Recreational Software Advisory Council =
(RSACi)
The Recreational Software Advisory Council =
(RSAC) rating=20
system was developed in 1994 for rating computer games. In 1996 it =
launched the RSACi ( Recreational Software Advisory Council on the =
internet) content rating system for web pages. RSACi is compatible =
with=20
the Platform for=20
Internet Content Selection (PICS) standard.
The RSACi system provided information about the =
level of=20
sex, nudity, violence and offensive language in a web =
page. The=20
system allowed a webmaster to rate each page within the website. =
The RSACi=20
rating system relied on a webmaster filling out a questionnaire. =
The=20
questionnaire asked specific questions about the page content =
found within=20
the webmaster's site. The webmaster would submit the =
questionnaire to=20
the RSAC web server which would respond with the HTML content =
advisory=20
tags that the webmaster could include in their web page. An =
Internet=20
browser configured to read the RSACi system can recognize these =
tags. Web=20
pages would be displayed if they met the criteria selected by the =
user=20
(parent, school, etc.).
Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.x or greater=20
and Netscape Navigator 4.x supported the RSACi system. The =
Content=20
Advisor in Internet Explorer supports the RSACi rating system by =
using a=20
rsaci.rat file. The rat (RATing) file contains the rating system=20
information that the browser can use to compare against the HTML =
content=20
tags found on a rated web page. By default the browser looks for =
the=20
rating files in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder. If your system =
doesn't have=20
the file you can download =
the=20
rsaci.rat file and save it to your WINDOWS\SYSTEM =
subdirectory.
In the Spring of 1999 RSAC became part of =
ICRA. The =
ICRA=20
ratings system was launched in December 2000. ICRA no longer is =
supporting=20
the RSACi rating system.
Next Section - Internet =
Content=20
Rating Association
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