there's a simple solution to anyone who doesn't like the so-called "mandatory voluntary" rating systems. START YOUR OWN!! anyone is free to create software that filters whatever sites they deem appropriate, to use whatever algorithms they think are legitimate. for example, the the GLAAD agency might come out with a list of sites they think are appropriate for children to view that are excluded by other rating systems. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the rating companies agree to integrate such a list into their software and give the end user the choice of whether to turn it on. what? it takes a lot of time to rate sites? you don't want to do it? yet you want to complain about someone else who has taken the time to do this for customers who have chosen to pay for it? there is a legitimate market for filtering software, and it is growing. who is to say what software can be run on someone else's computer? who is to tell parents they shouldn't use a filtering package for their own children? filtering software can be as simple or complex as we wish. ultimately end users are voting with their money. the froth over the rating systems seems to me mostly overblown. I do agree however that they should not be made mandatory based on the law. the free market is solving the problem. we have ratings agencies and people (such as GLAAD) who rate the rating agencies. I don't see anything worth hyperventilating about.