Using Content Ratings

Using the Internet Explorer Content Advisor, you can control the types of content that users access on the Internet. You can adjust the content rating settings to reflect the appropriate level of content in four areas: language, nudity, sex, and violence. For example, businesses might want to block access to sites that offer no business value to their employees, and parents might want to block access to sites that display inappropriate content for their children.

Historically, the motive for filtering sites on the basis of a site's content has been driven by a site's subject matter and the fact that some ideas and images are blatantly offensive to many people. In 1995, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) began to define an infrastructure that would encourage Web content providers to voluntarily rate their sites. This is done by using a specific set of HTML meta tags that rate the content of Web sites. Software programs can then block access to Web sites based upon the values of those meta tags. Today, the most common content ratings are based on the PICS standard for defining and rating Web content. For more information about PICS, visit the W3C Web site.

RSACi Rating System

Internet Explorer is installed with a PICS-based content rating system known as the Recreational Software Advisory Council on the Internet (RSACi) system. This built-in PICS support can help you control the types of content that users can access on the Internet. When you enable Content Advisor, Internet Explorer reads the meta tags to determine whether Web sites meet your criteria for suitable content. You can also subscribe to independent ratings bureaus or use third-party ratings to control access to Web content.

RSACi is an open, objective, content ratings system for the Internet developed by the Recreational Software Advisory Council (RSAC), an independent, nonprofit organization. The RSACi system provides information about the level of sex, nudity, violence, and offensive language (vulgar or hate-motivated) in software games and Web sites. For more information about RSAC and the RSACi rating system, see the RSAC Web site.

The following table shows the five levels of the RSACi rating system and describes the content allowed for each level. Level 0 is the most restrictive, and Level 4 the least restrictive.

You can set content ratings to any level for each of the four content areas. All content ratings are set to Level 0 by default. When Content Advisor is turned on and the PICS rating for a Web site exceeds the rating level you specify, Internet Explorer prevents users from accessing the site. Also, you can configure Internet Explorer to prevent or allow users to access unrated Web content. For more information, see "Configuring Content Advisor Settings" later in this chapter.

Web site publishers can obtain PICS content ratings from RSAC, as well as from a number of other nonprofit and fee-based ratings services. Publishers can voluntarily add PICS ratings to their Web sites. You can also obtain independent PICS ratings from ratings bureaus. Ratings bureaus are typically fee-based and specialize in rating Internet sites. You can specify a ratings bureau other than RSAC that Internet Explorer can use to obtain PICS ratings. Because Internet Explorer must contact the ratings bureau to obtain the ratings, using other ratings bureaus can slow access to Web pages considerably.

Other Rating Systems

Some Web publishers rate their sites using rating systems that are not based on PICS. To use these rating systems, you must subscribe to ratings services that support the non-PICS rating systems and then import the rating systems so that Internet Explorer can use them to rate Web content. For more information, visit the Web sites of the rating services. You can also review "Configuring Content Advisor Settings" later in this chapter to learn how to specify different rating systems for Internet Explorer.

Supervisor Password

The first time you turn on Content Advisor, you must specify a supervisor password. This password allows administrators or supervisors to turn Content Advisor on or off and to change Content Advisor settings for users.

In addition, you can configure Internet Explorer so that users can display restricted Web pages by typing the supervisor password. When users attempt to access restricted content, the Content Advisor dialog box prompts users to enter the supervisor password. For more information, see the next section.

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