What is age.xml label?

The age.xml system provides age classification data about websites for Parental Control Systems. Age ratings for e.g. movies or computer games have already been common for many years. But as more and more content goes online we need an age rating for websites. Voila, age.xml is the solution.

 

How does it work?

In short: The content provider of a website (webmaster) in most cases simply places a short age.xml file on his webserver. The most important information this file contains is an age rating: From what age is the content on this website suitable for kids or teens? Parental control systems can read age ratings in age.xml standard and decide whether to show or block the website when a child is sitting in front of the screen.

 

What kind of websites can use age.xml?

Basically all websites from small to big, from a blog to a video portal to social media, from kid-friendly to porn...  Labeling with age.xml offers solutions for (almost) any technology or type of website. You can install the age rating for a website with one type of content within a couple of minutes, or else decide to provide individual age ratings for every single page.

 

Are high technical skills needed to work with age.xml?

No. In most cases you don’t need any technical skills or web developer knowledge to install an age.xml file. You can use our simple-to-use label generator. The only thing you need to do is download the files created by our label generator and upload them to your webserver (on top of your folders, where robots.txt and Google sitemaps are usually located).

 

How much does it cost?

Nothing. It's free.

 

Why should I as a content provider care about age rating and age.xml?

The Internet is great and should be used without limitations as much as possible. But if you provide content that is not suitable for kids you do have a responsibility. Age.xml gives you the option to publish content for adults and at the same time block it for kids – without limiting the access for adults. Sounds good? Yes, it is.

If you provide kid-friendly content, it also makes sense to care about age.xml and install this age label on your website. A lot of parental control systems (PCS) block “unknown” content for younger kids until the age of, for instance, 12. If you install an age.xml label on your website, this PCS will know your age rating and show the content to minors instead of perhaps blocking it by default.

 

Does age.xml have a political impact?

Yes. The open internet offers a lot of content not suitable for kids – we’re not talking just about pornography, but also about content that is much more dangerous for minors. Policy makers have to react and will react. If a system like age.xml becomes successful, it can prevent policy makers from taking stronger action against websites for adults. This way age.xml helps maintain a free internet and free press. There is no need to block or prohibit contents for adults if there is a solution to block unsuitable content only for minors. age.xml is this solution. If you would like to support the free internet you should support age.xml.