurf; SoftQuad, Inc.; Songline Studios; Spyglass; SurfWatch Software; Telequip Corp.; Time Warner, and Viacom's Nickleodeon.

PICS is organized into three committees. The Steering Committee is composed of Albert Vezza, Associate Director of the MIT LCS; Dr. James S. Miller, Research Scientist with MIT's computer lab; Dr. Paul Resnick, Member of the Technical Staff, AT&T Bell Laboratories; Daniel J. Weitzner, Deputy Director of the Center for Democracy and Technology; and Brian R. Ek, Vice President of Government Affairs for Prodigy. The PICS Technical Committee is co-chaired by Miller and Resnick. The PICS Public Policy/Communications Committee is co-chaired by Weitzner and Ek.

The W3C is located at the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) in Cambridge, MA, and at the Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA) in Rocquencourt, France.