PICS Presentation Talking Points

This is keyed to the set of slides prepared by NetScape and labelled "DRAFT NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION 9/30/95"

  1. Title slide
  2. Founding members
  3. Table of contents: introduction, two useage scenarios (corresponding to scenarios distributed in initial press release), technical description of how selective access works. To be followed by a separate presentation of detailed technical information and possible demonstration.
  4. Introduction text: "The Internet, on line services, and the World Wide Web, increase access to information which can be both fun and educational.
  5. Parent and child using computer together. This is the ideal way to make educational use of the wealth of information available on the network. It is an exploratory learning experience, with both the parent and child learning-by-doing.
  6. Child alone with computer. This is the problem we are trying to solve: a child who inadvertently stumbles onto information that is inappropriate (because of the child's age, the topic area, the cost, or the necessary context and parental explanation). Emphasize, perhaps, that "inappropriate" varies from family to family as well as child to child; and the notion may be that certain material is perfectly appropriate when viewed with adult supervision, but not when viewed alone (example?).
  7. Solution: a system for content selection (with figure). The basic idea is to interpose content selection software between the child and the actual information when the parent isn't present. The software may run on the child's computer or on the system to which the computer connects to access the Internet (i.e. service provider or on-line service).
  8. Today's systems compared to PICS. Today, there is one dominant rating system for each kind of information (MPAA for movies, etc.). The PICS approach is different. It assumes that any individual, group, organization or corporation may provide a rating service and it is up to the parent to choose the rating service that most closely matches their own values. The PICS system itself is "values neutral," in order to empower parents to express their own values.
  9. Scenario 1, first screen, "Mom sets up system for 10-year old son." Talking point: this is the first of two usage scenarios we will show you today. The details of the interaction are not part of PICS, but rather are left to a competitive market place to work out. These scenarios are to show the basic steps that a parent and child will see when installing and using PICS-compliant software.
  10. "She begins by creating a new account." Talking point: since each child is unique, the parent will establish an account for the child to use by themselves. The choice of material that is appropriate is left to the parent on a per-child basis.
  11. "She has a choice of service and levels. She chooses ..." Talking points: The parent has access to a number of different rating services. The particular set of services that are available will vary depending on what software the parent is using and where the content selection software is run (on the home PC or at an on-line service or access provider). Each service has a description of the way it rates information, and the parent chooses one or more rating services to use based on this information. The actual screen shows a user interface that allows only one service to be used for each child, but the user interfaces we demonstrate later may allow more than one service to be used (so that MPAA movie ratings can be combined with, say, local PTA ratings of other information). Notice that for her son the mother has chosen a policy of "Block Unrated Sites" meaning that the son can only receive information that has been specifically rated by the rating service she chose. Thus, if the rating service has not yet had time to inspect the contents of a site, the son will not be able to see any information from that site.
  12. "Later when her son turns on the computer to begin using the Internet" Talking point: we now turn our attention from the parent's experience when configuring the software to the son's experience when using the software to explore the Internet on his own.
  13. "He will sign on and enter his password before being allowed access to the Internet" Talking point: this is how the computer knows that it is the son who is using the computer. For most computer users, this step is already one that they perform today: in Windows/NT and Unix systems, the son must "log in" before using the computer at all. For customers of commercial Internet access providers or on-line services, the son would "log in" before being allowed to use the service, for billing purposes.
  14. "He might turn to a directory service" (I think this title and content are changing) Talking point: this is typical of today's use of the World Wide Web on the Internet. The same basic idea applies to other services on the Internet ("net news" and "chat rooms"). PICS does not address sending or receiving electronic mail.
  15. A visit to an approved site or page. Talking point: most of the work of PICS is invisible to its users, just as most of the work of the telephone or electric company is invisible. When the son asks for information (in this case by clicking on a link in the World Wide Web), the content selection software first obtains a content label from the rating service that the mother selected. If the label indicates that the information meets the mother's pre-set criteria, then the content selection software allows the access just as though the software hadn't been there at all.
  16. A visit to a disapproved site or page. Talking point: when the content label indicates that the information does not meet the preset criteria, then access is blocked. PICS-compliant software will signal a specific error, so that other parts of the software system can decide how to reflect this to the user. In our scenario, the user interface that the son is using presents a screen showing that the access is blocked and gives him two options.
  17. "If he really needs access he can ask his mom's permission." Talking point: Continuing with our hypothetical user interface, the son can leave a note for his mother explaining why this specific bit of information is needed.
  18. "Later, when mom is home." Talking point: Since the son was using the computer without supervision, he wasn't allowed to see some information he had wanted. When the mother next uses the computer, perhaps prompted by the son, she will log in using her own account. This is probably the same account she used to initially configure the system.
  19. "She can review the permision requests..." Talking point: The system has kept track of all the information her children asked permission to see, along with the reason they wanted to see it. She can review the material herself and then decide whether to allow a child to look at it. PICS does not mandate any particular way of performing this review or of implementing these "parental override" features; this is left to the competitive marketplace of software vendors.
  20. "She can also set up a new account -- this time for her 14-year old daughter" Talking point: This is the same procedure that was used to create the account for the younger son. Notice that she has chosen a different rating system, and that this time the mother has not chosen the "Block unrated sites" option. This means that the daughter can access information unless it has been specifically marked as inappropriate by the rating service the mother has chosen. The mother apparently feels that the daughter is mature enough to handle most kinds of information on the Internet.
  21. "When her daughter turns on the computer to begin using the Internet"
  22. "She will sign on & enter her password"
  23. Same initial visit
  24. Same second visit, but it isn't blocked for the daughter. Talking point: because the mother chose a different set of content selection criteria, the daughter is allowed to see some information that the son found to be blocked.
  25. Third visit, blocked. Talking point: the content selection isn't just turned off for the daughter. There is still information that she must ask permission in order to see.
  26. "How selective access works" Text slide with bullets
  27. "Elements of the system" Flow diagram of system. Talking points: recap the system. The parent configures the content selection software. The child then uses the software to access information. The software always requests a content label before delivering information to the child. The label can be delivered with the information, or from a separate server run by the rating service. The child will not notice any difference. Different rating services can provide labels for the same information, and the labels may not be the same: the labels from a given service reflect the values of the service provider.
  28. "Labels may be created by" Text slide with bullets
  29. "Services may" Text slide with bullets
  30. "Establishing a Rating Service ..." Text slide with bullets
  31. "Next Steps" Text slide with bullets