The Internet is a dynamic new communications medium which has emerged at an astounding pace in recent years. The Internet, is one of many on-line services which offers a revolutionary means by which individuals an

Over the next few years it is anticipated that the Internet will increasingly become a major source of the type of entertainment products which are currently available on television, radio, video and CD-ROM. As more secure methods of collecting payment for services over the Internet become available, it is expected that the Internet will also provide a common medium by which entertainment products are purchased.

There are a number of scenarios in which PICS labels can be used. For example, labels may be developed to indicate whether Internet content contains sexual or violent material, enabling parents to select or block the material accordingly. A teacher might label a set of materials which are relevant to an astronomy lesson and block student access to everything else during that class. Those concerned about Nazi propaganda and other hate-speech available on-line, could label material that is historically inaccurate or that promotes hate, and businesses may wish to use labels to block their employees from visiting recreational sites during hours of office hours .

Whilst the first generation of filter products offer parents some tools to control their children's access to unsuitable material, some users have found that they have a number of limitations. For example, products which are based on recognition of keywords and phrases are not able to filter explicit graphic images or deal with encrypted data or transposed text. Conversely, sites of value to the user may also be blocked if they contain specified keywords or phrases. For example, press reports stated that at one time access to the White House web site was blocked by a filter responding to the word 'couple'.

There have also been a number of initiatives developed in the school environment. These include the Education Network Australia (EdNA) project which obtained in principle agreement form all Australian, State and Territory Governments at a meeting of the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs in May 1995. The project aims to provide Australia wide access to educational products and services relevant to Australian educators .

The encryption of content adds a further dimension to the difficulties of dealing with illegal material in the on-line environment.

It was considered that four countries was the maximum number that could be dealt with in the pilot study in the time available. The collection of information for the pilot study was largely undertaken using information available on the World Wide Web (www) and through library sources. Contact has been established with a number of relevant government agencies and experts in the four countries to inform them of the study and their comments on the material in the drafts in terms of accuracy and completeness are being sought.

Some common words found in the essay are:
On-line Environment, Participation Diversity, Communication Internet, United Kingdom, Council RSAC, Illegal Content, Environment Internet, France Japan, FTP Gopher, Internet Watch, service providers, internet content, on-line services, on-line environment, pilot study, codes practice, united kingdom, content providers, children's access, labelling schemes, world wide web, internet service providers, managing children's access, content on-line services, access unsuitable material,
Approximate Word count = 10407
Approximate Pages = 42 (250 words per page double spaced)