ICRA Compliant Filter Released, Announces InnoVal Systems Solutions, Inc.; Includes Capabilities for Screening Gnutella and Other File Sharing Networks for Pornography

Business Wire, Oct 31, 2001

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

HARRISON, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 31, 2001

InnoVal Systems Solutions, Inc. today announced the release of RiFilter, a new parental control filter that is fully compliant with the recently launched Internet Content Rating Association's uniform ratings labels (ICRA).

RiFilter is also the first filter on the market capable of screening out most pornography being distributed through Gnutella and other file sharing networks. Programs such as BearShare and LimeWire, popular among children for downloading copyrighted music, are widely used with file-sharing networks to distribute pornography.

Daniel Porter, the president of InnoVal warned: "When it comes to pornography on the Internet, the World Wide Web is only part of the problem. ICRA will help solve the web problem. But Gnutella and other file sharing networks, which bypass the web, are rapidly becoming a bigger part of the problem. Popular web filters don't address file-sharing networks; nor does ICRA. A multi-pronged approach to filtering is needed which includes ICRA labels. That's the idea behind RiFilter."

ICRA is a non-profit international organization that promotes a standard ratings label for web sites. It is designed to help parents of young children allow or disallow access to web sites based on objective ratings declared by the web site owner and preference settings by parents. ICRA officially launched the ratings system on October 23, 2001.

Members of ICRA include IBM, British Telecom, Verizon, UUNet, and VeriSign. AOL, Microsoft's MSN network and Yahoo, also member organizations of ICRA, last week announced their intentions to implement the ICRA labels on their web sites.

Because ICRA is still new -- only a few thousand web sites have labels at this time -- InnoVal's new filter provides an option to filter unlabeled web pages by analyzing a page's content and comparing its web address to a list of highly objectionable web sites. It also allows parents or other password holders to add their own lists of web sites that they want blocked or permitted.

The software also allows parents to add lists from public watch groups.

To encourage adoption of the ICRA label, InnoVal will also release a series of tools for small and medium web site owners to help them deploy, verify and manage ICRA labels on their sites. "I'm excited about the possibilities of ICRA if enough web site adopt the ratings," said Porter. "I wish we had something as promising as ICRA for file sharing networks like Gnutella."

Gnutella programs like BearShare and LimeWire have surged in popularity giving young people a new way to swap music following Napster's near collapse from it legal battle over copyright violations. These programs use file-swapping technology that does not rely on central servers, thus making control impossible.

It is also difficult, if not impossible, to identify the original source of any file and in particular pornography. As inappropriate videos and photographs proliferate to many home, school, library, and 2business computers, any trail of where a file originated is completely lost.

According to a congressional report commissioned by Rep. Henry Waxman (D) of California and Rep. Steve Largent (R) of Oklahoma, file sharing programs, also known as peer-to-peer programs, are increasingly being used to exchange pornography and bypass filters set up by parents. Nearly half of the queries that flow through the network are for pornography, according to the congressional report.

Thousands of pornography videos and photographs, which include 2child pornography, bestiality, and graphic scenes of brutality and rape, are readily available to children with these popular file-sharing programs. Children need not look for it. A routine search for music by recording artist Maria Carey, as an example, results in pornography being automatically presented to children according to InnoVal.

These file-sharing programs are designed to further propagate whatever an unsophisticated user downloads. This is what makes the programs work. Parents may not be aware that computers in their own homes are surreptitiously being used to distribute and assist others find pornography.

In many cases parents are unaware that their children are using these programs. Nor are they aware that their home computers are being used to facilitate pornography distribution even while being used to download music. These programs are free, as are all of the pornography files they deliver. No attempt is made to exclude minors from accessing objectionable content.

RiFilter also includes a feature to prevent children from accidentally downloading malicious programs, which are distributed openly on the Gnutella network. RiFilter also prevents so-called spyware programs from collecting personal information from a users PC.

RiFilter works with all versions of Windows from 98 upwards, including Microsoft's new Windows XP. It works with any web browser supported by these operating systems including Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Netscape and the Opera browser. By special arrangement, InnoVal has arranged for several Internet Service Providers to provide RiFilter to their customers free of charge. The filter may also be purchased from InnoVal at their web site: http://innoval.com.