Editing Platform for Internet Content Selection

The '''Platform for Internet Content Selection''' ('''PICS''') was a specification created by [[W3C]] that used [[Metadata (computing)|metadata]] to label webpages to help parents and teachers control what children and students could access on the [[Internet]]. The W3C [[Protocol for Web Description Resources]] project integrates PICS concepts with [[Resource Description Framework|RDF]]. PICS was superseded by [[Protocol for Web Description Resources|POWDER]], which itself is no longer actively developed. <ref>[http://www.w3.org/PICS/ Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) home page]</ref> PICS often used content labeling from the [[Internet Content Rating Association]], which has also been discontinued by the Family Online Safety Institute's board of directors. <ref>[http://www.icra.org/ ICRA Home Page], Family Online Safety Institute, retrieved 2014-01-25</ref> An alternative self-rating system, named Voluntary Content Rating,<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://faculty.law.wayne.edu/Weinberg/rating.htm|title=Rating the Net|first=Jonathan|last= Weinberg|journal=Hastings Comm/Ent L.J.|year=1997|volume=19|page=453|quote=The Voluntary Content Rating self-rating system promoted by CYBERSitter is almost the model of a standard; it offers as its only guidance the instructions that self-raters should determine whether their sites are "not suitable for children under the age of 13," and whether they include material "intended for an audience 18 years of age or older."|accessdate=2015-09-15}}</ref> was devised by Solid Oak Software in 2010, in response to the perceived complexity of PICS.<ref>[http://www.seomastering.com/wiki/Voluntary_Content_Rating Voluntary Content Rating]</ref>

[[Internet Explorer 3]] was one of the early web browsers to offer support for PICS, released in 1996.  [[Internet Explorer 5]] added a feature called ''approved sites'', that allowed extra sites to be added to the list in addition to the PICS list when it was being used.<ref>[http://support.microsoft.com/kb/221787 New Features in Internet Explorer 5], Microsoft Knowledgebase Article Q221787</ref>

==See also==
*[[Network neutrality]]
*[[World Wide Web Consortium]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal | author = Paul Resnick |author2=James Miller  | title = PICS: Internet Access Controls Without Censorship | journal = Communications of the ACM | volume = 39 | issue = 10 | year = 1996 | pages = 87–93 | url = http://www.w3.org/PICS/iacwcv2.htm | doi = 10.1145/236156.236175|s2cid=2453614 | doi-access = free }}

[[Category:World Wide Web Consortium standards]]
[[Category:Internet Explorer add-ons]]
[[Category:Internet access]]
[[Category:Computer law]]
[[Category:Media content ratings systems]]

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