Internet Child Safety, .RAT Files, PICS Labels and Links

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•  O.N.Z.C.D.A™ And Internet Child Safety
•  PICS And Other Labels
•  .RAT Files
•  Links
•  W3C and FAE Validations

Yes, we may only display an award program but the safety of children on the internet is a main priority with us. We find the risks for young persons intolerable so we do the very best we can to make “our place safe space!” Common advice to parents suggests not allowing your children to spend hours on the Internet but we do not automatically subscribe to that theory for if your child sat down with the encyclopedia and kept switching to different books to get deeper and deeper into an area of interest, you wouldn't object would you?

The Internet is child-driven learning this being one of the best types of learning. It generates excitement, energy and a feeling of power. The fact that it occurs on the computer rather than through big, heavy sets of books with very small print and no moving pictures does not diminish its value. Parents have to take the lead in protecting their children in the computer age as well as in the park. This means knowing what is going on. On-line services are very responsive to parents and safety concerns and they are making it easier and easier for parents to monitor what is going on and where their children are spending their time.

As parents we need to go on the Internet ourselves. This will open communication between ourselves and our children who want us to know why the Internet is important to them. We need to participate and be the voice for balance. The Internet is more seductive than television and it can be an extraordinary tool and friend or it can be a sinkhole for time and money. As parents, we need to take the lead and keep it!

Labels used are expressed by implementing the Resource Description Framework (RDF) as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium. RDF Content Labels are a generic platform designed to support digital labels and trust marks of all kinds. Use of RDF means that labels are part of a much bigger global effort to make sense of the mass of online data known as the “Semantic Web.” RSS news feeds, blogs, shared bookmarks and many other technologies are based on RDF and related standards. In order to facilitate filtering for parents using PICS filters (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer's Content Advisor) since January 2006, also provided are simplified PICS interpretations of the current vocabulary alongside the RDF labels.

Our  SAFESURF™ PICS label meta tag applies across the board within our Domain and ise displayed under the terms and conditions of the SAFESUF™ labeling and/or licensing agreement.

To carry out SAFESURF™ tests in this web site we provide for your convenience image links at the bottom of all main pages. Just access the linked image, insert the URL of the page you want to test and press the test button. The SafeSurf™ labeling standard is a voluntary system designed to assist in the protection of young children on the Net. This tool will inspect the page and tell you if the PICS Labels tag is placed correctly in web pages and whether the PICS Label is valid. The SafeSurf Site Inspector only checks the HTML placement of the SafeSurf Rating Label - it does not certify for you that the site has ben appropriately rated for content. For further information see:  Discussion on SafeSurf™ labeling.

We also utilize the  APEX metadata schema through the use of .RDF labels these jointly achieving ontology based metadata by semantic annotation and / or are directly related to Organizations in which this Award Program holds active Membership.

•  .RAT files are used by IE Content Advisor. If viewers want to protect their children from harmful content on web sites they must enable Content Advisor and change the settings to select the .RAT files - SafeSurf™ or whichever .RAT files they wish to use. Of course, the web sites they wish to view must be PICS labeled with the associated rating organization to be viewed in IE.

•  This means that viewers should have the .RAT files installed on their computers in order to use Content Advisor. Older versions of IE came with RSAC™ pre installed and IE7 came a new one called TICRF (Asian.)

•  For information on installing and using SafeSurf™ .RAT files read  SAFESURF™ .RAT Info

•  To check that the SafeSurf Rating tag is correctly placed within our pages access this link  SafeSurfs Tag Inspector and enter the full web page address of the page you wish to check.

•  We believe in and support child safety on the internet and take all steps available to ensure that no web site that could be classified as 'at risk' will be displayed from our pages and provide for viewer interest several image links in our lower right facing menu.

•  The TOTW Family Safe image certifies that this web site meets their criteria in the area of family safe viewing. Although this web site is no longer accepting listings, you can be assured that the web sites listed are Family Safe.

•  The Trustworthy Web Site image certifies that this web site meets the following requirements: family friendly, a child safe surf, highly ethical and spam free.

•  The Family Friendly Site image certifies that this web site meets the criteria fir listing in their family friendly sites directory - search keyword - o.n.z.c.d.a.

•  The NetSafe image certifies that this web site meets their criteria in the area of family safe viewing and that the O.N.Z.C.D.A™ owner supports their policies.

The below image links will open in external new windows. To use the FAE validation process access the image link (below) and insert the URL of this web page.