Should Surfing Kids Get Their Own Domain?

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- To help parents keep their children safe on the Internet, some legislators would give kids their own domain.

Legislation introduced this summer would establish a .kids domain suffix, registered only to sites approved as appropriate for children. Primarily, it would designate sites that contain approved educational and entertainment material.

"Dot-kids will be a cybersafe neighborhood park online, a place that is sound, healthy, educational, and entertainingly safe, the exact opposite of .adult or .xxx," says Representative Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts), one of the bill's cosponsors.

According to the bill's author, Representative John Shimkus (R-Illinois), the legislation would take what he calls a "green light" approach to protecting kids from inappropriate material.

Instead of establishing a domain name such as .sex or .xxx, which creates a virtual "red light district" for sites with pornography and obscene material, Shimkus says .kids creates a positive learning environment for kids surfing the Internet.

Shimkus introduced House Resolution 2417 in June, and the measure was recently referred to a House subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet.

ICANN Skeptical

Critics of the bill doubt .kids could effectively be restricted to kid-friendly sites. Rather, its use could become a target for online sexual predators. Among the opponents is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the nonprofit group that manages the global domain name system.

A .kids domain "has been considered in the past, but was shot down," says Mary Hewitt, an ICANN spokesperson. "Child protection organizations found too many loopholes in it."

Though Hewitt calls Shimkus's bill a "noble idea," she foresees problems enforcing .kids globally. The legislation would establish rules for the domain and an independent board that would set criteria for which sites could be registered as .kids.

"Why would anyone in France let the U.S. government make up what is appropriate for their children?" Hewitt asks rhetorically.

Proposal Perseveres

Shimkus and Markey lashed out at members of the Internet regulatory group during a press conference Tuesday, calling them "transparent," "subjective," and "cavalier."

"They had their opportunity," Shimkus says. "They failed, and I'm not willing to wait on them any longer."

Shimkus states that ICANN rejected establishing a .kids domain name last year, but did not explain its reasoning.

"ICANN staff appear to make up the process as they go along," Markey says.

Hewitt says the lawmakers' allegations are inaccurate. Details of the group's decision making process are listed on its Web site, she says.

Hewitt is supported by Ari Schwartz, a spokesperson for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a group that promotes civil liberties on the Internet.

"It's just not going to be effective," Schwartz says of the .kids concept. "We've discussed this in the past. You can't go around creating some sort of ghetto for this information."