RSAC wins Bertelsmann Prize!

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 RECREATIONAL SOFTWARE ADVISORY COUNCIL WINS 1998 CARL BERTELSMANN PRIZE
 
 RSAC and Canadian Radiotelevision and Telecommunications Commission Share
 Prize for Outstanding Innovation and Responsibility in the Information
 Society
 
 Washington, D.C. and Gütersloh, Germany, September 10, 1998 – The
 Recreational Software Advisory Council (RSAC), the world’s leading rating
 system for the Internet, today announced they have been awarded the esteemed
 1998 Carl Bertelsmann Prize.  The annual prize, awarded since 1988 for
 innovative approaches to important public policy challenges, this year
 focused on "Communications 2000 - Innovation and Responsibility in the
 Information Society."  RSAC was jointly awarded the prize with the Canadian
 Radiotelevision and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in Gütersloh,
 Germany today at a ceremony keynoted by German President Roman Herzog.  RSAC
 and CRTC will share the endowment award of 300,000 Deutchmarks
 (approximately $165,000 US Dollars).
 
 In a video-taped speech shown at the awards ceremony earlier today, United
 States Vice President, Al Gore congratulated RSAC stating, “I am pleased to
 see so many in this industry rise to the challenge of Internet
 self-regulation – and I am pleased that you (the Bertelsmann Foundation)
 have created an award to recognize these efforts.  Let me also express my
 pride that an American non-profit institution, the Recreational Software
 Advisory Council, is among the winners of this prestigious award.”
 
 “In awarding the 1998 Carl Bertelsmann Prize, the Foundation sought to
 highlight viable models for regulating the media and communications markets
 in the future,” said Dr. Mark Wössner, CEO and chairman of the board,
 Bertelsmann AG, and deputy chairman of the board of the Bertelsmann
 Foundation.  “With the rapid expansion of the Internet around the world,
 RSAC’s innovative self-regulatory system is a model which provides a proven
 framework for the regulation of content on the Internet.  For this reason,
 we are proud to recognize RSAC as this years winner of the 1998 Carl
 Bertelsmann Prize.”
 
 "We’re honored to receive the 1998 Carl Bertelsmann Prize," said Stephen
 Balkam, president of RSAC.  "Internet content is an issue that concerns
 parents and consumers in every country with Internet capabilities. Because
 it is integrated into both of the world’s most popular browsers, RSAC for
 the Internet (RSACi) offers users a tool that will allow them to shape their
 Internet experiences to fit their own values and empowers parents to make
 informed decisions about what they and their children experience on the
 Internet.”
 
 RSAC and CRTC were chosen from more than 100 possible candidates to receive
 the prize. All candidates were closely reviewed by the management-consulting
 firm of Booz, Allen & Hamilton in three different categories of
 responsibility – supervision of the communications and media markets,
 self-regulatory initiatives, and the promotion of media competency.  The six
 finalists for the prize included the United States Federal Communications
 Commission (FCC), the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA), the Education
 Network of Australia (EdNA), Bayern Online, as well as the Recreational
 Software Advisory Council (RSAC) and the Canadian Radiotelevision and
 Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
 
 Available in both Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator,
 RSACi is a PICS-compliant (Platform for Internet Content Selection) system
 that empowers parents and consumers to make informed choices about what they
 and their children experience in cyberspace by means of an objective content
 advisory system.  The RSACi rating system is a fully automated, Web-based
 system that relies on a quick, easy-to-use questionnaire that the Web master
 completes at RSAC's home page [http://www.rsac.org].  The questionnaire runs
 through a series of highly specific questions about the level, nature and
 intensity of the sex, nudity, violence or offensive language found within
 the Web master's site.
 
 Once completed, the questionnaire is then submitted electronically to the
 RSAC Web server, which tabulates the results and produces the HTML advisory
 tags that the Web master then places on their Web site.  A standard Internet
 browser or blocking device that has been configured to read the RSACi system
 can recognize these tags, enabling parents who use the browser to either
 allow or restrict their children's access to any single rating or
 combination of ratings.
 
 RSAC
 The Recreational Software Advisory Council is an independent, non-profit
 organization based in Washington, D.C. that empowers the public, especially
 parents, to make informed decisions about what they and their children
 experience on the Internet by means of an objective content advisory system.
 RSACi is the world’s leading rating system for the Internet.  It has now
 been integrated into Netscape Navigator and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
 RSAC's system provides consumers with information about the level of nudity,
 sex, language, and violence in Web sites.  More information on RSAC and the
 RSACi rating system is available at http://www.rsac.org.  To date, more than
 85,000 Web sites have rated with the RSACi system, with over 4,000 sites, on
 average, rating each month.
 
 Bertelsmann Foundation
 The Bertelsmann Foundation, which holds 68% of equity in Bertelsmann AG, the
 third largest media conglomerate in the world and the largest publishing
 company in the US, strives to tangibly contribute to the solution of current
 social challenges. The Foundation is based in Gutersloh, Germany.
 
 
 Contacts:
 Kate Castle/Pat Arcand
 Copithorne & Bellows for RSAC
 617/450-4300 x264
 kate.castle@cbpr.com
 
 Stephen Balkam
 President
 Recreational Software Advisory Council
 Tel: +1 202 237 1833
 Fax: +1 202 237 1836
 web: www.rsac.org
 
 
End Forwarded Text ----

___________________________________________________________

Joseph Reagle Jr.  W3C:     http://www.w3.org/People/Reagle/
Policy Analyst     Personal:  http://web.mit.edu/reagle/www/
                   mailto:reagle@w3.org

Received on Thursday, 10 September 1998 15:15:27 UTC