There are many types of website ratings and endorsements available to place at any website. These range from a simple statement posted by the owner or webmaster to specialized evaluations from other individuals and organizations. The intent is to allow visitors to know how information received from visitors is being used and what type of material the website contains. They're supposedly designed to keep you safe as you surf the internet. I utilize many of these programs and fully stand by what I post as promises to my visitors. However, not everyone is upstanding and will use their statements to lie to people.
      My pages are rated by both ICRA and SafeSurf. Programs such as these are self-rating programs. The webmaster goes to the organization's website, fills out a form, and receives a code to paste into their .html coding. These codes are recognized by the various parental control programs and do not allow access to sites with content not approved by the parents. There is no fail safe mechanism. I could self-rate my site as safe for all family members and then post sexually explicit photos and other material. There are also some people who post the graphics at their site without ever adding the code. Organizations such as Watchdog will test every page for the presence of the code and then issue their certification. As far as I know they don't check the actual content, so the coding could be incorrect in its listing of content.
      Still other individuals and organizations offer awards for family safe sites. They may or may not check for the presence of ICRA or other codes. Most often, they manually check the site for inappropriate material and, if none is found, they grant the award. Again, offensive material can be added after the award is posted.
      The problem with any family safe rating system lies in the honesty of the person applying for and displaying those ratings. The way I have this site rated, it's most likely not being viewed by the entire internet community because I have the code set to rate the content as containing violence and the portrayal of drugs, etc in an educational manner. It must also be taken into consideration that what one honest person considers safe for viewing by their children is not always what you approve. When it comes to the internet, it's ultimately the parents responsibility to monitor themselves and their children, not the rating badges issued by the various rating organizations.
      The same facts apply to other types of website ratings and statements. Anyone can say they respect your privacy, even to the point of posting rating badges for various ethics groups, and then turn around and use your personal information in other ways. Programs such as McAfee site advisor will show a site is "green" meaning it contains no harmful downloads, yet something could've been added to the site and it still be marked as green until the next time it's checked. Anyone can post graphics saying they're a member of the Better Business Bureau or other organizations and not really be members. As with any other form of credentials, rating badges can be misused or be completely bogus.
      I'm not trying to scare people so much they don't trust anyone on the internet. What I'm trying to relay is the need for parental supervision and the use of common sense while you do surf the web.