age classification

How to know the right age classification?

In principle the age.xml system is not about age classification itself but about how to transfer an age classification from the website to Parental Control System for filtering web content for minors.

Nevertheless, we like to give you some tips how to get to know the right age classification for your content. There are several ways to get this information. Decision about what kind of content is suitable for kids and adolescents is also a matter of culture and country. For this reason age.xml gives you the opportunity to provide different age classification information for different countries or regions (check: country specific age rating).

 

Here are some possibilites to get information about the right age classification:

 

  • Online questionaire

German self-regulation body FSM (Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Multimedia Diensteanbieter e.V.) offers a free to use online questionaire for age classification. You can use it in English and German.

English: https://www.altersklassifizierung.de/en

 

  • Ask an expert

There are a couple of lawyers and other other experts in age classification providing professional support. Some of them offer this external service for a reasonable monthly fee.  For bigger companies it makes sense to have an own youth protection officer like the one how is in charge for data protection.

 

  •  Ask a rating body

In -Europe there are several rating bodies and other organisations offering age classification. In moste cases they are specialized on a type of content e.g. movies or games. Some of the biggest ones are PEGI, NICAM, BBFC, FSM, USK, FSF, FSK.

 

  • ... ask your own experience ;-)

In most cases it is just fine if you think twice yourself: Might my content be harmful for minors?  Try to take a look to your content with the eyes of a child or teenager. Would you like a parent allow your child to open this website? In case of doubt take the next higher age group and you are doing much better than all the other who don't care about child protection in the internet at all.