Dyson "Queasy" About Online Ratings Memorandum.

On the eve of a controversial meeting in Munich, Germany, intended to hash out a "voluntary" international rating system for Internet content, a high-profile participant in the debate is expressing unease with some of the proposed ratings recommendations. The Bertelsmann Foundation_s memorandum, "Self-Regulation on the Internet," has left Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Interim Chair Esther Dyson feeling "distinctly queasy," Dyson said in a written reaction to the memo. As Newsbytes reported in May, the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) was formed by a group of mostly big-time industry players bent on developing its own regulations to avoid the potential government regulation of Internet content. ICRA planned this week_s Munich meeting at which it will hear two conflicting proposals for a worldwide ratings system. The meeting actually kicks off tonight with a state reception, but ICRA will begin discussing the ratings issues on Friday. The Bertelsmann Foundation-sponsored plan was developed by an "expert network," and drafted mainly by Yale Law School professor Jack Balkin. It calls for the ratings system, Website conduct codes and about 10 other points. It will go up against a program sponsored by the Internet Content Rating for Europe (INCORE) proposal, which contains some differences that reflect the European Union_s own involvement in the online content debate. Dyson and former White House Special Policy Adviser Ira C. Magaziner are among those who made suggestions for the Bertelsmann Foundation memo.