The British culture minister Andy Burnham has suggested that websites be rated in the same way as films to protect children from adult content.
I would just like to know how Mr. Burham suggest that one would go about getting a website rated if such a system were in place? Would web designers & ad agencies be forced to submit the thousands of websites that are newly launched each day? And then wait for the ratings committee to get back to them while their client is on the other end of the phone wondering where there website is?
Further more Burham has suggested that sites like youtube and facebook follow TV’s lead and only display age appropriate content during certain hours. This statement is so out of touch with the reality of the internet that it’s scary. Does he not realize that the internet is available to all people 24/7? Is the industry as a whole suppose to have a constantly rotating selection of content depending on what time it is in a visitors geographical location? Or would Australian’s simply be stuck waiting until the middle of the night to youtube clips of SNL?
While I can appreciate that Burham is trying to do nothing more than “protect the children” with statements like these, I think he needs to take a step back and realize the true size and scope of the internet and the impact of what he is suggesting. For what he’s suggesting to become a reality would be an impossible undertaking, both for ISPs and web publishers a like.
Is it just me, or is the battle for net neutrality simply the modernization of ancient book burning?