Bush signs 'kid-safe Internet' bill
By The Associated Press
12.05.02
WASHINGTON — President Bush signed legislation yesterday to create an Internet haven for kids.
The legislation establishes a new Internet domain reserved only for kid-safe content.
The international body that governs domain names had refused to create a suffix — like ".com" and ".org" — for child-appropriate content. So the measure establishes a new ".kids.us" Internet domain that Bush said would "function much like the children's section of the library." It is to be available within a year and will be overseen by the federal government.
A federal contractor will approve participants wanting to establish addresses with the new suffix and continuously monitor the sites to be sure they are free of pornography and other material not suitable for youngsters under 13.
"We must give our nation's children every opportunity to grow in knowledge without undermining their character," Bush said with family and child-safety advocates, as well as a few children, looking on during the Oval Office signing.
The sites will be prohibited from linking to outside Internet sites. To protect against Web predators, instant messaging and chat rooms will be banned unless certified as safe.
Parents will be able to restrict their children's computers so they can visit only ".kids.us" addresses.
As defined by the legislation, child-harming Web content depicts sex or nudity, is clearly sexual in nature or "lacks serious, literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors." An advisory board will establish specific criteria.
Sites' participation will be voluntary to forestall charges of censorship.
But critics, including some civil liberties groups, question the government's ability to make decisions on what is safe. They also say the age range is too broad to be effective.
Lawmakers were spurred to action in part by the death of Christina Long, a sixth-grader from Danbury, Conn., whom police say was strangled by a man she met in an Internet chat room. Long's aunt and guardian said lawmakers meant well but didn't do enough.
"The kids who get into trouble are kids who are 13 to 17," Shelley Riling said. "I think you have to set up something else for teens that is teen-appropriate."