European Office Extends Internet Content Rating Association’s Worldwide Reach
New Senior Management to Lead Expansion
Washington, D.C. and Brighton, England, April 4, 2000 — The Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA), a non-profit organization committed to developing an internationally acceptable online content labeling system that protects children from harmful Internet content, today announced that it has established a presence in Europe, opening a new European headquarters outside of London in Brighton, England. In addition, ICRA announced that it has appointed Ola-Krstian Hoff as director of ICRA Europe and Ken Handley as ICRA’s technical director
“Prior to arriving at ICRA, Ola-Kristian Hoff worked for DG Information Society of the European Union. A native Norwegian, Hoff also spent eight years at the Norwegian Ministry of Justice, where he held a number of positions, including assistant director general of the Strategic Unit, Civil Department. Hoff received a law degree from the University of Oslo and has specialized in law related to the Information Society. He takes the place of David Kerr, chief executive of the Internet Watch Foundation and former director of ICRA Europe, who recently stepped down from this position. Kerr has been named ICRA’s honorary secretary.
In addition, ICRA has named a new technical director, Ken Handley, a 10-year veteran of British Telecom (BT). While at BT, Handley held a variety of technical and development positions, most recently he was responsible for delivering ISP solutions that work with a variety of platforms, configurations and international suppliers. “By opening our Brighton office, ICRA truly becomes an international organization,” said Stephen Balkam, executive director of ICRA. “Hoff and Handley will play key roles in helping to build this office and establish ICRA’s presence in the European community.”
Formed in May 1999, ICRA was created to develop an internationally acceptable online content labeling system. The new global labeling system will be based on the RSACi content rating system that is already embedded in Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator and has rated more than 120,000 Web sites. Formed with the backing of some of the world’s best known Internet and communications companies, ICRA’s founding members include, AOL, Bell Canada, Bertelsmann Foundation, British Telecom (BT), Cable & Wireless, Demon Internet (UK), Deutsche Telekom Online Service, Electronic Network Consortium, EuroISPA, IBM, Internet Watch Foundation, Microsoft, Novell, Software & Information Industry Association, and UUNet.
About ICRA
ICRA is an international non-profit organization, incorporated in the UK as a company limited by guarantee, with charitable purposes. ICRA’s mission is to develop, implement and manage an internationally acceptable voluntary self-rating system which provides Internet users world wide with the choice to limit access to content they consider harmful, especially to children. ICRA has received the RSAC assets including the RSACi system that provides consumers with information about the level of nudity, sex, language, and violence in Web sites. To date, more than 130,000 Web sites have rated with the RSACi system, including a great number of the top 100 sites which account for 80% of the web’s traffic.
Contact: Jennifer Riggle Porter Novelli Convergence Group — ICRA +1 757-451-3665