NetIDme News Archive May 2008
21 May 2008 - Times Newspaper Reports on the BBFC Plans
The Times reports on the online age ratings scheme announced by the BBFC. Excerpt from the Times:
"The hitherto lawless world of online entertainment has began to adopt the same ratings system that governs British cinemas. The British Board of Film Classification said yesterday that its online ratings scheme, BBFC Online, which features the familiar U, PG, 12A, 15 and 18 certificates, would give parents unprecedented information about what their children were watching via the internet.
Online stores and services that sign up to the voluntary scheme will be required to rate downloaded and streamed films, video games and television programmes. David Cooke, the board’s director, said that members would also be required to block children from accessing inappropriate content. "
NetIDme is cited in the article.
21 May 2008 - BBFC Classification Scheme Moves Online
The BBFC’s widely recognised and trusted classification system is moving to the world of downloadable films, programmes and video games. The BBFC has worked closely with the home entertainment industry to develop the scheme that will bring the benefits of the DVD classification system to the world of downloads and the internet. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Europe, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox have already signed up.
BBFC.online has been designed to give consumers the assurance they seek when choosing new media content. The scheme will require e-tailers and VoD services to have age verification or gate-keeping systems in place for parents to monitor and control underage viewing, and the effectiveness of these protocols will be monitored by the BBFC.
Major e-tailers and VoD services are poised to join as soon as their services have been updated in accordance with the requirements of the scheme.
NetIDme Ltd chief executive Alex Hewitt welcomed the scheme, commenting: “Increasingly technology is allowing us to apply the same rules in the online world that have been developed over many years to protect our children in the real world.
"In light of this I welcome the BBFC’s new scheme. I am sure all responsible online publishers and distributors of videos will welcome this new system which underlines the importance, once again, of age verification as a key tool in the child protection armoury.”
16 May 2008 - Age Verification Bill
Labour MP Margaret Moran brings a Private Member’s Bill to the House of Commons today for its second reading. The Bill is in response to an increasing number of cases that have exposed the ease with which children under 18 can buy alcohol, adult films and other age-restricted goods and services on the internet.
Moran’s proposals aim to ensure that anyone selling age-restricted goods and services over the internet has to take steps to verify if customers are old enough.
John Carr, Director of NetIDme and one of the world's leading experts on internet child safety said: "Margaret Moran’s Bill is important and we hope that it will get support from across the House. Online retailers are selling goods and services over the internet without any way of knowing if they are complying with the law. That cannot be right, and it puts young people at risk”