Con: Rating Web sites wouldn't work
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Christa Dempsey thinks Web site ratings would be a great idea - if they would work.
"I don't think it's going to matter," the mother of two said. "There's the TV. It has ratings, and kids watch it, regardless."
The responsibility lies with the parents, Dempsey said.
Critics of applying age ratings based on the content and decency of Web sites question the feasibility and effectiveness of such a move.
"The idea that anyone would want to place ratings on Web sites strikes me as, well, one of the dumbest ideas I've heard in a long time," writes Don Reisinger, a technology columnist for CNET.com. "It's not that I'm against keeping kids away from questionable content. I simply don't know how a ratings system could do any good."
Reisinger argues the Web is not a controlled environment and cannot be regulated in the same way as books and films.
Content is being created and modified continually, making it an impossible job to keep any rating up-to-date or accurate, Reisinger wrote.
Walt Hairell, co-owner of Cottage Computer Systems Inc. in Yoakum, agreed with Reisinger and Nichols, saying he did not see how age restrictions could be enforced.
"If you look at a movie, once it comes out, it isn't changing," Hairell said. "Web sites change."
Critics also wonder if the age ratings would mean more parents assume responsibility for their children's Internet activity, which they see as key to keeping kids away from objectionable content.
"I know it is not popular to blame the parents, but it's the truth," PC World's Scott Nichols wrote in a post at washingtonpost.com. "Any parents who are not already monitoring what their kids do on the Internet will not do anything differently just because a rating system is in place."
After seeing parents buy M-rated - the equivalent of a film being rated R - video games for 8- and 9-year-olds, Nichols argued educating parents on how to better monitor their children's Web usage is a "more reasonable strategy" for making the Internet a safer place.
"Ratings do not mean anything if the parents are not making the effort to check the ratings," Nichols said.
Story background
Should Web sites be given age ratings? Andy Burnham thinks so. The British secretary of state for culture, media and sports told The Daily Telegraph he wants to work with president-elect Barack Obama's administration to craft new international ...
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Story background
Should Web sites be given age ratings? Andy Burnham thinks so. The British secretary of state for culture, media and sports told The Daily Telegraph he wants to work with president-elect Barack Obama's administration to craft new international regulations for English-language Web sites, including the creation of film-style age ratings for Web pages. Burnham did not include many details of how the ratings system would work, but he said he would like to see Internet service providers, such as AOL, offer family-friendly services where only Web sites approved for a general audience would be accessible.
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