Tvidia Corp, an Ottawa, ON-based company developing specialty products and systems for the mobile entertainment sector, has released its Tvidia Secure, a content rating solution used to classify online digital content and its suitability by age, similar to that of the movie industry.

The product is targeted at cellular phone network operators, mobile virtual network operators and content aggregators.

With Tvidia Secure all online digital content, can be categorized into age appropriate content which can then be controlled and downloaded to cell phones and other mobile computing devices by consumers based on their age.

All online content today is classified into one homogeneous grouping with very ineffective measures to control accessibility of adult rated content, be it games with violence, music with course language, videos or images. Tvidia anticipates that mobile network operators, mobile virtual network operators and content aggregators want to expand their digital entertainment offerings but will also want to manage the access to this content based on the subscriber’s age. Tvidia Secure supports the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and other current and emerging classification standard(s) and/or proposals generally accepted by the industry.

With Secure, all content can be rated and tagged for its suitability by age similar to that employed in the mainstream movie industry, for example G, PG, PG13 and so on. Once content is tagged, the delivery of the content to the subscriber can be managed with finer granularity. In addition, Secure also protects the interest of original artists in two ways, one selectively encrypting the content prior to download, and two, inhibiting the copying of content between consumer devices.

Secure allows content publishers and content aggregators to deliver digital content in a responsible manner and to take responsibility for classifying their content.

North America remains an untapped market in the mobile entertainment segment according to industry observers who are predicting that with proper control and delivery mechanisms of mobile content, carriers will dramatically expand their online content offerings to their subscriber base.

“Consumer demand for rich mobile entertainment blended with their personal communications devices is on the rise; and to repeat the errors of the Internet delivery of online content with ineffective controls for protecting young consumers in the mobile domain would be irresponsible”, said Ricci Brach VP Sales & Marketing with Tvidia, “With Tvidia Secure, and the previously announced age verification solution, carriers are empowered and can take control of who-sees-what!”