Non-government organizations yesterday urged the nation's parents to take advantage of filter software provided by the Taiwan Internet Content Rating Promotion Foundation (TICRF) and commercial software firms to prevent children and young adults from accessing pornographic Web sites.
"While technology has brought convenience to our lives, it has also generated other problems," said Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容), chief executive of the Garden of Hope Foundation.
"These problems cannot be solved by the law alone. Technology must also play a part," he said.
The event, held at Taipei's Kids No.1 Museum, was attended by representatives from government organizations as well as fixed network service operators.
Organizers also hosted interactive activities where parents and children could participate and learn about the importance of the issue.
The Children and Youth Welfare Law (青少年兒童福利法) divides Web site content into two types: that which can be viewed by the general public and that which is restricted to adults only.
Content that can only be viewed by adults should be labeled "restricted" in English or Chinese, or include a statement that the Web site contains material "that cannot be viewed by youth 18 years old or below."
Adult-only Web sites should also be encrypted with identifying codes, the law says.
Beryl Chu (朱慧芬), CEO of TRCRF, said research by Yam.com indicated that 44 percent of children under 14 years old have accessed pornography sites by inadvertently clicking on suspicious hyperlinks.
Since the foundation began operation last year, nearly 80 percent of adult-only Web sites registered in Taiwan have labeled their Web sites with the mandated content ratings.
Chu said the private sector had fully supported the enforcement of the new regulation.
Microsoft Taiwan, for example, has included the filtering function in their Chinese edition of the Vista operating system.
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