---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 16:35:00 -0700 (PDT) From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> To: fight-censorship-announce@vorlon.mit.edu Subject: Microsoft postpones plans to include RSACnews in Explorer [Note that Microsoft still plans to include RSACnews in Explorer 5.0. --Declan] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Inter@ctive Week August 5, 1997 Microsoft Tables 'News' Rating System For Explorer By Steven Vonder Haar 1:30 PM EDT Microsoft Corp. has tabled plans to include new technology in its Internet Explorer 4.0 browser that would have made "news" oriented sites exempt from content rating standards promoted for use on the Internet. Officials at leading media companies, including Time Warner Inc. and Dow Jones & Co., have lobbied industry leaders during the past month in an effort to generate support for an approach that would exclude news sites from content rating systems such the one promoted by the Recreational Software Advisory Council (RSAC). The media companies, rallied by the Internet Content Coalition industry group, contend that the ratings are the equivalent of private censorship that will eventually cut into freedom of speech rights on the Internet. "No one puts a filter over the mailbox to determine whether Time magazine is appropriate for our audience," said Dan Okrent, editor-in-chief at Time Inc. New Media. "The same standards should apply to the Internet." RSAC's current rating tool is integrated into the current Explorer browser. It allows parents to block access to content based on RSAC ratings. Sites that do not carry RSAC ratings also can be blocked. RSAC recently came up with a "news" category designed to allow display of news content without suitability ratings for individual stories. RSAC President C. Dianne Martin said Microsoft is running out of time to implement the separate designation for news sites before the launch of the 4.0 version of Explorer later this year. However, the company plans to include the news designation in the 5.0 version of Explorer when it is made available, likely sometime next year. RSAC can be reached at www.rsac.org Microsoft can be reached at www.microsoft.com