Dot-Kids, or Dot-Kids R Us?

House lawmakers are considering having the government establish a kid-friendly Internet domain since the international body that governs domain names has refused to create a suffix for child-appropriate content. The bill originally called for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to create a dot-kids domain, which would join other suffixes such as dot-com and dot-org found at the end of Web addresses. But the measure was amended Thursday to create a dot-kids.us suffix, that would only be available to Web sites with material deemed appropriate for children under 13. Participation would be voluntary and the sites would be continuously monitored. The bill would establish an independent board that would set criteria for use of dot-kids.us. Rob Courtney, a policy analyst with the Center for Democracy and Technology, said putting dot-kids under the dot-us domain is an improvement. But he said his organization is still concerned about who will be responsible for monitoring, enforcing and funding the effort and about what standards will be used. The Commerce Department, which has authority to issue dot-us Web space, has given NeuStar a contract to manage the space and is concerned that establishing a kid-safe domain may violate the NeuStar contract.

[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Wired Staff]
(http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,48085,00.html)

See Also:
Testimony of nancy j. victory on "dot kids name act of 2001"
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/congress/2001/dotkids_110101.htm)

©2006 Consortium for School Networking. All rights reserved.