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NetRated Examined

NetRated, from PC DataPower Inc., was known as "RatedPG" until a trademark dispute with the Motion Picture Association of America forced them to change the name to NetRated in mid-1997. The product is endorsed by the conservative Dove Foundation and Enough is Enough, both groups that publicly opposed the EFF's blue ribbon campaign for Internet free speech at the height of the debate over the Communications Decency Act (CDA). PC DataPower stated that they supported the work of Enough is Enough but that the company was reserving judgment of the CDA itself until after the Supreme Court's decision. The PC DataPower web site was never updated to reflect the Supreme Court's ruling against the CDA in July 1997.


Peacefire sent information to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in July 1997 regarding many of the non-pornographic gay/lesbian resource sites that were blocked by NetRated. In an August 1997 press release, GLAAD criticized PC DataPower's blocking policies. The disputed blocked sites included:


Subscription fees

In a press release from 1995, PC DataPower declared that site list updates would always be free:
We provide updates free. Since the goal of our product is to protect children, then it's just plain wrong to endanger them by withholding information that parents and teachers need unless they continue to pay burdensome update fees.
In 1997, a NetRated product ordering page appeared, offering "free updates for the first two months after registration, thereafter $5.95 monthly or $49.95 per year for unlimited updates."