Censorship

[Regulation of on-line Information Services, a submission] by R.A.Baxter, L.Allison and K.Korb to

1. the Dept. of Communications and the Arts (DCA) and
2. The Senate Enquiry

The internet is a wonderful place of entertainment and education but like all places used by millions of people it has some murky corners where we would prefer children not to go. In the physical world, society as a whole conspires to protect children but there are no social or physical constraints to internet surfing.

We suggest a scheme where an author of internet material is encouraged, not required, to classify it in standard, objective and machine-readable terms, and is also encouraged to sign it. This would allow browsers and internet gateways to be set to automatically restrict access to children in ways determined by parents. It would provide a bridge between that time when children must have their hand held continually by an adult and when they are given the keys to the internet door. The scheme is voluntary and does not limit freedom of speech in any way. It is not a censorship scheme, and indeed it cannot be misused as one.

[ Full Paper Here (35K).]