AAP on the Hill / Issues: Internet & Technology

July 16, 2002

A Revised Version Of H.R. 3833 Passes The House of Representatives with Overwhelming Support
Dot Kids Implementation And Efficiency Act Of 2002

Protecting children from pornography and pedophiles on the Internet has become a top priority for a number of legislators. In an effort to provide children with a “safe place” in cyberspace, Congressmen John Shimkus (R-IL), Edward Markey (D-MA), and Fred Upton (R-MI) introduced the above -referenced legislation, which overwhelming passed the House of Representatives, May 21, 2002, by a vote of 406-2. This legislation would create a new second-level Internet domain within the United States country code domain to provide a safe online place for children and their families on the Internet. The bill as passed would require the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to establish and monitor the “.kids.us” domain. It mandates the NTIA to require the registry that operates the United States country code, “.us”, to operate a second-level domain, “.kids.us”, that would only provide access to material that is both “suitable for minors” and “not harmful to minors.” In the legislation, the definition for “suitable for minors” is any material that (A) “is not psychologically or intellectually inappropriate for minors”, and (B) “serves the educational, information, intellectual or cognitive needs of minors; or the social, emotional, or entertainment needs of minors.” The language used for the definition of “suitable for minors” combines language from the Supreme Court case Board of Education v. Pico and the Children’s Television Act of 1990 and its regulation. The authors drafted this definition broadly enough to include good programming for children but narrow enough to hopefully avoid a claim of Constitutional vagueness. The definition “harmful to minors” was drafted to be consistent with the Supreme Court definition of “harmful to minors” and “obscenity” laid out in Ginsberg and Miller. Under the bill, the domain “.kids.us” would contain only material that is appropriate for children under 13 years of age. The registry managing “.kids.us” under the legislation is required to monitor the domain and take down any material that does not comply with the standards set out in the legislation. In order to ensure that the registry, registrars and others monitoring entities control the content on the domain the bill provides limited liability protection for these actions. These entities under the bill are also provided the current protections afforded to Internet Service Providers (ISPs). On October 29, 2001, NTIA contracted with NeuStar to act as the registry for the “. us” top-level domain. Under this agreement, NeuStar was not obligated to create a second-level domain space for “. kids.us.” However, after the introduction of Congressman Shimkus’ first “.kids” bill (H.R. 2417, see AAP’s 107th Congress Mid-term Report), NTIA and Neustar worked closely with members of the Committee to come up with the final version of H.R. 3833. NeuStar has agreed to comply with the legislation. This legislation has come along way from the version originally introduced by Congressman Shimkus, H.R. 2417. Many of AAP’s First Amendment concerns with the first bill have been addressed in the final bill as passed by the House. On the Senate side, Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and John Ensign (R-NV) introduced companion legislation, S. 2537, on the same day the House passed H.R. 3833. This legislation is expected to pass quickly through the Senate.

For more information contact:

Gloria Romanelli
Ph: 202-220-4542
Email: gromanelli@publishers.org