"Dot Kids" Sails through Full Committee

Washington, D.C. – Congressman John D. Dingell, D-Mich., Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, today helped steer H.R. 3833, The Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002, through Committee and called for a prompt vote by the full House of Representatives. "Dot Kids" will create a kid-friendly space on the Internet that they can use without fear of encountering inappropriate and potentially harmful material.

"Children should not have to wander through a red light district to get to their school or playground in the physical world, and the Internet should be no different," Dingell said. "Dot Kids will create a virtual green-light district where children can finally reap the great potential of the Internet in a safe environment."

Dingell commended the authors of Dot Kids, Edward J. Markey, D-MA, John Shimkus, R-IL, Billy Tauzin, R-LA, and Fred Upton, R-MI, for working with him to address constitutional concerns raised in earlier versions. Of particular concern was the definition of "suitable for minors" which has been expanded to better describe what content will be permitted in the "kids.us." space. In addition to having material that is not psychologically or intellectually inappropriate for minors, the content must also serve the educational, informational, intellectual or cognitive needs of minors, or serve the social, emotional, or entertainment needs of minors.

In recent years, there were several unsuccessful attempts to create a kid-friendly top level domain, or "TLD." These attempts were rebuffed by ICANN, the international group responsible for assigning new TLDs. Dot Kids takes an innovative approach to dealing with ICANN’s recalcitrance, and its ongoing refusal to respond to the concerns of the international Internet community. It simply sidesteps the ICANN process by creating a second level TLD under the "dot US" country code which will be entirely under the United States’ control.

"ICANN’s inaction in this and other areas may be a blessing in disguise," said Dingell. "By placing Dot Kids under the purview of the U.S. country code, it will be overseen by the Department of Commerce and will be subject to all U.S. laws. I hope and expect that this effort will become a model for rapidly expanding the number of useful domain names."