Reuters recently announced that Britain’s minister for culture, Andy Burnham, is advocating movie-style ratings for websites. Burnham is planning to collaborate with President-elect Barack Obama and his administration to establish international guidelines for English websites. The rating initiative is an attempt to shield young audiences from inappropriate material that can be easily accessed online.

The British politician is already trying to address concerns regarding free speech by telling The Daily Telegraph, “This is not a campaign against free speech, far from it; it is simply there is a wider public interest at stake when it involves harm to other people. We have got to get better at defining where the public interest lies and being clear about it.”

Although Burnham has attempted to address some public concerns, it is still unknown where the power to rate the websites will ultimately lie. It is also unclear what type of information will be deemed inappropriate and how governments will go about restricting young viewer’s access to specific websites.

We are sure to be hearing more about international website ratings as President-elect Barack Obama and his administration address the issue.