N* r*d* w*rds *n h*st*r*c br**dc*st | 24 June |
Progressive Networks' "Timecast: The RealAudio Guide" (www.timecast.com ) claims history this week by publishing the "first audio-enhanced article over the Internet completely filtered for profanity" with PICS (Platform for Internet Content Selection) standard framework for rating services and systems. The article includes examples of text and RealAudio recordings which would be deemed unsuitable by the Communications Decency Act (CDA), including all of George Carlin's "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" monologue. Sounds good, but as is the case with most of the filtering technology, reality is a little less assuring. This is one text article, with some audio. This article has been tagged by Timecast, highlighting objectionable material that Timecast considers objectionable. Timecast decides what to tag. Only tagged material can be filtered by a user, and only if they have the appropriate filtering system. The Timecast article, titled "Censor This: The CDA Undressed," explores the debate over the CDA, the law which attempted to place federal regulations on indecent Internet communications. That part of the law was declared unconstitutional by a Federal District Court this month. Final review is expected by the Supreme Court. Timecast uses the article to demonstrate PICS, a voluntary rating system developed by a consortium of companies and organizations. With PICS, two different sets of ratings are embedded into the Timecast Web pages, allowing users of any major PICS filtering software to pick their preferred rating scale. Jay Wampold, a spokesman for Progressive Networks admitted to Newsbytes that PICS is still a crude system, and had no answer as to when any filtering system could assure a parent that indecent material would not reach the home. "This technology is still a 'work in progress.' The Timecast article is a sample of what can be provided today. It is not intended to assure parents that any system can stop any indecent material from reaching their children. Most of what is being developed now requires the Web page creator to censor his own pages. This means that, in theory, parents could allow only filtered pages to enter the home." With these caveats in mind, the statement released by Progressive Network's Chairman Rob Glasser should be taken with some skepticism. He was quoted as saying, "PICS provides a means for families and individuals to control the content of the information they receive over the Internet without the need for a global censorship authority, such as the CDA. With the release of PICS-compatible Web browsers, it is now possible for people to see the reality of how PICS works in a very practical and straightforward way." Progressive Networks was one of the founding members of a consortium of 23 companies and organizations which came together last year, after the CDA legislation was first introduced. The group is developing the PICS technical specification. Progressive Networks' Timecast: The RealAudio Guide is a customized daily news broadcast with audio content on the Internet. The most important part of Timecast is the Daily Briefing which allows users to build a custom newscast with stories from a dozen well-known news and entertainment organizations such as ABC, ATN's Music News, C/net, Entertainment Tonight, CBC, ComputerWorld, Electronic Industry News, Fortune, Industry.Net, One-on-One Sportsflash, and TST-Taylor Subscription Talk. Since its introduction last April, Progressive Network claims over five million RealAudio Players have been distributed with over 25,000 being downloaded from the RealAudio Web site daily. The RealAudio System consists of the RealAudio Player, a client-based software enabling online users to access existing audio for instant playback, and the RealAudio Server, which enables major media content providers to distribute audio or audio-based multimedia streams over the Internet. (Richard Bowers/19960624/Press Contact: Jay Wampold, Progressive Networks, 206-674-2295) |
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From the NEWSBYTES news service, 24 June |