An internet rating system which could see websites receiving cinema-style age certifications is being created in Brighton.

Representatives from the world's largest IT firms will visit Brighton to test the new sex and violence filter in the autumn.

Staff from Microsoft, Cable & Wireless, AOL and German publishing giant Bertelsmann are expected to attend a high-level conference at the Grand Hotel in September.

The rating technology has been developed by the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA), which has set up its European headquarters at the Brighton Media Centre.

Ola-Kristian Hoff, European director of ICRA, said: "We want their feedback.

"We want to know how they think they can use this."

Organisations such as the British Board of Film Classification will be able to match the ratings to their own standards and label sites with age limits.

With the leading software and telecoms firms involved in the project, Mr Hoff expects the new ratings to become the internet standard.

The new system will be a more sophisticated version of the ICRA's filter currently available in Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.

Internet users will be able to set sophisticated limits on what their web browsers will show.

The ratings will take the context and nature of web material into account, letting users permit educational sites which feature nudity but banning porn.

The ICRA was dedicated to rating but not judging the net, said Mr Hoff.

"We're trying to make the system value-neutral.

"We're trying to use objective descriptions."

The ICRA currently rates 150,000 websites and is including 4,000 new sites every month.