[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3833 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3833

   To facilitate the creation of a new, second-level Internet domain 
 within the United States country code domain that will be a haven for 
 material that promotes positive experiences for children and families 
 using the Internet, provides a safe online environment for children, 
and helps to prevent children from being exposed to harmful material on 
                 the Internet, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 4, 2002

    Mr. Shimkus (for himself, Mr. Markey, Mr. Upton, Mr. Terry, Mr. 
 Pickering, Mr. Barton of Texas, Mr. Towns, and Mr. Tauzin) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To facilitate the creation of a new, second-level Internet domain 
 within the United States country code domain that will be a haven for 
 material that promotes positive experiences for children and families 
 using the Internet, provides a safe online environment for children, 
and helps to prevent children from being exposed to harmful material on 
                 the Internet, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Dot Kids Implementation and 
Efficiency Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) the World Wide Web presents a stimulating and 
        entertaining opportunity for children to learn, grow, and 
        develop educationally and intellectually;
            (2) Internet technology also makes available an extensive 
        amount of information that is harmful to children, as studies 
        indicate that a significant portion of all material available 
        on the Internet is related to pornography;
            (3) young children, when trying to use the World Wide Web 
        for positive purposes, are often presented--either mistakenly 
        or intentionally--with material that is inappropriate for their 
        age, which can be extremely frustrating for children, parents, 
        and educators;
            (4) exposure of children to material that is inappropriate 
        for them, including pornography, can distort the education and 
        development of the Nation's youth and represents a serious harm 
        to American families that can lead to a host of other problems 
        for children, including inappropriate use of chat rooms, 
        physical molestation, harassment, and legal and financial 
        difficulties;
            (5) although the computer software and hardware industries, 
        and other related industries, have developed innovative ways to 
        help parents and educators restrict material that is harmful to 
        minors through parental control protections and self-
        regulation, to date such efforts have not provided a national 
        solution to the problem of minors accessing harmful material on 
        the World Wide Web;
            (6) the creation of a ``green-light'' area within the 
        United States country code Internet domain, that will contain 
        only content that is appropriate for children under the age of 
        13, is analogous to the creation of a children's section within 
        a library and will promote the positive experiences of children 
        and families in the United States;
            (7) while custody, care, and nurture of the child reside 
        first with the parent, the protection of the physical and 
        psychological well-being of minors by shielding them from 
        material that is harmful to them is a compelling governmental 
        interest; and
            (8) the creation--as facilitated by this Act--of a safe 
        place on the Internet for children, use of which is completely 
        at the discretion of individual parents, families, and 
children, is a narrowly tailored solution that is least restrictive of 
protected speech while still allowing for alternative avenues of 
communication within the United States country code domain, as well as 
the World Wide Web.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to facilitate the creation of second-level domain 
        within the United States country code domain for the location 
        of material that is suitable for minors and not harmful to 
        minors; and
            (2) to ensure that the National Telecommunications and 
        Information Administration oversees the creation of such a 
        second-level domain and ensures the effective and efficient 
        establishment and operation of the new domain.

SEC. 3. NTIA AUTHORITY.

    Section 103(b)(3) of the National Telecommunications and 
Information Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 902(b)(3)) is 
amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(C) shall assign to the NTIA responsibility for 
                providing for the establishment, and overseeing 
                operation, of a second-level Internet domain within the 
                United States country code domain in accordance with 
                section 157.''.

SEC. 4. CHILD-FRIENDLY SECOND-LEVEL INTERNET DOMAIN.

    The National Telecommunications and Information Administration 
Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 901 et seq.) is amended in part C by adding 
at the end the following new section:

``SEC. 157. CHILD-FRIENDLY SECOND-LEVEL INTERNET DOMAIN.

    ``(a) Responsibilities.--The NTIA shall require the registry 
selected to operate and maintain the United States country code 
Internet domain to establish, operate, and maintain a second-level 
domain within the United States country code domain that provides 
access only to material that is suitable for minors and not harmful to 
minors (in this section referred to as the `new domain').
    ``(b) Conditions of Contract Renewal.--The NTIA may not renew any 
contract with the initial registry, or enter into any contract with a 
successor registry, that is selected to operate and maintain the new 
domain unless, during the 12-month period beginning upon such 
selection, such registry enters into an agreement with the NTIA to 
provide, and does implement, the following:
            ``(1) Written content standards for the new domain, except 
        that the NTIA shall not have any authority to establish such 
        standards.
            ``(2) Written agreements with each registrar for the new 
        domain that ensure use of the new domain is in accordance with 
        the standards and rules of the registry.
            ``(3) Registrars to enter into written agreements with 
        registrants to use the new domain in accordance with the 
        standards and rules of the registry.
            ``(4) Rules and procedures for enforcement and oversight 
        that minimize the possibility that the new domain provides 
        access to content that is not in accordance with the standards 
        and rules of the registry.
            ``(5) A process for removing from the new domain any 
        content that is not in accordance with the standards and rules 
        of the registry.
            ``(6) A process to provide registrants to the new domain 
        with an opportunity for an impartial dispute resolution process 
        regarding any material of the registrant excluded from the new 
        domain.
            ``(7) Continuous and uninterrupted service for the new 
        domain during any transition to a new registry selected to 
        operate and maintain the United States country code domain.
            ``(8) Taking any other action that the NTIA considers 
        necessary to establish, operate, or maintain the new domain in 
        accordance with the purposes of this section.
    ``(c) Treatment of Registry and Other Entities.--
            ``(1) In general.--Only to the extent that such entities 
        carry out functions under this section, the following entities 
        are deemed to be interactive computer services for purposes of 
        section 230(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
        230(c)):
                    ``(A) The registry that operates and maintains the 
                new domain.
                    ``(B) Any entity that contracts with such registry 
                to carry out functions to ensure that content accessed 
                through the new domain complies with the limitations 
                applicable to the new domain.
                    ``(C) Any registrar for the registry of the new 
                domain that is operating in compliance with its 
                agreement with the registry.
            ``(2) Savings provision.--Nothing in paragraph (1) shall be 
        construed to affect the applicability of any other provision of 
        title II of the Communications Act of 1934 to the entities 
        covered by subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (1).
    ``(d) Education.--The NTIA shall carry out a program to publicize 
the availability of the new domain and to educate the parents of minors 
regarding the process for utilizing the new domain in combination and 
coordination with hardware and software technologies that provide for 
filtering or blocking. The program under this subsection shall be 
commenced not later than 30 days after the date that the new domain 
first becomes operational and accessible by the public.
    ``(e) Coordination With Federal Government.--The registry selected 
to operate and maintain the new domain shall--
            ``(1) consult with the other appropriate agencies of the 
        Federal Government regarding appropriate procedures and actions 
        to prevent minors and families who use the new domain from 
        being targeted by adults and other children for predatory 
        behavior, exploitation, or illegal actions; and
            ``(2) establish such procedures and take such actions as 
        may be necessary to prevent such targeting.
The consultations, procedures, and actions required under this 
subsection shall be commenced not later than 30 days after the date 
that the new domain first becomes operational and accessible by the 
public.
    ``(f) Compliance Report.--Not less often than annually, the 
Comptroller General of the United States shall--
            ``(1) conduct a review of the registry selected to operate 
        and maintain the new domain to ensure compliance with the 
        provisions of subsection (b);
            ``(2) conduct a review of a sample of the content made 
        available through the new domain to ensure compliance with the 
        standards and rules of the registry; and
            ``(3) submit a report to the Committee on Energy and 
        Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
        Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate regarding 
        the results of such reviews.
    ``(g) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the following 
definitions shall apply:
            ``(1) Harmful to minors.--The term 'harmful to minors' 
        means, with respect to material, that--
                    ``(A) the average person, applying contemporary 
                community standards, would find, taking the material as 
                a whole and with respect to minors, that it is designed 
                to appeal to, or is designed to pander to, the prurient 
                interest;
                    ``(B) the material depicts, describes, or 
                represents, in a manner patently offensive with respect 
                to minors, an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual 
                contact, an actual or simulated normal or perverted 
                sexual act, or a lewd exhibition of the genitals or 
                post-pubescent female breast; and
                    ``(C) taken as a whole, the material lacks serious, 
                literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for 
                minors.
            ``(2) Minor.--the term `minor' means any person under 13 
        years of age.
            ``(3) Suitable for minors.--The term `suitable for minors' 
        means, with respect to material, that it is not psychologically 
        or intellectually inappropriate for the age of the targeted 
        audience.''.
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