On August 15 and 16, the Consortium held a meeting on content labeling issues in conjunction with the Information Highway Parent Empowerment Group (IHPEG). 30 representatives from 18 companies attended the meeting. The companies were approached by the Consortium because they had indicated interest in the project and had technical expertise that directly applies to it. The meeting was chaired by Rob Glaser <robg@prognet.com>, the chairman of the IHPEG. The purpose of the meeting was to explore a possible relationship between IHPEG and W3C, and decide on immediate steps to be taken.

There was a strong consensus at the meeting that the two efforts should be merged together. As a result, the W3C has commissioned a working group on content labeling, its membership initially drawn from the meeting. As work progresses and the technology is refined, the W3C will obtain feedback from a wide range of groups and organizations.

The group then defined its structure: a steering committee and two subcommittees. The steering committee is composed of the subcommittee co-chairs (see below), the committee chair (Rob Glaser) and Albert Vezza <av@mit.edu> (MIT/LCS) as group spokesman.

The Public Policy/Communications subcommittee is co-chaired by Brian Ek <ek@prodigy.com> (Prodigy) and Danny Weitzner <djw@cdt.org> (Center for Democracy and Technology). This subcommittee concentrates on education, public policy and coordination with industry lobbying groups. It is also responsible for all publicity-related activities of the entire committee.

The Technology subcommittee is co-chaired by Paul Resnick <presnick@research.att.com> (AT&T Bell Labs) and Jim Miller <jmiller@w3.org> (MIT/W3C). Its charter, currently being prepared, includes the creation of technical specifications for interoperability in a viewpoint neutral manner. Specifically, the subcommittee will address:

The work adheres to the position statement of last week's newsletter, and will take into account the need for cryptographic verification of ratings, and a variety of methods of distributing ratings efficiently.

The Technical subcommittee is working under considerable time pressure. It will produce draft documents for review by W3C members as quickly as possible, working towards a goal of a Consortium release in October and public review in November. To that end, the Technical subcommittee will function using closed mailing lists. Any member company wishing to join the subcommittee should state the name of the individuals who will participate, what percentage of their time is available for the subcommittee's work, and what the individuals can contribute to the effort. This information should be sent as soon as possible to both co-chairs.

A formal press release (including the formal name of the group!) is, at the time of writing, under review by the Public Policy/Communications subcommittee.