So, I have been thinking about this Cambria Struggles in Senate Porn Hearings

[walrus]

No disagreement there but I would also bet $$$ that given a simplified Adult / non-Adult tag there would still be many sites untagged or mis-identified wheter deliberately or by those not knowing better. Which brings us back to where we are...a vastly unused, inefficient system.

[LowryBigwood]

Originally Posted by walrus

No disagreement there but I would also bet $$$ that given a simplified Adult / non-Adult tag there would still be many sites untagged or mis-identified wheter deliberately or by those not knowing better. Which brings us back to where we are...a vastly unused, inefficient system.

I agree with Walrus here, even with a simple tag that could be applied to all your adult pages, there would still be tons of adult content readily accessible to minors. Although this may allow you to somewhat cover your ass, rate your pages, etc.., but would do little as far as the governments goal of keeping kis from accessing porn.

Is it our responsibility or the parents to keep minors out? Both? Government? Browser companies? All of the above?

What gives? I'm confused as hell after reading this thread, I must admit.

[Wenchy]

IMHO, the responsibility lies with each individual webmaster to make a concerted, good-faith effort to "do the right thing". The adult WM community cannot control whether or not X, Y, and Z browser have the ability to read tags (ICRA, PICS, or otherwise)... not our companies, not our problem. BUT, when the solid waste hits the rotary oscillator, do you want to be able to show your tags and say that you at least tried, or will you claim it was too complicated, too much trouble?

Additionally, and this is just food for thought, there is the fact that many things that started in adult have carried over to the broader Net market... if enough webmasters started using tags of some sort, wouldn't the browser companies feel compelled to bring themselves up to speed? It's happened before (think "consoles" and "pop-up blockers") and there's no reason to think it can't/won't happen again.

I keep hearing people screaming for someone to represent adult WMs beyond what the FSC is currently capable of. I say give 'em something to work with right out of the box... use the tags!! Whatever you prefer or, better yet (and I'm dreaming here) something all adult WMs can get behind and implement as a regular business practice. It's just a little time and effort now to potentially give yourself a leg to stand on later.

Better self-labeling now than forced censorship down the road.