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* 2008-02-12 update *
we've just published a new proposal here: http://www.ipernity.com/group/36490/discuss/13963
Dear all,
Since ipernity is suitable for a global, public audience including family audience, we feel concerned about protecting children from potentially harmful content, and helping members in choosing what they want to access or not.
Our current system is not good enough to prevent access to inappropriate content and we aim to substitute it by a rating and filtering system.
We'd like to share our thinking with you and to collect your comments, opinions, ideas... Our goal is to satisfy both members and visitors, not to promote any kind of censorship.
You are welcome to join our workshop group: content rating and filtering system.
Your ipernity Team
The results of our first thinking
Context and challenge
We operate under the French law. It's our starting point and we cannot derogate from it.
It particular means :
- people under 18 cannot access to porn and extremely violent content
- some specific contents are legal in some countries but are illegal under the French law (racism, apology of drugs...)
The law is not detailed enough to protect people against potentially harmful content according to their age (kids) or their choice (adults). That's the reason while lots of content rating systems exist, such as ICRA for internet, PEGI and ESRB for videogames and various systems for television. These systems are all different because they all match a specific context (laws, cultures, religions, languages...).
The challenge for ipernity is to find a system both suitable with an international and multicultural audience (mainly West European and North American), and easily understandable and usable by our members.
Content rating system
- green: for all ages, with little or no violence, non-sexual to no nudity
- orange: not suitable for children, with moderate violence, language and some soft sexual content
- red: restricted to adults, with strong violence, strong language and explicit sexual content
- black: illegal/illicit
Rules
- Rated contents are: articles, photos, videos, audios, other docs.
- Members must rate their own contents when uploading or posting (default rating settings available).
Rating guidelines
| Illegal / illicit content | |
| Paedophilia, childish pornography | |
| Copyrights infringement | |
| Incitement or depiction of discrimination or harm against any individual or group based on gender, sexual orientation, ethnic, religious or national identity | |
| Revisionism, Holocaust denial, Nazis exhibitions | |
| Incitement of crimes and offences | |
| Apology of the use of illegal drugs | |
| Invasion of privacy | |
| All content against the French law | |
| Nudity | |
| Visible genitals | |
| Depiction of partial nudity in a sexual innuendo or explicit context (no visible genitals but exposed female breasts, bare buttocks and/or pubic hairs) | |
| Depiction of partial nudity in a non sexual context (no visible genitals but exposed female breasts, bare buttocks and/or pubic hairs). For instance : lady breast feading a baby, topless sunbathing, ancient Greek sculptures... | |
| None of the above | |
| Sexual material | |
| Erections / explicit sexual acts | |
| Visible sexual touching | |
| Explicit sexual language | |
| Obscured or implied sexual acts | |
| Erotica | |
| Passionate kissing | |
| None of the above | |
| Violence | |
| Assault / rape | |
| Torture or killing of human beings / animals | |
| Blood and dismemberment, human beings / animals | |
| Injury to human beings / animals | |
| Torture or killing of fantasy characters | |
| Blood and dismemberment, fantasy characters | |
| Injury to fantasy characters | |
| None of the above | |
| Language | |
| Profanity or swearing | |
| Abusive or vulgar terms | |
| Mild expletives | |
| None of the above | |
| Potentially harmful activities | |
| Glamorisation of crime | |
| Depiction of illegal drugs use | |
| Encouragement of the use of tobacco / alcohol | |
| Detailed description of techniques used in criminal offences | |
| Incitement of gambling | |
| Content that creates feelings of fear, intimidation, horror, or psychological terror | |
| Content that sets a bad example for young children: that teaches or encourages children to perform harmful acts or imitate dangerous behaviour | |
| None of the above |
Content filtering system
- strict : access to green contents only
- moderate: access to green and orange contents
- deactivated: access to green, orange and red contents
Rules
- Filtering mode for anonymous visitors is: strict - No change
- Default filtering mode for members is: strict - Possibility of changes.
- Members between 13 and 17 can choose between strict or moderate filtering.
- Members over 18 can set filtering to strict, moderate or deactivated.
- Filtering mode can be temporary downgraded by members when browsing in one specific space or one specific group.
- No particular rules for specific countries.
- Inappropriate content is not shown in Search and Explore section, and is shown as a scrambled thumbnail in other pages.
Content moderating system
Rules
- Registered visitors (members) can report rating problems to ipernity moderators.
- ipernity moderators can restrict/lock contents rates, suspend/remove illegal contents and alert/suspend/remove faulty members.
Team ipernitypro says:
Team ipernity edited this comment 22 months ago.
Annjin replies:
[ed.] and given the iper system only show last logged in members blog posts etc .. I fear that this topic too will fall away to soon to make people react or express their opinion.. as long as we do not have a common ground (i.e blog or help forum) to automatically see if its something new going on.
Nils Pickertpro says:
--
Seen in a user home page (?)
Christine Lebrasseurpro says:
www.fluctuat.net/blog/5047-Contre-la-censure-sur-Flickr-en-Allemagne
www.flickr.com/photos/ptitfredd/556221009
A quand Ipernity ?
--
Seen in christinelebrasseur home page (?)
Annjin replies:
Nils Pickertpro replies:
And actually a rating system is not censorship, a censorship starts when you cannot see stuff you are legally entitled to see. This should not end like all the discussions in flickr where nothing constructive happened any more... IP is required to have something like that sooner or later, as european law requires it. Either this or they have to face some really bad law suits.
--
Seen in a user home page (?)
Christine Lebrasseurpro says:
--
Seen in my account recent activity (?)
Underscan says:
Indeed a German institution concerned with the protection of minors stated that Flickr only had to remove illegal content when notified because they are to be considered a host provider - not in advance.
I cannot judge as to how French law differs here.
On the aspect of age:
The same is especially true for Ipernity members with a Pro account - they must also be of full age.
Without a verification the whole filtering system is totally useless.
If you are going to request e. g. identification via ID card - which is just as unsafe, since every kid could copy his father's - I will immediately terminate my membership since I am very concerned about privacy and am not willing to reveal my "true" identity for an online photo community. The possibility of using Ipernity in a pseudonimic way to me is of a much higher value than questionable "protection" of minors from "dangerous" content.
On the aspect of reliability:
First off a platitude: Filtering System Do NOT Work
Unfortunately I believe this platitude is true.
How do you think such a system can be reliable? It is up to every individual to mark his content appropriately. You have tried to show what content should be considered as "not suitable" etc., but still opinions will differ on this.
An example:
Potentially harmful activities
We have: an artistic shot of a staged mafia situation with the boss and his men at a table, guns on it, etc.
Is this art or is this "harmful"?
We have: a b/w photo of an addict lying in a corner, needle etc. beside him. The picture represents a dull reality in an artistic manner.
Is this "harmful"?
You can already see, that marking content will be - no matter how you try to define the boundaries - unreliable.
These are my first thoughts on this, let's see what others have to say and how you are going to deal with this.
One final question: did you come up with the "need" for this filtering systems yourselves or did some institution approach you?
Дон Андреpro says:
Charppro says:
I think I agreed completely with Underscan. I hope he will copy this in the group. Censorship is a nonsense. Rating can be good as a way for personal discretion and choice.
Charp edited this comment 22 months ago.
Modalopro says:
Like Underscan, I would also like to know, whether this sudden discussion about establishing such a filtering system on Ipernity is a) just the first step on the way to censorship and whether it has b) been the "suggestion" of any institution.
I just want to express that any sort of "preemptive obedience" always makes me feel a bit uneasy...
Modalo edited this comment 22 months ago.
*Reinhard*pro says:
Annjin says:
www.ipernity.com/group/36490
Iljuschinpro says:
If ipernity starts to be censr like f**** hiding my own pictures for myself (ridicolous as it is), hiding only ONE picture of a contact upon obeying local german law wich is still untested against german law, without having ONE judgement wich is tested to EU law, I will see this here as the same crap and leave immediatley!
As stated on the other side: I do not have *one* upon 500 pictures in my account which *might* be a problem in a way that I see *inappropiate*. But if there is a admin here, which tells *me* what is inappropriate whithout a possibility for me to prove this and ignore this rating, then I decide, as a adult human being, that this is, what it is, censorism, and I quit.
The rating will always be a decision which is in the social background of the rater. What we have at f****-Side is a completely overstrained admin team, deleting pictures of paying adult members, maybe showing smoking kids in romainia. Maybe this in that is not allowed in that or other country. Fine: Translate ipernity to iranian, acceping fees of iranian members, and afterwards a all female without headscarf will be "red" oder "yellow" or what? And because of a completely nuts german youth protection law I have to send now in a post ident process my identity card to ip to see afterwards my own picture with a girl without headscarf?
Filters: Do this, if you think this will have some effect in discussion with a judge, deciding if we all here provide dangerous stuff for kids. Shut down public anonymous access to ipernity. All fine. But I sware: Having not the option to get rid of a filter, as log as I am logged in, I will immediately leave and do not discuss for months like on the other side.
Sorry for open words.
Team ipernitypro says:
Team ipernitypro says: