The purpose of the PICS interest group is to discuss and promote the use of the PICS-1.1 specs, including PICSRules, for applications including but not limited to child protection.
The PICS interest group will convene meetings, usually in conjunction with other events that interest group members are attending. Otherwise, communication will occur by email, using the pics-interest@w3.org mailing list. The group will continue to allow participation from non-W3C members. To join the mailing list, send email to pics-interest-request@w3.org.
The PICS interest group will not develop any new specs. It will be responsible for answering questions about the specs and other aspects of PICS (as posed to the pics-ask mailing list), for maintaining the PICS web site and the Intellectual Freedom FAQ. The interest group may choose to generate other educational materials (including minor clarifications of specs) that make PICS more accessible to developers, users, and other organizations. The PICS interest group will not spawn new working groups to create new specs (that will be the province of the metadata coordination group). The interest group may provide input about requirements to the metadata coordination group and its working groups. The interest group will also consider when, whether, and how to transition to new label formats or transmission methods, if such a transition appears advantageous at some future time.
The metadata coordination group will be responsible for deciding when the PICS interest group is no longer needed.
PICS formally superseded by POWDER. The PICS Interest Group and its associated mailing lists are therefore also formally closed as of this date.
The PICS Interest Group chair is vacant. If there is anyone who would like to fill this role, please contact Danny Weitzner or Ralph Swick at the World Wide Web Consortium. The main duties of the chair are the maintenance of the PICS Web pages and responding to questions that are sent to the PICS-ask mailing list. Of course, you could do more if you wish.