Internet sites could be given 'cinema-style age ratings'

This is ridiculous!!

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Andy Burnham says he believes
that new standards of decency need to be applied to the web. He is planning
to negotiate with Barack Obama’s incoming American administration to draw up
new international rules for English language websites.

The Cabinet minister describes the internet as “quite a dangerous place” and
says he wants internet-service providers (ISPs) to offer parents
“child-safe” web services.

Giving film-style ratings to individual websites is one of the options being
considered, he confirms. When asked directly whether age ratings could be
introduced, Mr Burnham replies: “Yes, that would be an option. This is an
area that is really now coming into full focus.”

His plans to rein in the internet, and censor some websites, are likely to
trigger a major row with online advocates who ferociously guard the freedom
of the world wide web.

However, Mr Burnham said: “If you look back at the people who created the
internet they talked very deliberately about creating a space that
Governments couldn’t reach. I think we are having to revisit that stuff
seriously now. It’s true across the board in terms of content, harmful
content, and copyright. Libel is [also] an emerging issue.

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