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By Suzanne Choney
Video games have ratings for age appropriateness; why not mobile apps? CTIA, the wireless trade industry association, Tuesday plans to announce such a rating system that it hopes will give consumers "the information and tools they need to make informed choices when accessing apps."
Live Poll
The idea of an age rating system for mobile apps is:
169381
1. Redunkulous. Who's going to pay attention to it?
31%
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2. Long overdue. Mobile apps have mushroomed, and some guidance is needed.
44%
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3. Yet another example of over-regulation, be it voluntary or mandatory.
25%
VoteTotal Votes: 36
Where will "Angry Birds," for example, fall on such a scale? "EC" (Early Childhood), content "that may be suitable for ages 3 and older. Contains no material that parents would find inappropriate"? Or, perhaps "AO" (Adults Only), for those 18 and older because of "prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity."
(Yes, the birds and pigs are naked; it's the "prolonged scenes of intense violence"?? birds being flung, pigs exploding ? that could make it an adults-only game in a literal world.) But you already may know the answer: "Angry Birds," as a game for PlayStation Portable, Wii and Nintendo DSi, is now rated "E" for "Everyone."
Still, how to rate apps like "1,000,000 Fart Generator" or "Poop and Fart Jokes" and the like?
The "EC," "AO" and "E" ratings are among those used for video games by the self-regulatory Entertainment Software Rating Board, which will participate in Tuesday's presentation of the new rating system, something CTIA has been working on since March. (Click on the Guidelines for App Content Classification and Ratings link to read the PDF.
At that time, the association said it planned to have "Guidelines for App Content Classification and Ratings" ready by the end of this year.
Here's some of what CTIA has said so far about the program:
To rate app content, developers enter information about their app?s content during the on-boarding process at participating app storefronts. Based on the information supplied, an age-appropriate content rating is applied to each app. This initiative is part of the wireless industry?s continued commitment to empowering consumers since the app ratings will offer the information parents need to determine which apps are appropriate for their children.
With more than 500,000 apps in Apple's App Store alone, not to mention other apps for other mobile systems like Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and tablets like the iPad and Kindle Fire. rating the programs could turn into quite a time-consuming task.
But CTIA also shares these stats that point to the pervasiveness of mobile Internet access and kids:
- More than 84 percent of the handsets operating on wireless carriers? networks are capable of browsing the Web.
- During the past five years, the percentage of children ages 8 to 18 who own their cell phone has grown from 39 percent to 66 percent.
Whether a mobile app rating program can have much impact, or be a useful tool remains to be seen. Let us know what you think in our poll.
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