Six months after the country began implementing the Internet Content Rating Regulations (
I-Link Community Services Association presented the results of a survey showing that while 49 percent of parents are aware of the rating system, 51 percent are still unclear about the new policy.
The results also showed that up to 40 percent of children surf the Internet with no adult supervision. They also found that parents who are active Internet users do not necessarily have a better understanding of the rating system.
Chu Hui-fen (朱惠芬), the CEO of Taiwan Internet Content Rating Promotion Foundation, said the results showed that a lot more need to be done to increase parental awareness of the system.
Chu also addressed the foundation's need to work closely with other NGOs to enforce the policy.
The foundation was set up last year and is in charge of designing and promoting the online rating system.
limited resources
"Given the limited manpower we [the foundation] have, we are not able to cover all the families in Taiwan," Chu said.
The regulations divide online content into restricted and non- restricted. The restricted contents are defined as having excessive depictions of violence, sexual material and other content that are inappropriate for viewing by children under the age of 18. Meanwhile, non-restricted contents may be viewed by children "under the guidance and discretion of parents, guardians or any other person taking care of them."
Under the new regulations, Web sites containing restricted content should carry a "restricted" label on the home page. The label was designed in the shape of a lock with the Chinese character xian (
The foundation encourages the owners of these Web sites to present truthful information on their meta tags, which contain key words and Web page descriptions that are sorted by search engines.
According to Chu, the government hopes that Web site owners will practice more self-discipline.
warnings only
As the government is reluctant to impose fines on those who fail to follow regulations, the foundation can only pass along the names of Web site owners to the police and investigators, who can only issue warnings, she said.
Moreover, the foundation can only monitor domains registered in Taiwan and has no way to regulate overseas Web sites, she said.
The results of the survey were presented in a press conference hosted by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shi-bao (賴士葆).
Both lawmakers and NGO representatives at the meeting also gave practical suggestions on promoting awareness of the rating system and helping to enforce the regulations.
I-Link representative Huang Wei-wei (
Huang also recommended that the National Communications Commission work with the foundation to regularly review measures that can be used to regulate Web site ownership.
Meanwhile, Lai suggested that the government revise the regulations soon and impose stricter penalties on Web sites that instigate or promote suicide.
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