President Clinton will announce Wednesday a "parental empowerment" initiative urging the high-tech industry to develop tools for parents to control what kids access online and to educate them on using such tools.
The administration is calling the plan "E-chip," a reference to the television V-chip that will enable parents to block programming. But unlike the V-chip, the E-chip at this point is not a hardware device but a series of proposals to give parents choice in content-filtering software, to implement more widely Net ratings systems such as the Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS), and to encourage Internet service providers to adopt programs that allow parents to customize Web-browsing.
Clinton and Vice President Al Gore will announce the initiative at a meeting promised since late spring to bring together representatives of parents groups, the computer industry, ISPs, and civil liberties groups.
Although civil libertarians have criticized many of the options in the E-chip proposal - on the grounds, for instance, that blocking software filters out legitimate Web sites and that Net ratings systems are too complex - some observers say the White House is on the right track as it moves away from the heavy-handed regulatory approach embodied in the recently overturned Communications Decency Act.
"The administration is taking a leap of faith in supporting parental empowerment," said Peter Harter, global public policy counsel for Netscape, which will incorporate PICS into version 5.0 of its browser.
Once Netscape incorporates the PICS rating system, some 90 to 95 percent of all Web surfers will have PICS on their desktops. Microsoft built PICS into Internet Explorer 3.0.
Other filtering technologies, while imperfect, are already in place - it's just that many parents aren't using them. For example, all Macintosh computers are now shipped with the blocking software NetNanny. About 12 million Americans have access to filtering services provided by their commercial ISPs. And, all of the major online providers, such as America Online, offer filtering devices for parents. But recent studies by Consumers Union found that only 20 to 30 percent of parents online are using blocking software, and that the majority find it hard to find in stores and difficult to install.
"Any parent who wants to control access on the Net can do so today," said Jonah Seiger of the Center for Democracy and Technology, which Tuesday launched Netparents.org, a Web site that provides basic information for parents on what filtering technologies exist and how to access them.
Meanwhile, Congress is still trying to get in on the act. Several bills have been floated to implement a range of steps from promoting blocking technology to mandating Net ratings. One bill, the Communications Privacy and Consumer Empowerment Act by Representative Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts), would require the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission to review the issues involved, propose changes in regulations, and promote the use of blocking software.
