Senior executives from Microsoft, Netscape, CompuServe, AOL, and the Recreational Software Advisory Council (RSAC), will be joined by Tim Berners-Lee and Jim Miller of the World Wide Web Consortium, at tomorrow's PICS (Platform for Internet Content Selection) international panel at the Fifth International World Wide Web Conference at CNIT in Paris, France. Participants are expected to discuss the future of ratings systems on the Internet, as well as to announce various products and initiatives designed to comply with PICS -- the industry-developed standard for multi-party rating systems.

Topics to be addressed of interest to the web community will be:

• How will Internet users be impacted by the availability of ratings systems and ratings compliant browsers?

• Which content providers will rate the content they put on the web and when will this happen?

• Will governments enforce the use of ratings in the educational community?

• Is this a business opportunity for the Internet community? If so, how will it influence the dynamics of the market?

New PICS-compliant products and a sample rating system from RSAC will be demonstrated. Members of the international press community will take questions following presentations from:

Stephen Balkam, Executive Director, Recreational Software Advisory Council (RSAC)
Tim Berners-Lee, Director, World Wide Web Consortium and creator of the WWW
Andrew Gray, European General Manager, CompuServe
Martin Haeberli, Director of Technology, Netscape Communications Corporation
Jim Miller, Co-Chair of the PICS Technology Committee
Paul Resnick, Co-Chair of the PICS Technology Committee
Bernd Schiphorst, President & CEO Europe of AOL Bertelsmann Online Europe GmbH
Bernard Vergnes, President of Microsoft Europe