SafeSurf: The Basics SafeSurf Rating Standard Government Censorship
How to Rate Your Site
SafeSurf: The Basics
Why was SafeSurf started?
SafeSurf was founded out of concern for children accessing adult material and the potential trauma associated with early exposure to pornography. Governmental censorship as a response to the issue was also a major concern.
What are SafeSurf's basic principles?
We believe that standards must be implemented in cyberspace. Children should be protected on the Internet, however parents should have the choice to raise children as they see fit and define the word "indecent" for themselves. The online community is made up of many diverse cultures from around the world. Obviously, opinions will differ on levels of acceptable material. Parental choice is really the only answer to this problem. The only way we will be able to achieve freedom of choice by parents is to implement an Internet-wide listing methodology to facilite searching and filtering.
Does SafeSurf have software?
SafeSurf is working with others to provide the SafeSurf Internet Filtering Solution for schools, libraries, ISP's and corporations. Our solution is a server solution, which means that the software is not installed at the end user's computer, but at the ISP level to avoid tampering. In addition SafeSurf offers its assistance to help all of the filtering software companies produce better products and encourages them to support SafeSurf's Search Methodology.
What are SafeSurf's Main Goals?
Our main goals are to employ the SafeSurf's Search Methodology on the Internet, while assisting and supporting parents in protecting their children.
How to List with SafeSurf
How do we list our site?
It's very simple to list your site, simply visit the SafeSurf Listing Form. Fill out this easy-to-rate form for your content and then hit the "Generate Listing" button. A web page is returned to you with your rating and instructions on how to put it in your web site, and a copy is also emailed to you.
After I list my site, can I use the SafeSurf logo?
After you rate your site, you may visit the logo page and download the SafeSurf Listed Logo of your choice. One of our staff will come by your site to verify your listing.
Do I have to list every web site I publish?
One of the first selections on the form is "This Listing is for an individual site or an entire directory". You may list your entire directory, which will cover all of the web pages under that directory. If you have one or two pages with a different listing, you may go back and rate them differently, the individual page ratings override the directory ratings for this purpose.
What do I do about links on my web site?
We understand that webmasters are only responsible for their own content on their site and that they cannot ensure that their linked sites. We encourage webmasters to rate, and to contact sites they link to and ask them to also list themselves. However, if a site is serving as a portal to an adult site/gambling site, it must list itself as such.
Can I put more than one Listing META tag rating on my site?
Please put the SafeSurf META tag first.
The META tags do not effect each other, and you can use as many as you need in your web site.
SafeSurf's Listing System
What is PICS?
PICS is an Internet protocol to allow listings to be transferred and understood across the Internet. We founded the PICS (Platform for Internet Content Selection) effort along with 22 other top companies (Microsoft, Netscape, AT&T, etc.). PICS support is now included in Internet software and browsers. Basically, PICS allows content providers to list their pages and parents to set levels for their children. Then, PICS compliant software/browsers will read the settings and use the ratings to filter content that is not desired.
You mention that "severe legal penalties will be reserved for those sites containing adult material which entice children by coding themselves as child safe." - What type of penalties do you envision?
Severe legal penalties currently exist for anyone who sexually abuses children, or solicits minors, etc. The same penalties can be applied to anyone who abuses the system to entice children to adult material. Our system will demonstrate that cooperative self-regulation is a million times more effective that governmental censorship. If the government should pass specific laws that are aimed directly at criminals who would abuse this system to hurt innocent children, we will support it wholeheartedly.
Wouldn't this system make it easier for adults to perform searches for particular strings in documents and find this material?
Our goal is to protect children and the rights of their parents. We exist specifically to defend the innocence of each child. We agree that our system will speed up searches for all material, however, the SafeSurf plan achieves its goal of protecting online children by encouraging information flow controlled by the parent.
Is the idea to classify sites as child safe or child oriented?
The goal is to get all sites to participate. The code allows parents to make specific decisions on what kind a material that they want their child to download. The computer will interpret the code of SS~~000 1 as "General Information (the first two zeros) with No Adult Themes ( the third "0") with the mildest degree of 1". This is 100% child safe for young children. If the site would contain a occasional mild expletive such as "crap" it would be rated as SS~~001 1 which the computer would translate as "General Information with No Adult Themes includes Profanity with a degree of 1. We stress that these codes are designed to be interpreted by the computer as they are encoded. By using the computer to do the translating, we can build a system that is both very detailed, but is simple to understand by the end users. The SafeSurf Listing system is very extensive because we wanted to make sure that Internet surfers have the freedom of choice.
What has the response been like?
It appears that the Internet was waiting for a voluntarily listing system that was easy to implement and would protect online children in a way that made sense. We continue to receive e-mail from all across the world voicing support for the SafeSurf Listing System. The number of listed Web sites continues to grow and some search engines are have given priority to listing these sites.
Government Censorship
Why do you believe censorship is not a solution?
Censorship does not protect children. Instead, it instills in all, a fear of information. It can, has, and will be used as a tool of the government to harass anyone it feels is not cooperating with its master vision. Censorship occurs when a government does not care to listen to reason. It is an uninformed, panicked and over-broad response when a well-reasoned specific solution is needed. Only those messages that the government decides are "indecent" are controlled, while children continue to have full access to sites that individual parents may consider "indecent" or even dangerous. You see, censorship cares nothing for your opinion, only for groups with political clout. Censorship takes all and gives very little in return.
What do you think is the best way of getting support from legislators who broadly have no idea of the Internet except that it is a system for exchanging porn. How can we educate them or reassure them?
Legislators like many other people are convinced by action instead of talk. Our goal is to get enough sites coded so that a safe cyber-playground for our children is in existence. Proof that the Internet community will implement solutions on its own can convince them of alternative solutions to censorship.
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