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Aug' and Sept' 1995:
[Regulation of on-line Information Services, a submission]
by R.A.Baxter, L.Allison and K.Korb to
- the Dept. of Communications and the Arts (DCA) and
- The Senate Enquiry
into the Regulation of On-Line Information Services.
23 May 1995:
Protecting Our Innocents (Abstract).
L. Allison & R. Baxter
Department of Computer Science,
Monash University.
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).]
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