Note: Many topics at this site are reduced versions of the text in "The Encyclopedia of Networking and Telecommunications." Search results will not be as extensive as a search of the book's CD-ROM.

PICS is a W3C specification for describing the content of resources with a metadata label. PICS was originally designed as a way for parents and teachers to gain control over the Web sites and pages that children could access on the Internet. The PICS standards facilitate the following:

• Self-rating    Content providers voluntarily label the content they create and distribute.


• Third-party rating    Independent labeling services associate labels with content created by others. These services may devise their own labeling, and multiple services may label a particular provider's content.


• User control    Allows parents and teachers to use ratings and labels from a variety of sources to filter the content that children can see.

Copyright (c) 2001 Tom Sheldon and Big Sur Multimedia.
All rights reserved under Pan American and International copyright conventions.