Industry and Academia Join Forces to Develop Platform for Internet Content
Selection (PICS)

CAMBRIDGE, MA, September 11, 1995 . . A wide-ranging group of publishers,
telecommunications companies, Internet and online service providers, and
software firms are working together under the auspices of The World Wide
Web Consortium (W3C) to develop an easy-to-use labeling and selection
platform, called PICS, that empowers people worldwide to selectively
control online content they receive through personal computers. PICS
stands for Platform for Internet Content Selection, and is expected to be
available royalty-free in early 1996.

PICS is the result of a merger of independent efforts by the W3C and the
Information Highway Parental Empowerment Group (IHPEG). IHPEG was formed
in July 1995 by Microsoft, Netscape and Progressive Networks. W3C, located
at MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) in Cambridge, MA, and at
the Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique
(INRIA), in Rocquencourt, France, convened the PICS group to address
technologies needed to support categorization and selection of information
available on the global electronic networking infrastructure.

The following companies and organizations are contributing expertise to
PICS: Apple, America Online (AOL), AT&T, Center for Democracy and
Technology (CDT), CompuServe, IBM, IHPEG, Information Technology
Association of America (ITAA), Interactive Services Association (ISA),
MCI, Microsoft, MIT/W3C, Netscape Communications Corporation, Open Market,
Prodigy Services Company, Progressive Networks, Providence
Systems/Parental Guidance, SafeSurf, Spyglass, SurfWatch Software, Time
Warner, and Viacoms Nickelodeon.

"The organizations participating in PICS are committed to developing a
viewpoint-neutral technology platform that will empower organizations and
individuals to categorize and selectively access information according to
their own needs," said Albert Vezza, Senior Research Scientist and
Associate Director of MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science, who is
spokesman for the working group.

"IHPEG is very excited to be working on PICS with the W3C," said IHPEG
founder Rob Glaser, who serves as Chairman of PICS. "Having widespread,
unified industry participation will significantly accelerate our efforts."
Mr. Glaser also is President of Progressive Networks.

PICS is being developed to accomplish two broad goals:

* Catalyze creation of easy-to-use tools that give groups, organizations
and companies the ability to develop their own content labeling schemes,
which can be shared with, and used by their constituencies. Content could
be categorized and labelled in a variety of ways, such as current movie
ratings or the Library of Congress cataloging system. Additional content
categorizations could include pricing, access or copyright restrictions.

*  Build upon existing filtering technologies and catalyze creation of
easy-to-use ways to empower individuals to selectively access or block
certain content.

PICS is organized into two committees. The PICS Technology Committee is
co-chaired by Dr. James S. Miller, Research Scientist with MIT's
Laboratory for Computer Science, and Dr. Paul Resnick, Member of Technical
Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories. The PICS Public Policy/Communications
Committee is co-chaired by Brian R. Ek, Vice President of Public Affairs
for Prodigy, and Daniel J. Weitzner, deputy director of the Center for
Democracy and Technology. The four co-chairs, along with Glaser and Vezza,
form the PICS Steering Committee.
 
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