5.4: Freedom of Information legislation and information access issues

Table of Contents

1. Freedom of Information legislation
2. Acceptable Use Policies
3. Content filtering
   1. Approaches to content filtering
   2. The Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA)
   3. Walled Gardens
   4. Suppliers of filtering software
4. Internet safety with younger clients

The Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA)

ICRA provide a set of categories and levels within each category:

• The presence or absence of nudity
• The presence or absence of sexual content
• The depiction of violence
• The language used
• The presence or absence of user-generated content and whether this is moderated
• The depiction of other potentially harmful content such as gambling, drugs and alcohol

The user's browser has to be configured to use the system. Clearly there are obvious weaknesses here in that website developers are not required to use the ratings, and they may be misused. However, similar to the age ratings associated with films and computer games, this may in the long run be the best possibilty for filtering.

Since there are weaknesses in each approach, filtering can not replace vigilance or simple common sense from library staff.

Now let's take a look at Walled Gardens ...