Republican Congressman John Shimkus of Illinois was the lead
sponsor of the Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002.
He said yesterday:
"Dot kids allows for the voluntary placement
of material on a '.kids.us' sub-domain that an independent review
board finds appropriate for young children. I hope and firmly
believe that this will be a prevalent Internet location for
educational, governmental, and other useful information appropriate
for young audiences."
Businesses using the domain will be forbidden from linking from
their sites to other sites outside the domain. Chat rooms and
instant messaging features are banned from sites unless the
business running a site can give an undertaking that it will not
expose children to paedophiles or other risks.
NeuStar, the .us registry, and the National Telecommunications
and Information Administration (NTIA) take responsibility for
managing and policing the domain. Critics expect that they will
struggle to control the approved users of the domain and point to
problems presented by security and the interpretation of
suitability of material.
Shimkus concluded:
"I have repeatedly said that libraries have
children's books sections, why can't the internet have the same
type of section devoted to children's interests?"
The legislation was passed by 406 votes for, 2 against in the
full House and now goes to the Senate for ratification.
