Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS)

PICS are the W3C's technical specifications (PICSRules) for associating labels (meta tags) with Internet content. PICSRules allows the creation of profiles (filtering rules). A profile can allow or block access to URLs (web sites or individual web pages) based on the PICS labels that have been applied to the web content.

Although PICS labels can describe any content that can be named with a URL, FTP and Gopher have no protocol defined for passing labels. A label bureau would be needed to distribute labels for these non-HTTP URLs. PICS could not be used for email messages because they do not normally have URLs. Labels could be applied to discussion lists messages that are archived on the web because they do have an HTTP URL.

Web browsers, search engines, proxies, web spiders or other servers can read these PICS labels and determine if the content should be returned to the calling program. A search service could return only those links that meet the users profile (filtering rules). A browser could determine if a web page should be displayed. A profile can be designed for age suitability, privacy, quality, or safety (downloadable software).

PICSRules are how rating services like RSACi, ICRA, Weburia, or SafeSurf create their content rating systems. Many browsers and some filtering software use these rating systems to filter Internet content.

Netscape Navigator (up to v4.77) supports the RSACi rating system. Microsoft's Internet Explorer supports the RSACi, ICRA, Weburia, and SafeSurf rating systems.

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