[Senate Hearing 107-1145]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 107-1145
S. 2537, H.R. 3833, DOT KIDS IMPLEMENTATION AND EFFICIENCY ACT OF 2002
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SPACE
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
SEPTEMBER 12, 2002
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina, Chairman
DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West TED STEVENS, Alaska
Virginia CONRAD BURNS, Montana
JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts TRENT LOTT, Mississippi
JOHN B. BREAUX, Louisiana KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas
BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine
RON WYDEN, Oregon SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas
MAX CLELAND, Georgia GORDON SMITH, Oregon
BARBARA BOXER, California PETER G. FITZGERALD, Illinois
JOHN EDWARDS, North Carolina JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada
JEAN CARNAHAN, Missouri GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia
BILL NELSON, Florida
Kevin D. Kayes, Democratic Staff Director
Moses Boyd, Democratic Chief Counsel
Jeanne Bumpus, Republican Staff Director and General Counsel
------
Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space
RON WYDEN, Oregon, Chairman
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia
Virginia TED STEVENS, Alaska
JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts CONRAD BURNS, Montana
BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota TRENT LOTT, Mississippi
MAX CLELAND, Georgia KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas
JOHN EDWARDS, North Carolina SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas
JEAN CARNAHAN, Missouri PETER G. FITZGERALD, Illinois
BILL NELSON, Florida
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held September 12, 2002.................................. 1
Statement of Senator Dorgan...................................... 1
Prepared statement........................................... 2
Statement of Senator Ensign...................................... 3
Prepared statement........................................... 4
Witnesses
Brown, Hon. Ann, Chairman, Safer America for Everyone (SAFE)..... 13
Prepared statement........................................... 15
Casey, James A., Director of Policy and Business Development,
NeuStar, Inc................................................... 18
Prepared statement........................................... 19
Rodriguez, Ruben, Director, Exploited Child Unit, National Center
for Missing & Exploited Children............................... 11
Prepared statement........................................... 12
Shimkus, Hon. John, U.S. Representative from Illinois............ 6
Prepared statement........................................... 8
Whitley, Jan, Mother, Silver Spring, Maryland.................... 32
Prepared statement........................................... 33
S. 2537, H.R. 3833, DOT KIDS
IMPLEMENTATION AND EFFICIENCY ACT OF 2002
----------
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2002
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space,
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:40 p.m. in
room SR-253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Byron L.
Dorgan, presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BYRON L. DORGAN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA
Senator Dorgan. I will call this hearing to order. On
behalf of myself and Senator Ensign, we welcome those of you
who are at the hearing. We welcome Congressman Shimkus. Let me
make a very brief statement, then call on my colleague, Senator
Ensign, then we will hear from you, Congressman Shimkus.
As anyone who has surfed the Net knows, the development of
the Internet is a wonderful opportunity for virtually all
citizens to research and access new information. It is also,
for children, something that we need to be very careful of,
because the Internet not only has some wonderful content, it
also has some rather disgusting content, and all of us are
concerned about protecting children.
I have two children in school, and they do a lot of
research on the Internet. I, like most parents, want to be
certain that we are able to protect them by not allowing them
to go to certain areas of the Internet. And there are some
technical devices by which you do that. There's really no
substitute for parental supervision, but there are other things
we can do, and that is the purpose of this hearing today.
Just 2 weeks ago, a 7th grade girl at Erik Ramstad Middle
School in North Dakota reported she had been solicited for a
sexual encounter online. And in a school assembly the same day,
30 other students revealed they had been threatened online. The
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has charted
5,700 cases of online enticement in the last 4 years, and those
are only the cases that were intercepted by parents.
While there's not yet any way to compile federal, state,
and local cases involving sex, children, and the Internet,
experts estimate there are 4,000 to 5,000 instances each year.
This is a frightening situation.
Computers, as I indicated, are wonderful. The Internet is
wonderful. But the computer can become an open door for
predators into the homes of children. It's necessary for us to
be concerned, as parents, and to try to find ways to create
safe havens online for children to use the Internet.
In addition to adult content and violence that children
inadvertently stumble on as they surf the Net, the most recent
study available--``Online Victimization, A Report on Our
Nation's Youth,'' found that almost 1 out of 5 young people who
use the Internet regularly were exposed to unwanted sexual
solicitations or approaches, and 25 percent had been exposed to
unwanted online pornography in the previous year.
Today, we have before us a piece of legislation called the
Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act that will try to
help this situation by creating a safe haven on the Internet
for children. I introduced it here in the Senate with my
colleague, Senator Ensign, after it was successfully shepherded
through the House of Representatives by our first witness,
Congressman Shimkus, and my friend, Congressman Ed Markey, who
was not able to be here today. But Congressman Shimkus and
Congressman Markey have moved this through the House of
Representatives. I'm hoping that Senator Ensign and I will be
able to do the same in the concluding weeks here in the United
States Senate.
It's a very simple concept to create a space on the Web
that can be a cyber-sanctuary for kids, a place where parents
and kids can be confident that every site on the Dot Kids
domain contains material that is suitable for kids under the
age of 13. I have a description of the way the bill will work,
but I'll leave that to Congressman Shimkus to describe. I'll
put my statement in the record.
[The prepared statement of Senator Dorgan follows:]
Prepared statement of Hon. Byron L. Dorgan,
U.S. Senator from North Dakota
Good afternoon, the hearing will come to order.
As anyone who has surfed the net knows, the development of the
Internet has been a mixed blessing. On the one hand the Internet has
brought enormous benefits to adults and children alike as it appears to
be revolutionizing the way we read the news, research school papers,
shop, do business, and communicate with each other.
But, on the other hand, as anyone with children knows, just as the
Internet portends to offer great possibilities, it also poses great
risks to our children as there is no good way to protect them from the
mountains of material that is inappropriate for their eyes.
Just 2 weeks ago a 7th grade girl at Erik Ramstad Middle School in
North Dakota reported she had been solicited for a sexual encounter
online. In a school assembly the same day 30 other students revealed
that they have been threatened online.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Kids has charted
5,700 reported cases of online enticement in the past 4 years, and
those are only cases that were intercepted by parents. And while there
is not yet any way to compile federal, state, and local cases involving
sex, children, and the Internet, but experts estimate that there are
4,000-5,000 each year. This is a frightening situation. Computers have
become an open door for predators into the homes of children. It is
necessary to create a safe haven online for children to surf.
In addition to adult content and violence that kids inadvertently
stumble on as they surf the net. The most recent study available
(``Online Victimization: A Report on the Nation's Youth'') found that
``almost 1 out of 5 young people who use the Internet regularly were
exposed to unwanted sexual solicitations or approaches'' and ``25
percent had been exposed to unwanted online pornography'' in the
previous year.
Today we have before us a bill called the ``Dot Kids Implementation
and Efficiency Act'' that will try to help this situation be creating a
safe haven on the Internet for kids.
Introduced here in the Senate by myself and Senator Ensign, after
it was successfully shepherded through the House by our first witness,
Congressman Shimkus and my good friend Rep. Ed Markey, the idea behind
the ``dot-kids'' domain is very simple--to create a space on the web
that can be a cyber-sanctuary for kids. A place where parents and kids
can be confident that every site on the ``dot-kids'' domain contains
materials that is suitable for kids under the age of 13.
The way the bill would work is it would create a sub-domain under
our Nation's country code (``dot.us'') called ``kids.dot.us'' which
will only host content that is age appropriate for children. A number
of safeguards were also put in this bill. ``Dot-kids-dot-us'' will be
monitored for content and safety; and should objectionable material
appear, it will be taken down immediately.
One of those safeguards is a restriction on peer-to-peer
communication unless the entity hosting the site certifies that they
will be done safely. And further, hyperlinks, which would take children
out of the safe ``dot-kids'' domain are expressly prohibited to help
insure that parents can be confident that when their children visit
sites in ``dot-kids'' will stay within the dot-kids domain.
Last October the Department of Commerce awarded the contract to
handle the management and commercialization of the ``dot.us'' domain.
And while this bill is careful to not change the terms of the existing
contract it would condition the next contract on the creation of the
``dot.kids.dot.us'' domain.
So, under this bill, participation in ``dot.kids'' would be
completely voluntary. Not only will whomever accepts the next contract
to be the registrar for ``dot.us'' know that they will be getting into,
parents would choose to use it, and website operators would choose to
be located within it.
The only requirement will be that site operators on the
``.kids.us'' domain agree to keep their sites full of material that is
suitable for minors.
Personally, I think the idea of using our country's Top-Level-
Domain to create a cyber-sanctuary for children makes a great deal of
sense. But, I recognize that others might have a different view, and
look forward to having a good discussion about the legislation that is
before us.
With that I would like to turn to my colleague from Nevada, Mr.
Ensign for his opening statement.
Senator Dorgan. Let me again thank my colleague, Senator
Ensign, from the State of Nevada. I'm really pleased to work
with him and hope that the two of us can do in the United
States Senate what you, Congressman Shimkus, along with
Congressman Markey, did in the House. If we can get a bill to
the President that he will sign, we will have done something
good for America's children.
Let me call on my colleague, Senator Ensign, for any
comments.
STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN ENSIGN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEVADA
Senator Ensign. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate your
leadership on this issue and join you in strongly supporting
this bill. And thank you, Congressman Shimkus and Congressman
Markey, for getting it through the House. The leadership and
the passion with which you have shepherded that bill through
the House and brought to this issue, I think, is the reason
that this issue has such a good chance of passing.
I would ask unanimous consent that my full statement be
made a part of the record and then just summarize briefly.
Senator Dorgan. Without objection.
[The prepared statement of Senator Ensign follows:]
Prepared Statement of John Ensign, U.S. Senator from Nevada
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to support H.R. 3833, the Dot Kids bill
of 2002. Senator Dorgan and I introduced this bipartisan bill earlier
this year to protect children on the Internet, and I am gratified that
the Senate will act on it soon.
It is estimated today that over 140 million Americans use the
Internet, many of them children. Most schools are equipped with
computers, where our children learn to navigate the Internet; in most
cases, children do so with better skill than parents. No longer do our
children have to go to the library and sift through voluminous card
catalogues for their research projects. No longer do our children need
to be in school to communicate with their teachers and fellow
classmates--they can do it from home by using e-mail and instant
messaging. Families simply need a computer with an Internet connection
to provide children with access to a greater breadth of information
than the Library of Congress. The educational opportunities are
limitless.
However, the Internet can also be used as a tool for evil. Many
young children have tragically fallen victim to on-line predators. They
have been stalked by pedophiles masquerading as other children. Many
more young children on the Internet are routinely exposed to graphic
violence, drugs and inappropriate sexual content despite parents'
efforts at restricting such content.
Congress first acted to protect children on the Internet in 1996
with passage of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). This legislation
criminalized engaging in indecent or patently offensive speech on
computer networks if the speech could be viewed by anyone 18 years of
age or younger, but it did not survive constitutional challenges. The
U.S. Supreme Court held in Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union that
the CDA violated First Amendment free-speech protections. Congress
subsequently responded in 1998 with passage of the Children's Online
Protection Act (COPA), legislation that prohibited communication of
material that is harmful to minors on for-profit websites. The U.S.
Supreme Court, however, in American Civil Liberties Union v. Reno,
upheld an injunction by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
on constitutional grounds and remanded the case for further review.
Another attempt was made to strike the careful balance between the
First Amendment and protecting children on the Internet with passage of
the Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000 (CIPA). This legislation
required schools and libraries that receive federal funding to install
filtering software to block from minors Internet content that contains
child pornography, or other obscene and indecent material that is
harmful to minors. Moreover, this legislation required federally funded
libraries to block adults from accessing websites containing obscene
material or child pornography. However, the U.S. District Court of the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania unanimously held in American Library
Association v. United States that CIPA was unconstitutional. This case
will now go before the U.S. Supreme Court for review.
The bill before us represents the most recent effort by Congress to
craft legislation that can both protect children on the internet and
withstand constitutional scrutiny.
The Dot Kids bill establishes a children's section of the Internet,
much like a children's section of the library, where children will be
safe from pedophiles, pornography, and violence. We worked to craft the
Dot Kids bill to withstand First Amendment challenges by not imposing a
burden on free speech to adults; the use of the Dot Kids subdomain is
completely voluntary. As such, it recognizes and protects the rights of
those who wish to view content not suitable for minors outside of the
Dot Kids subdomain. Content within the Dot Kids subdomain must be
suitable for children under 13 years of age. Dot Kids also protects
children from accessing websites outside the Dot Kids subdomain or
engaging in uncertified interactive services. This is a major victory
for children and families. Chat rooms and instant messaging is a key
component in allowing pedophiles to stalk children over the Internet.
Liability protection was also provided for the domain administrator by
utilizing the ``Good Samaritan'' provision in the Communications Act of
1934. This provision will ensure that the Dot Kids administrator will
not be held liable for actions voluntarily taken in good faith to
restrict access to, or availability of, obscene harassing, violent or
other objectionable material.
I am pleased that the Family Research Council, the National Center
for Mission and Exploited Children, the American Center for Law and
Justice, a Safer America for Everyone (SAFE), and the National Law
Center for Children and Families have joined our effort in supporting
this proposal.
The U.S. House of Representatives previously passed this measure by
an overwhelming majority vote with the hard work of many dedicated
Members of Congress including Congressman Shimkus, Congressman Tauzin,
Congressman Upton, Congressman Markey and Congressman Dingell.
Senator Ensign. This bill, as Senator Dorgan has laid out,
attempts to address some serious problems out there. While the
Internet has such potential for good, it also has such
potential for evil, depending on how it's used. And in a free
society, it's very difficult to have an Internet not be abused,
and not be used for many purposes of evil.
What we are attempting to do, within the context of a free
society, is to balance adults making their own free choices,
protecting the First Amendment, saying that we do not want to
do anything to impede what they can view and where they can go
on the Internet, but also understanding that a parent cannot
sit there the entire time that their children are on the
Internet. It is impossible to do that. Anybody that has
children knows you can't watch your children 24 hours a day.
It's difficult enough to regulate what they have coming on
television. At least on television you don't have to buy
certain channels if you don't want them to be able to watch
certain things. There are many ways that at least you don't
purchase certain things. The Internet is very, very difficult
to block, even with the filters. Most kids can get around the
filters.
While this bill does not stop the ability for kids to go to
other places, at least if the parents put on their computers
that they know they can walk in periodically and check that
these kids are in a domain where they cannot just quickly go to
other places through connections, and that parents can have
somewhat of a feeling that their children are in a safe place.
I will relate a personal experience that we had. We have a
10 year old who is typical, I think, of most 10 year olds, very
computer savvy. I think most kids know more about computers
than their parents do. And I have a 4-year-old, actually, that
is fairly computer savvy. But my 10-year-old, he mentioned to
us that he wanted to check his e-mail. We were over at some
people's house, and they had a computer, and he said, ``I want
to check my e-mail.'' Well, he goes to pull up his e-mail on
this, and, where he went in, it was all of this pornography
that had just come up on the screen. And, of course, as two
concerned parents, we immediately shut down his ability to be
able to go and do his e-mail, chat rooms, or anything like
that.
So we, as parents who are not computer experts, who are
fairly computer ignorant and illiterate, having a place where
our children can go, I think, is very important for us, as well
as for many other parents across the country. And that really
is the purpose for this bill, being able to say, ``Kids, if you
want to go on the Internet and you want to do a chat room,
here's a safe place for you to go.''
And, I think that this thing will be widely used. I think
that the predictions that this thing won't be used are closely
miscalculated. Hollywood said, for years, family movies
wouldn't sell. The biggest selling movies today are family
movies. And I believe that Dot Kids is going to be a huge, huge
success and that parents like myself and others will make sure
that their kids go there. And where they are, I guarantee the
market will flourish in this particular domain.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Dorgan. Senator Ensign, thank you very much.
Congressman Shimkus, welcome. Why don't you proceed?
STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN SHIMKUS,
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM ILLINOIS
Mr. Shimkus. Thank you, Chairman Dorgan and Members of the
Committee. It is my first time testifying on any piece of
legislation by myself over on your side of the Hill, and I will
tell you it really is an honor to be here, and it's an honor to
be here testifying on this bill, because I think it--I worked
real hard with my friend, Ed Markey, and Freddie Upton, who
would have liked to have been here, the Subcommittee Chairman,
and we think we have--it is a changed bill, and we worked hard
through the process, and I know they would like to have been
here if they could. And I want to thank you and Senator Ensign
as the Senate sponsors of this bill, as well as, I mentioned
Congressman Ed Markey and Telecom Subcommittee Chairman, Fred
Upton, for their tireless efforts and leadership on this
project.
I will more thoroughly explain this legislation, although,
Senator Dorgan, you were doing a pretty good job. I was just
hoping you would continue on in your explanation. I kind of
liked what I was hearing.
The World Wide Web is a mixed blessing. On one hand, it
holds a wealth of information and is quickly becoming an
essential educational tool. On the other hand, it has a dark
underside that is capable of harming our children. I, too, have
small children, a 9-year-old, 7-year-old, and 3-year-old.
Pornography and violence are just a few keystrokes away, and
children can easily expose themselves to serious physical and
financial risk, all in the comfort of their own living rooms.
Dangerous prescription drugs and online gambling sites can be
accessed at the click of a hyperlink, and personal information
can easily be given to the wrong people. Most disturbing are
the all-too-frequent stories we read about children abducted
and harmed by bad actors who lured them through Internet chat
rooms.
Unfortunately, little can be done to clean up the seedy
aspects of the Web. While I praise the Department of Justice
for increased prosecution of online child pornographers, law
enforcement still remains ill equipped to police illicit
activity on the Internet. The FTC and FBI are buried in cases
of online fraud and identity theft.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court recently ruled that virtual
child pornography is protected speech under the First
Amendment. Add to this the borderless nature of the Internet,
we can pass all of the Internet laws we want, but they cannot
be enforced on sites that are located outside of the United
States. When it comes to Internet safety, nothing can replace
parental supervision, yet parents are desperate for more tools
to help keep their children safe on this new electronic medium.
That is why my colleagues and I have taken a positive approach
to the problem by introducing the Dot Kids Implementation and
Efficiency Act. This bill has been endorsed by the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the National Law
Center for Children and Families, and A Safer America for
Everyone, as well as by the Family Research Council. And I know
you have some of these groups testifying after me.
Just like a children's section of the library, the Dot Kids
act establishes a child-friendly secondary domain under the Dot
U.S. country code, and that is intended for children 10 and
under. Therefore, all sites on this subdomain would have the
suffix ``kids.us'' instead of .com or .org. The U.S. Department
of Commerce, National Telecommunications Information
Administration, NTIA, would oversee the implementation of
kids.us.
The bill sets out the content goals--goal posts of ``not
harmful to minors'' and ``suitable for minors.'' However, the
specific written content standards would be established by the
private sector under the direction of the registry, which is
NeuStar, which is currently administering our Nation's country
code.
Placing this child-friendly site within the .us country
code is a brilliant strategy that avoids the traditional
pitfalls. First, it does not affect anyone's right to free
speech. Use of the domain is strictly voluntary. Sites can
choose to locate there, and parents can choose to utilize it
alone or in conjunction with other safety technologies. While
kids.us will have only content that is child-friendly, all
types of speech can be placed anywhere else on the Internet--on
.com, .org, and even on the rest of the .us space.
Second, the subdomain will be as safe as it can possibly
be. In addition to application of the Child Online Privacy
Protection Act, COPPA, standards, a number of additional
safeguards were put into this bill. Kids.us will be effectively
monitored. Should objectionable material appear, it will be
taken down immediately. The bill bans hyperlinks that would
take children outside of the Dot Kids kids.us space and into an
unsecured area. Similarly, the use of chat rooms and instant
messaging services are restricted unless the registry certifies
that they will be done without putting children at risk. I am
told that a number of technologies are being developed that
will enable these interactive services to be done safely.
Moreover, on the remote chance that kids.us degenerates
into a place with harmful material, the bill calls for the
Department of Commerce to pull the plug on the space. Third,
knowing that this space could be a target for inappropriate
material, the Dot Kids act provides the kids.us registry--
registrars and third-party contractors liability protection
that Internet service providers currently enjoy. The bill
extends to these entities the protection of the Good Samaritan
clause in Section 230(c) of the Communications Act. This would
prevent, for example, a pornographer from suing the registry if
he or she wanted to post smut on kids.us and was told no. We
feel good about giving this level of protection to NeuStar,
because Section 230(c) has survived numerous court challenges.
Finally, the kids.us domain will come at no additional
burden to American taxpayers. I would like to emphasize a
little known fact about our taxpayer-funded country code. The
Department of Commerce gave away the administration of our
Nation's resource in cyberspace, the .us country code, for
free. This means that NeuStar is profiting from all of those
who register sites on .us without paying one cent to the
taxpayers for that privilege. The Dot Kids Act simply requires
a kids.us subdomain to be added to our Nation's country code.
The legislation still allows NeuStar to profit from the sale of
every single one of the kids.us registrations and even goes
further to allow NeuStar to get out of administering kids.us if
it causes them financial hardship.
We have worked long and hard with NeuStar to accommodate
them with this bill. To be honest with the Committee, I've
never seen a sweeter deal than the one NeuStar has received.
This country code is an incredibly valuable public resource
which was given to them. In light of this, creating and
operating the kids.us domain is a perfectly appropriate cost of
doing business.
I would like to conclude by asking the question, ``How can
we stand by and do nothing in the face of this known threat to
our children?'' And that's what we have been doing for many
years. The creation of a kids.us domain will not only help
parents navigate the Web for their children, it will serve to
raise awareness of the dangers lurking on the Internet and
motivate parents, educators, and care givers to be more
vigilant in protecting children.
In addition, I believe that the new domain will encourage
the proliferation of sites that are entertaining and
educational for children, which can only have a positive effect
on our culture. I urge the Committee to swiftly pass this
legislation and send it to the President in the short window
before the end of the 107th Congress.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today,
and I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have
for me.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Shimkus follows:]
Prepared statement of Hon. John Shimkus,
U.S. Representative from Illinois
Introduction
Thank you, Senator Dorgan and Members of the Committee. It is an
honor to be here this afternoon to testify on S. 2537, H.R. 3833, The
``Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act.''
I would like to thank you and Senator Ensign as the Senate sponsors
of this bill, as well as Congressman Ed Markey and the Telecom
Subcommittee Chairman Fred Upton for their tireless effort and
leadership on this project.
The World Wide Web is a mixed blessing. On one hand it holds a
wealth of information and is quickly becoming an essential educational
tool. On the other hand, it has a dark underside that is capable of
harming our children. Pornography and violence are just a few
keystrokes away, and children can easily expose themselves to serious
physical and financial risk--all in the comfort of their own living
rooms. Dangerous prescription drugs and online gambling sites can be
accessed at the click of a hyperlink and personal information can
easily be given to the wrong people. Most disturbing are the all too
frequent stories we read of children abducted and harmed by bad actors
who lured them into Internet chatrooms.
Unfortunately, little can be done to clean up the seedy aspects of
the web. While I praise the Department of Justice for increased
prosecution of online child pornographers, law enforcement still
remains ill equipped to police illicit activity on the Internet. The
FTC and FBI are buried in cases of online fraud and identity theft.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court recently ruled that virtual child
pornography is protected speech under the First Amendment. Add to this
the borderless nature of the Internet. We can pass all of the Internet
laws we want, but they cannot be enforced on sites that are located
outside of the United States.
When it comes to Internet safety, nothing can replace parental
supervision. Yet parents are desperate for more tools to help keep
their children safe on this new electronic medium. That is why my
colleagues and I have taken a positive approach to the problem by
introducing the ``Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act.'' This
bill has been endorsed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children, the National Law Center for Children and Families, a Safer
America for Everyone (SAFE) as well as by the Family Research Council.
The Legislation Explained
Just like a children's section of the library, The Dot Kids Act
establishes a child-friendly secondary domain, within the ``.us''
country-code, that is intended for children 12 and under. Therefore,
all sites on this subdomain would have the suffix ``kids.us'' instead
of ``.com'' or ``.org.'' The U.S. Department of Commerce's National
Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) would oversee the
implementation of ``kids.us.'' The bill sets out the content goal posts
of ``not harmful to minors'' and ``suitable for minors.'' However, the
specific written content standards will be established by the private
sector under the direction of the registry (NeuStar), which is
currently administering our nation's country-code.
Placing this child friendly site within the ``.us'' country-code is
a brilliant strategy that avoids the traditional pitfalls. First, it
does not affect anyone's right to free speech. Use of the domain is
strictly voluntary. Sites can choose to locate there and parents can
choose to utilize it alone, or in conjunction with other safety
technologies. While ``kids.us'' will have only content that is child-
friendly, all types of speech can be placed anywhere else on the
Internet--on ``.com,'' ``.org'', etc., and even on the rest of the
``.us'' space.
Second, the subdomain will be as safe as it can possibly be. In
addition to the application of the Child Online Privacy Protection Act
(COPPA) standards, a number of additional safeguards were put into this
bill. ``Kids.us'' will be effectively monitored. Should objectionable
material appear it will be taken down immediately. The bill bans
hyperlinks that would take children outside of the ``kids.us'' space
and into an unsecured area. Similarly, the use of chatrooms and instant
messaging services are restricted unless the registry certifies that
they will be done without putting children at risk. (I am told that a
number of technologies are being developed that will enable these
interactive services to be done safely.) Moreover, on the remote chance
that ``kids.us'' degenerates into a place with harmful material, the
bill calls for the Department of Commerce to ``pull the plug'' on the
space.
Third, knowing that this space could be a target for inappropriate
material, the Dot Kids Act provides the ``kids.us'' registry,
registrars and third party contractors with liability protection that
Internet Service Providers currently enjoy. The bill extends to these
entities the protections of the ``Good Samaritan Clause'' in Section
230(c) of the Communications Act. This would prevent, for example, a
pornographer from suing the registry if he or she wanted to post smut
on ``kids.us'' and was told no. We feel good about giving this level of
protection to NeuStar because Section 230(c) has survived numerous
court challenges.
Finally, the ``kids.us'' domain will come at no additional burden
to American taxpayers. I would like to emphasize a little-known fact
about our taxpayer-funded country-code. The Department of Commerce gave
away the administration of our nation's resource in cyberspace--the
``.us'' country-code--for free. This means that NeuStar is profiting
from all those who register sites on ``.us'' without paying one cent to
the taxpayers for that privilege. The Dot Kids Act simply requires a
``kids.us'' subdomain to be added to our nation's country-code. The
legislation still allows NeuStar to profit from the sale of every
single one of the ``kids.us'' registrations and even goes further to
allow NeuStar to get out of administering ``kids.us'' if it causes them
``financial hardship.'' We have worked long and hard with NeuStar to
accommodate them with this bill. To be honest with the Committee, I
have never seen a sweeter deal than the one NeuStar has received. This
country-code is an incredibly valuable public resource, which was given
to them. In light of this, creating and operating the ``kids.us''
domain is a perfectly appropriate cost of doing business.
Conclusion
I would like to conclude by asking the question: How can we stand
by and do nothing in the face of this known threat to our children? The
creation of a ``kids.us'' domain will not only help parents navigate
the web for their young children, it will serve to raise awareness of
the dangers lurking on the Internet and motivate parents, educators and
caregivers to be more vigilant in protecting children. In addition, I
believe that the new domain will encourage the proliferation of sites
that are entertaining and educational for children, which can only have
a positive effect on our culture. I urge the Committee to swiftly pass
this legislation and send it to the President in this short window
before the end of the 107th Congress.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I am
happy to answer any questions you may have.
Senator Dorgan. Congressman Shimkus, thank you very much. I
think you've well explained the legislation. We're going to
have a shorter hearing today. We have the Homeland Security
bill on the floor of the Senate, and I regret that we are not
having as lengthy a hearing as we perhaps otherwise would have
with more witnesses.
But, having said that, let me just ask you one question, I
think your statement covers what we, as a Subcommittee, would
want covered from you in explaining the legislation. Mr.
Shimkus, what would you say to those who say that this bill
somehow promotes censorship or would develop some circumstance
of prevention of information? You covered that in your
statement, but say it again. If I am a critic, and I say, ``Mr.
Shimkus, are you in favor of censorship? Is that what you're
doing here?''
Mr. Shimkus. And the answer is, ``Absolutely, no,'' because
this is a voluntary location specifically set aside on the
entire Web, very similar to what we do in a public library. I'm
not for banning of books. I'm not for burning of books. I think
there should be a library for people to go and read all the
great authors we have had in our country. But there is a
separate place in a library for children's reading material,
and that is what we're trying to do. If I am an adult, and I
want to read children's reading materials, I can go there. But
we don't want pornographers trying to stick Playboy magazines
in the stacks of the children's library. And so we're going to
have monitoring to pull out inappropriate material.
It is voluntary from the people who want to use the service
and profit by it. It is voluntary for the parents who want to
use that site. So I think the voluntary nature we've always
used in the discussion, ``It's a green-light approach.'' It is
not an attempt to create the red-light districts as we try--we
initially thought about XXX and pushing people in and
segmenting them. This is a voluntary green-light approach which
people have to want to go into.
Senator Dorgan. Senator Ensign?
Senator Ensign. No questions.
Senator Dorgan. Congressman Shimkus, let me thank you again
for the work you've done on this. We will have other witnesses
today and ask them additional questions, but I think you have,
on behalf of your colleagues, given us a really thorough
description of what your intention was.
Senator Ensign and I, as you've indicated, have introduced
a companion bill here in the Senate, which is the purpose of
this hearing.
Mr. Shimkus. Thank you, Senator. And I would be remiss--I
know you're a good friend of Ed Markey, and he did yeoman's
work with me to move this. This bill has changed significantly
from when we first started with just a Dot Kids major domain
name to a subdomain. And that was, in going through, as you
know, the legislative process to fix concerns. And without his
help and support and that of the Subcommittee's Chairman, I
don't think we would be here right now.
Thank you.
Senator Dorgan. Well, Congressman Markey has testified a
good many times before this full Committee and Subcommittee,
please greet him for us.
Mr. Shimkus. I will. Thank you.
Senator Dorgan. Thank you very much.
Next, we're going to call 3 witnesses forward--Mr. Ruben
Rodriguez, director of the Exploited Child Unit, National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children; the Honorable Ann
Brown, former chairman of the Consumer Product Safety
Commission, now chairman of Safer America for Everyone; and Mr.
James Casey, director of policy and business development, from
NeuStar Corporation.
While they're coming forward to take their seats, let me
say that I want to put in the record a statement from Jan
Whitley. Jan is from Silver Spring, Maryland, and I believe is
here with her 3 children. Jan, are you in the audience? Would
you identify yourself? And your children are here, and tell me
their names.
Ms. Whitley. This is Dana. She is 7. And that's Dara, and
she is 10.
Senator Dorgan. Well, we will put your statement in the
record, and we thank you and your daughters for coming.
Ms. Whitley. Thank you very much.
Senator Dorgan. And Jan's daughters are, like Senator
Ensign's children and my children and all the children of our
country, they are, I'm sure, wonderful young people that want
to use the Internet as a great, new resource in their lives,
but we, as parents, want them to be able to use it with some
protection and some understanding that they're not being
subjected to horribly inappropriate material. And that's the
purpose of the legislation.
And so, again, Jan Whitley, thank you very much, and your
statement will be a part of the permanent record.
Mr. Rodriguez, you are director of the Exploited Child Unit
of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in
Alexandria, Virginia. Why don't you proceed? Welcome, and thank
you for being here.
STATEMENT OF RUBEN RODRIGUEZ, DIRECTOR,
EXPLOITED CHILD UNIT, NATIONAL CENTER FOR
MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN
Mr. Rodriguez. Thank you for the introduction. And Mr.
Allen sends his regrets. Unfortunately, he is before his own
chairman this afternoon discussing some issues on the board of
directors. One of the reasons he sent me and asked me to attend
is because I have operational responsibility of the National
Center's Cyber Tip Line, and so I do operations other than just
issue-related spokesman. And hopefully I would be able to
answer any questions from the ground level dealing with the
issue of sexual exploitation of children. I have a statement
that I would like put into the record.
First of all, I'm honored to appear before the Subcommittee
today and express the views of the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children regarding the Dot Kids Implementation
and Efficiency Act of 2002. The National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children is very aware of and concerned about the
amount of inappropriate material that children are exposed to,
wittingly or unwittingly, on the Internet. Moreover, the
increase in incidents of online victimization of children by
sexual predators is cause for all concerned citizens to take
appropriate actions to safeguard our children in cyberspace.
This bill creates a safe space for children on the Internet
by utilizing the United States country code ``.us.'' Just like
creating a children's section in the library, this bill creates
a protected place for children on the Internet to learn, grow,
and play safely. This bill is necessary for several reasons.
More importantly, most importantly, as I see it, there are--
this is a--there are few places designed for children on the
Internet. Given the vast structure of the Internet, only a
dedicated space can create a true safe zone for children. By
creating an Internet space that will only contain child-
friendly material, parents, children, and educators will have a
healthy place for children to explore and learn on the
Internet. This bill provides a balanced approach that provides
safety, encourages learning, and gives parents peace of mind.
Mr. Chairman, you alluded to a study that the National
Center funded several years ago that was published by Dr. David
Finkelhor of the University of New Hampshire, and I want to go
over some of those numbers you talked about that I think
basically talks about how big this problem is.
His study showed that 1 out of 33 youths were aggressively
solicited online, 1 in 4 youths encountered unwanted child
pornography or pornography online, and 1 in 5 youths were
sexually solicited online during the year of that study. We, at
the National Center's Exploited Children Unit, are all too
aware of the serious incidents where children who communicate
with individuals via chat rooms, IRCs, instant messages, the
fear and the harm's way they put themselves in.
Content that is available on the Internet, that is
currently available on the Internet, that children have access
to, deals with the issues of nudity, sexually explicit
material, race and hate sites, graphic violence, bomb making,
and explosive, tobacco, alcohol, and drug use. The types of
criminal activity that children encounter while on the Internet
are issues of cyber-stalking, viruses, hacking programs,
gambling, illegal sale of narcotics, weapons, fraud, and
pirated software. Any creation of a safe harbor or environment
for children would be to the advantage of our Nation's
children.
Your commitment to enacting legislation that would
establish a child-friendly space on the Internet by providing
access to material that is both suitable for minors and is not
harmful to minors is an important step in protecting our most
vulnerable population from computer-facilitated exploitation.
We commend you and your colleagues on this important
initiative.
As the Science, Technology, and Space Subcommittee moves
forward on this legislation, please know that the National
Center supports the goals of the Dot Kids Implementation and
Efficiency Act, and we would urge consideration by the Senate
of this important legislation.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Rodriguez follows:]
Prepared statement of Ruben Rodriguez, Director, Exploited Child Unit,
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Chairman and Members of the Committee, I am honored to appear
before your Subcommittee today and express the views of the National
Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) regarding the ``Dot
Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002.''
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is very aware
of and concerned about the amount of inappropriate material that
children are exposed to, wittingly or unwittingly, on the Internet.
Moreover, the increase in incidents of online victimization of children
by sexual predators is cause for all concerned citizens to take
appropriate actions to safeguard our children in Cyberspace.
This bill creates a safe space for children on the Internet by
utilizing the United States country code domain (``.us''). Just like
creating a children's section in a library, this bill creates a
protected place on the Internet for children to learn, grow, and play.
This bill is necessary for a number of reasons:
There are few places designed for children on the Internet.
Given the vastness of the Internet, only a dedicated space can
create a true safe zone for children.
By creating an Internet space that will only contain child-
friendly material, parents, children, and educators will have a
healthy place children can explore and learn on the Internet.
This bill provides a balanced approach that provides safety,
encourages learning, and gives parents peace of mind.
A study funded by the National Center and published in June 2000 by
Dr. David Finkelhor of the University of New Hampshire revealed that: 1
in 33 youths were aggressively solicited online, 1 in 4 youths
encountered unwanted pornography online and 1 in 5 youth were sexually
solicited online in the past year.
We at the National Center's Exploited Child Unit are all too aware
of serious incidents where children who communicate in the Internet via
chat room, IRC or instant messaging with individuals who they believe
are peers or friends, but who eventually turn out to be individuals who
are not who they say they are. All too frequently, we see children
traveling or meeting these individuals and find out to late that they
have put themselves in harm's way.
Content on the Internet that is currently accessible to children
deals with nudity, sexually explicit material, hate and racist, graphic
violence, bomb making and explosives, tobacco, alcohol and drug use.
The type of criminal activity that children may encounter on the
Internet is cyber stalking, viruses, hacking programs, gambling,
illegal sale of narcotics, weapons, fraud and pirated material. Any
created ``safe harbor or environment'' would be to the advantage of our
nations children.
Your commitment to enact legislation that would establish a child-
friendly space on the Internet by providing access to material that is
both suitable for minors and is not harmful to minors is an important
step in protecting our most vulnerable population from computer-
facilitated exploitation. We commend you and your colleagues for this
important initiative.
As the Science, Technology and Space Subcommittee moves forward on
this legislation, please know the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children supports the goals outlined in the ``Dot Kids
Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002'' and would urge
consideration by the Senate of this important legislation.
Senator Dorgan. Mr. Rodriguez, thank you very much.
Ann Brown? Ann, we should thank you for your chairmanship
of the Consumer Product Safety Commission for many years. I
deeply appreciated the work you did, and we miss you, you've
had an opportunity to testify before this Committee on previous
occasions. And I see your role now is as chairwoman of Safer
America for Everyone. We appreciate your being here. Why don't
you proceed?
STATEMENT OF HON. ANN BROWN, CHAIRMAN, SAFER AMERICA FOR
EVERYONE (SAFE)
Ms. Brown. Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and
Senator Ensign.
For the record, my name is Ann Brown, Chairman of Safer
America for Everyone. I'm also the former Chairman of the U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission, and my entire career has
been devoted to keeping kids safe. And I appreciate very much
your inviting me to testify today.
When I left CPSC last November, I formed SAFE as a
nonprofit organization to carry on many of the consumer
protection activities that I began while Chairman of the CPSC,
and to expand that work into other areas important to the
safety of children, including Internet safety. That's why I
strongly support the Senate bill today as I supported this
legislation when it passed the House earlier this year.
Nearly 24 million youth use the Internet. By the year 2005,
it's expected that 77 million youth will regularly log on. SAFE
has firsthand knowledge of kids on the Internet. SAFE is
currently developing a safety-related Website proposal aimed at
so-called ``tweens,'' or kids between the ages of 9 and 12. In
one focus group, we asked middle-school students how they used
the Internet. Virtually every student said they used the
Internet for their studies, recreation, chat rooms, and instant
messaging. And, in fact, most of these students, in just this
one focus group, said they had encountered inappropriate
material on the Internet.
The Crimes Against Children Research Center reported that 1
in 5 teenagers who regularly use the Internet have received an
unwarranted sexual solicitation. We hear stories every day
about children encountering violence and pornography on the
Internet. Earlier this year, a young girl was killed in
Danbury, Connecticut, by an Internet predator. Many other
children have been victimized over the Internet.
As a grandmother--we've heard a lot about the parents of
kids. As a grandmother of kids who surf the net, I am
concerned, as are many parents across the Nation, about the
dark side of the Internet which our children can be exposed to
through a couple of mouse clicks or the misspelling of a
Website name. And I did a piece on this on CNN. We got a
tremendous response from parents. The parents and grandparents
out there are worried about this. Every parent wants to protect
their children from a nightmare that no family, no community
ever wants to experience.
This legislation creates a safe haven for children. This
bill will help preserve our children's innocence and prevent
these types of sexual encounters and predators and pornography
online. It will create a child-friendly zone. And all contents
of this zone will be appropriate for kids 12 and under, just
like a safe playground. Our children need a safer place on the
Internet to grow and learn and be entertained.
This legislation, as we have heard, would create something
akin to a children's section of the library. We hear about that
a lot, but it is such an appropriate comparison. Whenever I
took my daughters when they were young--and now my
grandchildren--to the children's section of the library, I was
confident that the books and magazines they found there would
be suitable.
And I'm glad to see safeguards built into the legislation.
An independent firm will regularly monitor and immediately
remove any content that is harmful to minors. No access to chat
rooms. Furthermore, there would not be any interactive
component here where a predator could break in. These are
important provisions.
Mr. Dorgan and Members of the Subcommittee, this
legislation makes good sense. Some may say there are too many
safeguards, but my way of thinking is that when you're dealing
with children, more is better. And another thing, some may
worry that this bill chills the First Amendment. Well, you may
know that I'm a big advocate of the First Amendment. I'm not
worried. This bill doesn't tell anyone what they can put on a
.com, .net or a .org domain, and the bill doesn't curtail
speech within the .us domain. Just like the library, there is
no ban on books, but there is a safe haven for kids with
appropriate material for them.
The bill only says if you want to operate in the Dot Kids
area, ``You have entered a kid-friendly zone where the content
has to be suitable for children 12 and under.'' This bill
requires the government to publicize the availability of this
new domain and to educate parents how to master the technology
tools to use it. This is essential. You can build a field of
dreams, but if nobody knows where it is, they won't come.
And, in the meantime, in closing, until we have the
safeguards, I would like to suggest that parents follow some
basic Internet safety tips to protect their kids. This list and
information appears on the SAFE Website at www.saferam.org, and
I am pleased to submit a copy for the record today.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Brown follows:]
Prepared statement of Hon. Ann Brown, Chairman, Safer America for
Everyone (SAFE)
Good afternoon, Senator Dorgan, Senator Ensign, and Members of the
Subcommittee. For the record, my name is Ann Brown, Chairman of SAFE,
(Safer America for Everyone). I am also the former Chairman of the U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission. I appreciate your inviting me to
testify as a strong supporter of S. 2537, the ``Dot Kids Implementation
and Efficiency Act of 2002.''
When I left CPSC last November, I formed SAFE as a non-profit
organization to carry on many of the consumer protection activities I
began while Chairman of the CPSC, and to expand that work into other
areas important to the safety of children--including Internet safety.
This is why I strongly support the Senate bill today, as I
supported this legislation when it passed the House earlier this year.
Nearly 24 million youths today use the Internet. By the year 2005,
it is expected that 77 million youth will regularly log on.
SAFE has first-hand knowledge of kids and the Internet. SAFE is
currently developing a safety-related website proposal aimed at so-
called ``tweens,'' or kids between the ages of 9-12. In one focus
group, we asked middle school students how they used the Internet.
Virtually every student said they used the Internet for their studies,
recreation, chat rooms and instant messaging. In fact, most students
said that they had encountered ``inappropriate material'' on the
Internet.
The Crimes Against Children Research Center reported that 1 in 5
teenagers who regularly use the Internet have received an unwanted
sexual solicitation. They also report that 1 out of 33 youths have
received what is classified as an aggressive sexual solicitation where
they are directly trying to solicit a sexual meeting with a teenager.
We hear stories every day about children encountering violence and
pornography on the Internet. Earlier this year, a young girl was killed
in Danbury, Connecticut by an Internet predator. Many other children
have been victimized over the Internet.
As a grandmother of kids who surf the net, I am concerned, as many
parents across this nation are, about the dark side of the Internet,
which our children can be exposed to through a couple of mouse clicks,
or the misspelling of a website name.
Every parent wants to protect their children from a nightmare that
no family, no community ever wants to experience.
This legislation creates a safe haven for children. This bill will
help preserve our children's innocence and prevent these types of
sexual encounters and predators and pornography online. It will create
a child-friendly zone within the United States. All contents of this
zone will be appropriate for children 12 and under.
Just like a safe playground, our children need a safe place on the
Internet to grow, learn, and be entertained--and to avoid the current
onslaught of pornography, child predators, and other undesirable
information on the World Wide Web.
This legislation would create something akin to a children's
section of a library. Whenever I took my daughters when they were
young--and now my grandchildren--to the children's section of the
library, I was confident that the books and magazines they found there
would be suitable.
I am glad to see safeguards built into the legislation. An
independent firm will regularly monitor and immediately remove any
content that is harmful to minors. There would be no access to chat
rooms. The legislation would bar that. Furthermore, there would not be
any interactive component here where a predator could break in. These
are important provisions since we would not want to open the door of
our safe place to any unwanted predators.
This is so our children can have a safe haven.
Mr. Dorgan, and Members of the Subcommittee, this legislation makes
good sense.
Some may say there are too many safeguards. But my way of thinking
is that when you're dealing with children--more is better.
And another thing, some may worry that this bill chills the First
Amendment. You know, I'm a big advocate of the First Amendment. I'm not
worried. This bill doesn't tell anyone what they can put on a ``dot
com,'' or a ``dot net,'' or a ``dot org'' domain. And, the bill doesn't
curtail speech within the ``dot us'' domain.
The bill only says if you want to operate in the ``dot kids'' area,
you have entered a kid-friendly zone where the content has to be
suitable for a child 12 years and under.
The bill also requires the government to publicize the availability
of this new domain and to educate parents how to master the technology
tools to use it.
This is essential.
You can build a field of dreams, but if nobody knows where it is,
they will not come.
I would like to see the Senate pass this bill and give our children
a safe haven in this veritable jungle of websites.
And, in the meantime, until we have these safeguards, I would like
to suggest that parents follow some basic internet safety tips to help
protect their kids. This list appears on the SAFE website at
www.saferam.org, and I am pleased to submit a copy for the record
today. Thank you.
Senator Dorgan. Ann Brown, thank you very much for you
testimony, and we will include the Internet Safety Tips as a
part of the record, as well.
Mr. Casey, you are the director of policy and business
development at NeuStar, and we appreciate your being here
today. You clearly have a real and significant interest in this
legislation, so please proceed with your statement.
STATEMENT OF JAMES A. CASEY, DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT, NeuStar, INC.
Mr. Casey. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, Members of the
Subcommittee, good afternoon. For the record, I'm Jim Casey,
director of policy and business development at NeuStar, Inc.
Thank you for inviting us. We're honored to have the
opportunity to comment on such an important matter and are
pleased that the Senate is giving it its full consideration.
To provide context to my testimony, I offer a brief
background on NeuStar. NeuStar is a leading trusted neutral
third-party provider of critical infrastructure services to
both the telecommunications and Internet industries. We have a
rich heritage of developing innovative solutions for the
responsible management of critical public resources, like the
.us domain. For example, NeuStar designed, built, and manages
the Number Portability Administration Center, one of the
largest databases in the world. NeuStar's numbering services
enable the routing of virtually every telephone call dialed
within the United States and most of North America. Likewise,
.biz and .us Internet registries provide stable, high-
availability domain name services to the global Internet
community. We are quite well versed in operating within dynamic
industries where there are many competing points of view and
competing interests across a dynamic range of operators. So we
are happy to bring this same level of service to the
responsible development of a kids.us domain, a goal to which we
remain committed.
The question of how we, as a society, can protect children
on the Internet has long perplexed individuals, industry, and
government. Numerous efforts, including browser filters,
legislative mandates, educational campaigns, and ratings
systems have all met with varying levels of success. Clearly,
the problem has yet to be solved. And that is, of course, why
we're here today.
In recent years, the concept of a kids' space on the
Internet has developed and gained some acceptance. The proposed
legislation that is the topic of this hearing seeks to create
such a space, but does so in a manner that we believe will not
achieve the policy objectives, the vision of a kids.us domain.
So what is NeuStar's vision of a kids.us domain? Similar to
what everyone has already spoken to, NeuStar is working to
create a new second-level Internet domain within the .us that
can serve as a source of positive child-appropriate materials
on the Internet. It is clear, however, that this would only be
one tool. The simple creation of an Internet domain cannot, by
itself, solve the entire problem.
As noted by the National Academy of Sciences in its recent
report, ``Youth Pornography and the Internet,'' there is no
single approach that will, on its own, protect children from
online dangers. A place for children on the Internet can only
be successful when put in place in conjunction with parental
involvement, adult supervision, social and educational support,
and publicly available, user-friendly, and cost-effective,
technology-based tools. Absent these, it's just a bunch of
Website addresses.
In addition, to be truly successful, the kids.us must
create a trusted domain that provides useful and meaningful
content that children will use and must be implemented in a
manner that makes operational sense for the various service
providers for the domain, including not only the registry name,
which NeuStar will be, but the registrars, the content
managers, and various responsible content providers. Put
simply, the formula for success of the kids.us vision is based
on sound analysis of the service as an ongoing operation.
Following this approach, NeuStar has begun a detailed
development process and has reached an important milestone in
our development strategy. After an extended period of
development review and analysis as well as discussions with
recognized and respected organizations and individuals
knowledgeable on these issues, on Friday, August 30th, NeuStar
released for public comment a proposal for guidelines and
requirements for the kids.us second-level domain, which we have
included in our testimony package.
NeuStar seeks broad public input on a set of content
guidelines and certain other concepts that have been raised in
our development efforts and through the legislative process
thus far. This open and transparent process will be used to
finalize a set of guidelines for registering and activating the
kids.us domains.
The process leading up to the development of these draft
guidelines is indicative of the kind of process we must adhere
to in the development of the domain as a whole. We do not have
all of the answers yet. It would be irresponsible of us to roll
out a service as though we did.
The proposed legislation represents a sweeping mandate that
likely would not facilitate the kind of analysis and sound
development processes that should be followed. My written
testimony contains more detailed discussion of these points.
Legislation at this point in time likely will do more harm
than good to a child-friendly environment within .us. As I've
said, NeuStar is committed to the development of a kids.us
domain. We will continue to work with Congress and the
Department of Commerce, as well as a wide range of public and
private organizations and institutions toward the successful
development of kids.us. The bottom line is, let's do it right,
for children's sake.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Casey follows:]
Prepared statement of James A. Casey, Director of Policy and Business
Development, NeuStar, Inc.
Introduction
NeuStar, Inc. (``NeuStar'') appreciates the opportunity to testify
before the Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space of the Senate
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on S. 2537, the Dot
Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002. The development and
implementation of a namespace for kids on the Internet is an important
topic and NeuStar is pleased that both the House of Representatives and
the Senate are considering this matter. NeuStar offers these comments
to help ensure that the actual implementation of a ``kids.us'' space is
consistent with the important vision that has driven the efforts of
many individuals and organizations, in both government and the private
sector.
Dedicated to Service and to ``Getting it Right''
To provide context to NeuStar's testimony, it is important to have
an understanding of the company, its mission, and principal operations.
Since its founding, NeuStar, a privately held technology and
registry company, has established its reputation as the premier trusted
neutral third-party provider of critical infrastructure services and
has developed lines of business serving both the telecommunications and
Internet industries. As a result, NeuStar has been selected numerous
times by both government and industry in open, competitive procurements
to provide first-of-a-kind, mission-critical services. For example,
NeuStar designed, built, and manages the Number Portability
Administration Center (NPAC), one of the largest databases in the
world. NeuStar's numbering services enable the routing of virtually
every telephone call dialed within the United States, and most of North
America. Likewise, NeuStar's .biz and .us Internet registries provide
stable, high-availability domain name services to the global Internet
community. Thus, integrity, stability, and neutrality are the
underpinnings of NeuStar's services; failure is not an option.
NeuStar's expertise is not limited to systems development, and we
are not merely a systems developer. Working closely with our clients
and stakeholders, we design and develop comprehensive systems, and
processes, as well as necessary policies and requirements to ensure
success. The detailed analysis conducted as part of these development
processes enables us to understand first-hand any issues that may arise
and to address them quickly and intelligently. NeuStar brought this
expertise to the .us country code top-level domain when it was selected
by the Department of Commerce (``DOC'') in October 2001 to assume
operation of and to enhance .us. Similarly, NeuStar will bring this
same expertise to the responsible development and implementation of a
kids.us domain.
History of Kids.us
The question of how we, as a society, can protect children on the
Internet has long been a perplexing question for individuals, industry
and government. Numerous efforts, including browser filters,
legislative mandates, educational campaigns, and rating systems have
all met with varying levels of success. By no means, however, has the
problem been solved. As with any important matter, if the solution were
easy, someone would have fixed the problem long ago.
In recent years, the concept of a ``kid's space on the Internet''
has developed and gained some acceptance. The idea was focused, in the
first instance, on the establishment of a new .kids top-level Internet
domain. With the reintroduction and expansion of .us, however, efforts
shifted to the development of a kids.us space, rather than the creation
of a generic Top-Level Domain (TLD).
In our proposal to become the new administrator of the .us country-
coded Top-Level Domain (ccTLD). NeuStar proposed the reservation of
certain domain names to protect the rights of others, prevent certain
names from being used inappropriately, and/or provide for certain
future public services. The ``kids'' domain name was among this
illustrative list of reserved names.
With respect to ``kids,'' it was NeuStar's intention that, if a
kids space on the Internet could feasibly be developed in a responsible
way, the kids.us domain name would be available for provision of the
service. There was no intent for NeuStar, however, to immediately begin
the rollout of such a service. Indeed, it was not clear how that
rollout might be done or if it was even a good idea. Through our
discussions with the DOC and Members of Congress and their staff, it
became increasingly clear, however, that the implementation of a
kids.us space was a priority issue and that NeuStar would be
responsible for implementation of the space. The House passed bill,
however, creates a framework that threatens the success of the kids.us
effort, as well as the stability and integrity of the .us domain
itself.
Despite concerns with the bill, however, NeuStar remains committed
to the vision of a .kids.us domain.
The NeuStar kids.us Vision
So what is the NeuStar kids.us vision?
NeuStar hopes to create a new second-level Internet domain within
.us that can serve as a source of positive, child-appropriate materials
on the Internet for use by children and families. NeuStar is committed
to the pursuit of this vision. It is clear, however, that the simple
creation of an Internet domain cannot, by itself, solve the entire
problem. As noted by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in its
recent report ``Youth, Pornography, and the Internet,'' there is no
single approach that will, on its own, protect children from online
dangers.\1\ Thus, a place for children can only be effective if it is
accompanied by the many components identified by the NAS, including
parental involvement, adult supervision, social and educational
support, and publicly available, user-friendly, and cost-effective
technology-based tools.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Youth, Pornography, and the Internet, Dick Thornburgh and
Herbert S. Lin, Editors, Committee to Study Tools and Strategies for
Protecting Kids from Pornography and Their Applicability to Other
Inappropriate Internet Content, Computer Science and Telecommunications
Board, National Research Council (May 2002).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Practical Considerations for kids.us
In addition, to be truly successful, the kids.us vision must meet
certain practical realities. Specifically, the domain must be
established in a manner to ensure that it is attractive to content
providers, is supported by a viable long-term business plan, and
ultimately would be used by the children and families that it is meant
to serve.
Therefore, to maximize participation by both content providers and
children, kids.us must:
Be an economically viable space for all service providers,
including the registry, the registrars, and the entity
responsible for content review and monitoring, as well as the
content providers that would use the domain.
Be widely used by its target audience so that more content
providers adopt names in the space.
Establish necessary, economically reasonable mechanisms to
ensure that contents meet the kids.us guidelines.
Not threaten the viability or integrity of the .us domain
itself.
These implicit goals for the implementation of kids.us are as
important to the overall success of kids.us as the vision itself.
Sound business analysis of the kids.us vision
Taking into account the ultimate goal for a kids Internet domain,
as well as the underlying practical matters that must be considered, to
develop a successful kids.us domain, NeuStar must comprehensively:
Analyze the needs of children and parents, children's
content providers, and domain name service providers in a
kids.us domain;
Assess the limitations--technology, legal, or otherwise--
that pose barriers to meeting the needs of all kids.us
stakeholders;
Assess the legal and business risks to each stakeholder
inherent in the use or provision of a kids.us domain; and
Research the market for kids.us to develop sustainable
business structures and service models to ensure market
success.
Put simply, the formula for success of the kids.us vision is based
on sound analysis of the service as an ongoing business operation. Can
the vision be met in a cost-effective manner to meet the needs of the
customer? If yes, then the service should be developed and introduced
based on sound business principles. If not, then the domain likely will
fail and should not be pursued as a solution.
NeuStar's efforts to date have been focused upon gathering
sufficient information to meet the feasibility and other requirements
for success listed above. As a result of our development planning, as
well as outreach to experts in kid's media, we have developed a process
for moving forward on a kids.us domain.
As an important milestone in our development strategy, on Friday,
August 30, 2002, NeuStar released for public comment a draft ``Proposal
for Guidelines and Requirements for the kids.us Second Level Domain.''
This document is the result of extensive dialog with and input from a
wide range of groups and organizations expert in children related
issues. It seeks public input on a set of content guidelines and
certain other concepts that have been raised in research and through
the legislative process. These comments will be used to finalize a set
of content guidelines to be used in registering and activating kids.us
domains.\2\ Other efforts include the continued analysis and
development of effective business models to address the issues raised
above.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ A copy of the ``Proposal for Guidelines and Requirements for
the kids.us Second Level Domain'' is attached.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The proposed legislation
The bill passed by the United States House of Representatives
represents a comprehensive definition of an Internet namespace,
kids.us, and is a sweeping mandate that does not properly consider all
of the technical, market, and policy challenges. For example, strict
restrictions on interactive services raises the question of whether
children would seek to use the domain given that it would be comprised
of largely static, non-interactive content. More importantly, however,
concerns with the current legislation extend beyond any specific
language changes to much more fundamental issues. These issues include,
for example, the following:
The bill replaces sound business practice with regulatory
mandate. The specific definition of business practices,
responsibilities of varying parties and content requirements
represent unprecedented regulation of the Internet;
The bill interferes with existing efforts for the effective
development of the kids.us domain under the terms and
conditions of the .us government contract;
The bill takes the unprecedented step of requiring a
government contractor potentially to sustain a significant
financial loss on a government contract, without taking into
account the effect of that loss on the kids.us space or the .us
domain itself. Moreover, it fails to account for the
corresponding financial losses to other service providers, such
as registrars and content managers, that must contract with the
registry; and
The bill forces a timeline on the development process that
likely will not allow the development of a successful solution
that implements the kids.us vision in a safe and sustainable
manner. Thus, the bill is unlikely to achieve its policy
objectives.
Thus the legislation, as proposed, likely will do more harm than
good to a child-friendly environment within the .us ccTLD. Indeed, it
likely will impede rather than promote the realization of the kids.us
vision.
Conclusion
NeuStar, in recognition of the important public interest goals
served by the development of a ``kid's domain,'' is committed to the
responsible introduction of kid.us. Therefore, NeuStar will continue to
work with a wide range of public and private organizations and
institutions, as well as the Congress, toward the successful
development of the kids.us domain without the need for the kind of
comprehensive legislation contained in the proposed bill.
______
Proposal for Guidelines and Requirements for the kids.us Second Level
Domain
A Word from NeuStar
NeuStar has developed these proposed Guidelines and Requirements
with the objective of facilitating the development of an Internet
domain for children. This objective is only achievable with the input
of a broad range of experts and other interested parties. With the
public posting of this paper, NeuStar is seeking input and advice from
members of the children's content community, child advocacy groups,
parents, educators, law enforcement organizations, and other interested
individuals. In crafting this initial draft proposal, NeuStar has
relied on the excellent body of work focused on children and the
Internet that is available today in the public domain. With the
publication of this paper, we invite all members of the public with
expertise in children's media, law enforcement, education, parenting,
Internet use, technology, as well as the interested public at large to
provide us with input on any or all aspects of this paper. We will
review your input carefully and make the greatest effort practicable to
reflect your concerns.
To learn more about how to participate in this project, please look
inside this document under the heading ``Process for Providing Input
Into the Creation of the kids.us Domain.''
Thank you very much for your interest and contribution to this
challenging and important project.
NeuStar, Inc.
I. Introduction
Background
More than 140 million Americans, half of our Nation, are now
online. Ninety percent of the children in America between the ages of 5
and 17 now use computers and 65 percent of 10-13 year olds use the
Internet today. Usage among even the youngest members of our society is
significant, with more than 84 percent of 5-9 year olds using computers
at home, school, or both.\1\ Our nation's youngest citizens are
increasingly gaining access to the Internet. How children use the
Internet and what they are exposed to while on line are topics that
have long been examined, discussed, applauded, and criticized.
Interested parties and individuals ranging from parents and educators
to communities and Members of Congress have all expressed great
excitement at the potential benefits of a distinct place on the
Internet for our Nation's children. At the same time, however, these
same groups recognize that there are also serious concerns about and
problems with exposure to the vast world accessible on the Internet.
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\1\ See A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of
the Internet, February 2002, U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and
Statistics Administration, National Telecommunications and Information
Administration.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The widespread use of the Internet by children in all aspects of
their lives demonstrates the demand for a domain designed for children.
The kids.us domain would be a new, second-level Internet domain within
the United States country code of dot-us and is being established to
help promote positive experiences for children and families using the
Internet.
In order to design and establish a responsible space on the
Internet for children, consensus must be reached on certain key
components of the domain. First, there must be a recognition of how
children today actually use the Internet. Once a common understanding
of use is established, then and only then can an effective and
meaningful kids.us domain be designed. Second, and the focus of this
document, there must be a publicly acceptable set of content-based
guidelines and requirements for registrants. As a result, identified
herein is a proposed set of content guidelines for the kids.us domain.
The proposed list is by no means exhaustive. We have attempted to
identify the major publicly and legally accepted children's content
standards for purposes of application to the kids.us domain. We seek
input generally on the proposed guidelines and are hopeful that parties
will both criticize some of the standards included as well as propose
alternate guidelines and requirements for the domain.
NeuStar has crafted this proposal for content guidelines and
requirements based on a mixture of inputs. This document reflects the
excellent work developed through government and privately-funded
research, testimony delivered at Congressional Hearings, articles,
books, and some preliminary conversations with members of the
children's media communities. Because of the public resource value of
the kids.us domain, we have taken great effort to reflect a wide
sampling of the information publicly available. This effort, however,
is an imperfect one. As a result, each section of this document should
be considered a proposal, not conclusions or solutions to issues raised
here or elsewhere. We seek active and thoughtful input on the proposals
identified here and look forward to building a kids.us domain that
truly will improve and enhance the online experience of American's
children.
Core Objectives of kids.us--A Domain for Children
The objective of the kids.us domain is to facilitate the
establishment of a friendly and enjoyable environment for children
using the Internet. The kids.us administrator will rely heavily on the
input of interested members of the public in general and the children's
content community in particular to help create a place that will
engender public confidence and support.
From the start, it is important to be clear that the kids.us domain
is not intended to be a cure-all solution to the many problems and
dangers associated with children's use of the Internet. As the National
Academy of Sciences (NAS) concluded in the recently released report
``Youth, Pornography, and the Internet,'' there is no single approach
that will, on its own, protect children from online dangers.\2\ Rather,
the kids.us domain is being designed as an alternative on the Internet
that children, parents, educators, and children's content providers may
elect to use. A domain for children alone cannot address the larger
problems associated with children's Internet use. Given the technical
and legal limitations that plague any Internet domain, a space
dedicated to children can be targeted by bad actors or subject to
technical problems. These facts demonstrate that there can be no truly
safe place or ``haven'' for children. To the contrary, a place for
children can be effective only if it is accompanied by the many
components identified by the NAS in their report, including parental
involvement, adult supervision, social and educational support, and
publicly available, user-friendly, and cost-effective technology-based
tools.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Youth, Pornography, and the Internet, Dick Thornburgh and
Herbert S. Lin, Editors, Committee to Study Tools and Strategies for
Protecting Kids from Pornography and Their Applicability to Other
Inappropriate Internet Content, Computer Science and Telecommunication
Board, National Research Council (May 2002) (the NAS Report).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Role of NeuStar in the Design and Implementation of the kids.us
Domain
In October 2001, NeuStar, Inc. was selected by the Department of
Commerce (DOC) to manage the dot-us country code top level domain. As
part of its contract with the DOC, NeuStar agreed to apply separate
treatment to a group of reserved names. Among the names reserved was
``kids'' in order to enable an entity to administer a kids.us domain
name space. The efforts undertaken here, however, are beyond NeuStar's
core competence as a registry operator and trusted neutral third party
administrator of critical infrastructure technology. We undertake this
initiative to design and build the kids.us domain because of the public
resource value we see in it as well as the responsibility we have
assumed as the manager of the country code for the United States.
Because of our lack of depth in the area of content development and
content management, we feel it is critical to seek and develop a strong
public record of support for the ultimate content Guidelines and
Requirements. We are optimistic that others in the Internet community
as well as parties involved in the children's media, education, and law
enforcement fields will recognize the value of this project and share
their expertise.
In light of the seriousness of the objectives of the kids.us domain
and the fact that NeuStar lacks the requisite experience in children's
content development and monitoring, we propose that there be created a
role within the kids.us domain that directly addresses these unique
responsibilities. Specifically, NeuStar believes that it will be
critical to develop a kids.us Content Manager role. An entity that
assumes such a role would be responsible for reviewing and approving
content that is appropriate for the kids.us domain. In addition, this
Content Manager would assume responsibility for monitoring and
enforcing the content Guidelines and Requirements that govern the
kids.us domain for that content which is initially approved. This role
could be played either by one entity or a number of different entities
following a common set of guidelines. Content Managers would, of
course, need to be entities with proven abilities to review and make
judgments about material that is appropriate for children. We encourage
parties to comment on the proposal for a content and enforcement
manager role in the kids.us domain.
Process for Providing Input Into the Creation of the kids.us Domain
In order for a kids.us domain to be successful, there must be
meaningful public involvement. Public participation in the design of
the kids.us domain is crucial. A cornerstone to the construction of the
kids.us domain is an open and transparent process that involves the
extensive and serious input of interested parties and individuals.
Public participation may be carried out by reviewing these draft
Guidelines and Requirements and posting responsive comments
electronically. NeuStar has established [email protected],
a mailbox created specifically for submission of reactions to this
paper or any additional relevant information. The kids.us domain
administrator aspires to be as inclusive as possible as it develops the
Guidelines and Requirements as well as the mechanisms for enforcement
that will be key to the implementation of this domain.
The kids.us domain will also draw on the best available research,
experiences, and tools to help build a child-friendly place on the
Internet. To that end, the kids.us administrator will actively seek
input from individuals and organizations known to address the best
interests of children, and who have a broad cross-section of
perspectives. These will include a diverse constituency of educators,
physicians, parents, child advocates, policy makers, law enforcement
experts, researchers, technologists, industry experts and others.
The kids.us administrator is posting these proposed Guidelines and
Requirements to the Internet, in the interest of creating as open,
transparent, and public a forum as possible. The comment period will
begin on August 30, 2002, and will conclude on September 30, 2002. At
that time, NeuStar will proceed with developing the next draft of the
Guidelines and Requirements that reflect the comments received during
the public forum.
Comments can be submitted electronically to
[email protected].
II. kids.us GUIDELINES AND REQUIREMENTS
Proposed Guidelines and Requirements for the kids.us Domain
The following are proposed content guidelines and requirements (the
Guidelines and Requirements) for determining the content that should be
permissible within any kids.us-approved domain. Each of the standards
proposed herein are used or accepted today in some area of public
communications and the media. The goal here is to aggregate existing
standards and integrate into the kids.us domain. By doing so, we
propose a means of defining what ultimately could be considered
acceptable content in a domain for children. We seek active and
extensive input on these proposed standards both from the perspective
of what is beneficial to children under 13 and what may in fact be
enforceable in the public domain of the Internet.
Children Under 13
We propose that the Guidelines and Requirements regarding content
for the kids.us domain be designed for children under 13. In selecting
this age as a benchmark for the kids.us domain, we look to existing law
and policy standards currently in place. We seek input on whether 13 is
the appropriate age cut-off for kids.us.
Compliance with Existing Laws, Regulations, and Relevant Voluntary
Standards
All content that is posted within a kids.us-approved domain must be
in compliance with existing laws, widely adopted children's online
protection policies, advertising policies, and online privacy
requirements. Highlighted below are several key legal, regulatory, and
voluntary standards that impact multi-media children's content today.
We request input on whether these are the appropriate standards for the
kids.us domain. In addition, we seek input on additional standards to
help define the content that should be permitted.
Compliance with Existing Rules and Regulations Regarding Indecency on
the Airwaves
NeuStar, the registry operator for the dot-us top-level domain has
in place a policy designed to preserve and enhance the value of the
usTLD to all users, including libraries and schools.\3\ Pursuant to
this policy, and in light of the public significance of both the usTLD
and the kids.us second level domain, the registry operator will apply
this policy throughout the kids.us domain. Pursuant to this policy, the
registry operator will review, for possible deletion, all registered
second-level domain names that contain, within the characters of the
domain name registration, any of the seven words identified in Federal
Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation.\4\ We seek input on
application of this policy for a kids.us domain and whether, and how,
it might be expanded and tailored specifically for application to the
kids.us domain. If commenters support an expanded indecency test,
please suggest detailed proposals for public review and consideration.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ For the full text of NeuStar's policy statement referred to
herein, see http://www/nic.us/policies/docs/
registration_review_policy.pdf.
\4\ 438 U.S. 726, 98 S. Ct. 3026, 57 L.Ed.2d 1073 (1978).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commitment to Offer Some Educational and Informational Content Targeted
To Children Under 13
Pursuant to the Children's Television Act \5\ and the FCC's rules
implementing this statute,\6\ broadcasters have a public interest
obligation to air a specific number of hours of programming that offers
some educational and informational content targeted to children under
13. We propose to require that all registrants who want approval to
activate content within the kids.us domain, commit to have some
component of educational and informational content for children on
their respective domains. We seek input on the appropriateness of an
educational and informational content requirement and specific
proposals for designing and implementing any such requirement.
Commenters should please provide examples of how the Children's
Television Act would work in practice for this new Internet-based
application.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ Cite Children's Television Act (CTA).
\6\ Cite FCC Docket implementing the CTA.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
Requirements \7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ Cite COPPA.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to issue and enforce rules concerning
children's online privacy.\8\ In doing so, the FTC stated its primary
goal as placing parents in control over the information that may be
collected from their children online. Specifically, the COPPA rules
apply to three groups of website operators: operators of commercial
websites or online services directed to children under 13 that collect
personal information from children; operators of general audience sites
that collect personal information from children under 13; and operators
of general audience sites that have a separate children's area and that
collect personal information from children.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ Cite FTC's rules implementing COPPA.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
These three groups of operators are required to perform certain
tasks. First, these operators must post a privacy policy, provide
notice to parents about the site's information collection practices,
and in many instances, obtain parental consent prior to collecting
personal information from children. In addition, the operators must
provide parents access to their child's information and the opportunity
to delete information, they may not condition a child's participation
in an activity on the disclosure of more information than is reasonably
necessary, and they must maintain the confidentiality, security and
integrity of the personal information collected from children.
As stated above, the kids.us domain must be in strict compliance
with existing laws, including of course, the requirements of COPPA. We
seek input on whether there are any particular steps from a policy or
legal perspective that should be addressed to ensure COPPA compliance
throughout the kids.us domain. Further, we seek input on whether there
are additional privacy protections that should be considered to ensure
that the kids.us domain not expose children to privacy-related risks.
Compliance with Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) Advertising
Standards
One example of widely adopted policies relating to advertising
includes the efforts of the Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU)
of the Better Business Bureaus. The CARU reviews and evaluates
advertising in all media directed to children under 12. This includes
print, broadcast, and cable television, radio, video, CD-ROM, 900/976
teleprograms, and interactive electronic media. CARU reviews
advertising to determine consistency with its guidelines. If
advertising is found to be misleading, inaccurate, or inconsistent with
the guidelines, CARU works to achieve voluntary cooperation from the
relevant parties to ensure compliance. All advertising sold by kids.us
registrants should be in compliance with the CARU Guidelines.\9\ We
seek input on the value and appropriateness of applying the CARU
Guidelines or some alternate advertising standard to advertising that
might appear in the kids.us domain.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ For greater detail on the CARU Guidelines and CARU, please
refer to www.caru.org.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional Proposals for Content Standards
As noted above, NeuStar has prepared this paper based on much work
that has been accomplished by legislators, public policy centers,
advocates for children, and members of the children's content
community. These proposed Guidelines and Requirements are not intended
to be an exhaustive list. We encourage interested parties to comment on
all of the proposals and suggest places to remove standards as well to
consider alternates. For example, we have not proposed a specific
standard to safeguard against violent content. We recognize that the
under 13 benchmark might incorporate a violent content ban, but we
invite commenters to suggest means of defining a bright line test for
determining when violent content, or any other inappropriate content,
might be inappropriate for a 12 year old. We strongly urge parties to
share their expertise to help construct a safe, child friendly
environment that will also prove attractive to children and consistent
with how kids use the Internet today.
Proposed Restrictions on Links to Domains that Are Not kids.us-Approved
We seek input on mechanisms and processes that should be put in
place to ensure that users of the kids.us domain are not exposed to
content that is harmful to minors under 13. Specifically, we invite
input on the wisdom of implementing restrictions on the allowance of
links from kids.us-approved websites to those domains that are outside
of the kids.us domain name space and which have not undergone the
kids.us domain review process. In addition, we seek input regarding the
best means for prohibiting such movement in the kids.us domain both for
end users and domain managers.
Mechanisms for Protecting Children from Criminal Activity Online
We seek input on possible mechanisms for monitoring kids.us for
criminal activity that might prove harmful to children. In particular,
we invite the law enforcement community as well as child advocacy
groups to comment on how to review domains for unlawful activity as
well as how to ensure that any such criminal activity is referred for
investigation to appropriate law enforcement entities.
Mechanisms for Protecting Children from Content that Does Not Comply
with the Guidelines and Requirements for the kids.us Domain
We seek input on enforcement and monitoring oversight procedures
that can be put in place to minimize the likelihood that content which
is inappropriate for children will be appear on a kids.us domain.
Commenters should also discuss the potential expenses and allocation of
costs in the implementation of such monitoring proposals.
Core kids.us Content Restrictions
In addition to the proposed general standards identified
immediately above, we also identify a core list of content
restrictions. In other words, under no circumstances should the content
identified on this core list appear within any kids.us website. We seek
comment on the proposed list as outlined below.
The following information or content is not permitted to be
activated on any kids.us website:
Actual normal or perverted sexual acts or sexual contact
Lewd exhibitions of genitals or post-pubescent female
breasts
Use of the seven words identified in Federal Communications
Commission v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726, 98 S. Ct.
3026, 57 L.Ed.2d 1073 (1978) in the domain name or content of
any kids.us website
Content that features revealing attire
Content that displays, sells, or advocates the use of
weapons
Game sites designed for teens and older
Content that advocates the legal or illegal use of drugs
Content that advocates legal or illegal gambling
Content that advocates or contemplates alcohol consumption
Content that demonstrates explicit violence against people
or animals, including hate crimes
Content that features smoking or use of other tobacco
products
Notwithstanding the list contained above, we envision that content
would be reviewed by the Content Manager(s) on the whole. If such
content is deemed by the Content Manager(s) as having serious
educational, informational, intellectual, literary, artistic,
political, or scientific value for minors we believe that exceptions
can be made to allow this content to appear in the kids.us domain.
Senator Dorgan. Mr. Casey, thank you very much. Let me ask
a series of questions, then I'll call on Senator Ensign for
questions.
You indicate that NeuStar has always intended to create a
Dot Kids space on your own. Let me ask, what, if you would
force rank your principal objections, would you tell us the
force ranking?
Mr. Casey. Yes. As a first issue, we just want to make
clear that the original reservation of the kids.us domain was
set, not necessarily that we had planned initially to
immediately roll out a kids.us. And, in particular, we want to
make sure somebody didn't do it inappropriately. We needed to
reserve the name. At the time that we put the name on the
reservation list, we didn't know how to do it, and we have been
studying that going forward.
The legislation, in several instances, or in several
respects, has a number of issues that concern us. One is, it is
a fairly dangerous precedent on the regulation of a domain
space. The domain space is very--a very difficult space to
regulate, and it's very difficult to know if the regulation
will get it right.
It also is not clear that what is being set up under this
legislation will actually solve the problem. It is critical, in
our view, that a process be gone through in a time frame and in
a manner that can ensure that what we do set up will work. And
it is not clear that--under this legislation, that we will have
that opportunity.
The other issue--another issue that is very important is
the simple fact that we don't yet know how to set up a space
like this so that it will be used. And, in doing that, not just
used by parents--parents have an interest in using this--but
used by the content providers that are going to be required to
make this space a useful space.
If we force a change in their business operations, if we
force them to recreate or redo how they do business on a day to
day basis, we threaten the ability of a registry to put
together a service that can actually be sold or be operated
through the various channels that are necessary to put in
place--the content manager, for example, the registrars who
sell the domains, for example. So it's not clear that we have
the ability to do enough development to protect that.
Senator Dorgan. Well, let me go to the first point, the
issue of it being regulated. If your organization or this
legislation create a Dot Kids, a kids.us domain, someone should
regulate the content. If the content isn't regulated, it's a
worthless enterprise, would you not agree?
Mr. Casey. I would agree with that.
Senator Dorgan. The question isn't whether there's
regulation. The question is will the regulation be effective.
Mr. Casey. The question is whether the regulation is set up
in a structure that works within the kind of industry that
you're trying to place the regulation on. We--NeuStar, for
example, has worked in several industries, within the
telecommunications industry where we have worked with all the
stakeholders to come up with solutions that would have been
difficult, if not impossible, to come up with under a standard
regulatory structure. Rather, we brought the stakeholders
together, we figured out what had to be done, and we put in
place some very complex systems, in many cases, to solve the
problems.
So what we are proposing today is that it is not clear that
regulation at this point can be made in a manner that will let
that kind of development take place.
Senator Dorgan. Ann Brown, Mr. Casey says one of the other
concerns is that they're not sure it will be used. Could you
give us your impression of that?
Ms. Brown. Well, I certainly think it is something that
would be used. When we did our own focus groups, I think even
the kids were aware that they are treading in dangerous
territory. I think that parents would welcome this.
I think that, as I said, getting the information out that
this exists and how to use it would be absolutely crucial, and
I think the stakeholders would certainly want it used if they
knew that kids and parents were going to be using it. And so it
would seem to me this would be an extremely useful site and
that if it is well publicized and if it has good, interesting,
interactive content, that it would be a very, very useful site.
Senator Dorgan. Mr. Casey, the liability in this piece of
legislation, I expect, is very important to you. If you had
intended, in any event, to create some kind of a domain for
kids, a kids.us of some type, I assume the liability protection
is very important to you. Is that correct?
Mr. Casey. The liability protection is an important piece
of this puzzle. It is not clear. We have been working on
several alternatives or several possibilities for how to gain
the kind of liability protection in the legislation.
Senator Dorgan. Assuming Congress does nothing, the House
bill dies, nobody ever discusses this subject again and you're
not ever bothered by pressure from any direction, tell me the
time frame in which your company, having discussed it
voluntarily, would create an exclusive domain for kids with
appropriate content.
Mr. Casey. Yes. What we're currently exploring is, as I
said, the structure and the model for providing this kind of a
service. The initial time frame for the content review will be,
the comments are due by October 11th, and we will begin a
process of putting out the final content guidelines for the
space. And we have been doing a significant amount of outreach
to get as much of those guidelines as possible.
The next step involves figuring out the proper structure,
both as a matter of how the system will work and a matter of
what kind of arrangements have to be made with various service
providers. For example, content managers, an important next
step, somebody that can review the sites, review proposed
pages, and determine that it does, in fact, meet the guidelines
and is appropriate for children, that's an appropriate first
step. We're working to find somebody who would like to step up
to that. Once that person is in place, we believe that we could
roll out with service in about a 12-month time frame.
Senator Dorgan. And if the Senate, as I hope, would pass
legislation in this area, in the next 5 or 6 weeks, is your
anticipation the sky will fall in on your company?
Mr. Casey. I don't know whether the sky will fall in or
not--I'm not sure I would go that far--but the legislation puts
in place various requirements that may be rather difficult to
meet, given the analysis that has to be done and the
relationships that have to be built with the providers.
Senator Dorgan. I don't express any surprise at all for you
saying we want total flexibility. We prefer less, rather than
more, guidance. In fact, we'd prefer no instruction from
anybody and would like to go better business and do what we
think. And I understand that, and I am not surprised by that at
all. That is what a company would want to suggest. You
understand the tension in public policy here.
Mr. Rodriguez and Ms. Brown talk about exploited children.
The discussion virtually across this country by parents is they
want to find some safe haven in cyberspace to give them some
comfort as parents and allow them to better supervise their
children who are using the computer. So that's the tension. And
my feeling is, we solve that tension to the extent we have the
votes and, to the extent we can, we will resolve that tension
in a way that advances the interest of this legislation,
recognizing that your company is going to have to be the one
that implements this. But, nonetheless, implements a piece of
public policy in the context of what our government is doing
with your company, a public policy that we think advances the
interest of children and the interest of creating a safe haven
on the Internet.
Mr. Casey. We absolutely support that goal, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Dorgan. Let me ask Senator Ensign if he would like
to ask any questions. And Ms. Brown, you may respond after
Senator Ensign is done.
Senator Ensign. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
First of all, let me say, if I was in your position, Mr.
Casey, I might be arguing some of the same points. The tension
comes in and is from frustration, really, I think, when you
hear story after story after story. We mentioned seeing people,
and hear about kids going places where they view pornography or
violent things or whatever. But obviously the biggest problem
is that--with pedophiles and kidnapping and things like that,
that is the most immediate danger.
So this isn't something that--people feel we have waited
long enough for this. The Internet has been around long enough.
And we're saying that, similar to what the deadline that the
Congress put for the airports to have 100 percent of the bags
screened, they said, ``You will do it by December 31st, 2002.''
Now some of the airports are not going to be able to exactly
meet that deadline, but 95 percent of the airports are going to
meet that deadline, and the rest of them are going to have
other types of measures put in place to have at least a 100
percent of the bags screened. They won't have the exact
machines, but they will at least have 100 percent of the bags
screened. And everybody said that that could not be done.
The reason, sometimes, for policymakers to pass something
that things people say cannot be done, time-wise, is because it
forces them to get done. That happens, by the way, within
private companies. I mean, you're a CEO, and you tell your
people, ``I want to see this thing done,'' and they say it
can't be done, and then all of a sudden it gets done because
the CEO said that it will be done.
We're basically like the CEO in this case, and we're saying
that, ``No, this will get done.'' And we do recognize that
there will be problems along the way. And there are some
questions that have to be answered out there. I guess it's our
gut versus your gut right now, and our gut is telling us that
it can be done and that there will be a market out there. And
some of our experiences of the past show this to be true. As I
indicated, Hollywood said that if they make those family
movies, people won't buy them. They are making mostly R-rated
movies, because that is what they say people want to watch. And
yet, consistently, every time a family movie comes out, it goes
to the top of the charts. It is amazing how consistent it is.
And yet there is resistance to it.
And we're not saying that we want to determine what
everybody makes, but what we are saying is that based upon what
families and our own families tell us, and we get a lot of mail
from people, that they want someplace where they can direct
their kids. And if there is that much public demand out there,
we feel that the places like Nickelodeon and the rest of them,
they're going to create the problems to be able to market to
kids on these in this subdomain, and it will cause it to
develop in and of itself. And it won't be perfect at the
beginning, but there will be more and more attractiveness. And
some families will send their kids there and more development
will happen which will cause more families to go there.
And I just think that over time we may have to come back
and fix the legislation somewhat. But if we don't put on the
pressure, I just don't know that it's going to ever happen. It
will be one of those things that we come back next year, and
we'll go, ``You know what? It's still not happening.'' And I
just think that we need to put on that pressure, otherwise it
is just not going to happen.
And maybe you could address something Mr. Casey. The .us
has been compared to the spectrum, in that the broadcasters are
required to do a certain amount of public good before having
the free spectrum. And what public good, I guess, are you
required to do? Because basically you got this spectrum for
free. And I realize you make a profit. There's nothing wrong
with making a profit, but don't you feel that there's some
responsibility for the company that has a public domain
basically out there, that there comes with that a
responsibility to take some of your profits and put it toward
the public good?
Mr. Casey. That is a very good question, Senator. And the
first point there is, we very much accept, and we operate under
the concept of public service and public good. All of our
businesses are centered on that kind of an operation--if our
systems go down, telephones stop working. So this is part of
who we are. This is our heritage. And, for example, in the .us
proposal that became our contract, we proposed creation of a
policy council, and we now have that policy council in place.
The idea of that policy council was to give us input from the
public and from various users of the space to let us know what
needs to happen to meet the needs of the Internet, and the
needs of the public. So we fully accept that responsibility.
Now, one misconception that I want to speak to, we were not
given .us. We earned it. We put the best proposal forward. The
Department of Commerce came out with an SOW and said, ``This is
what we need built. The .us space is currently broken. It is
underutilized. We built the Internet. We should have the best
.us around. Build it for us.'' We stepped up. We put in a
proposal that clearly was the best proposal. We were selected,
and we have created a very successful--the beginnings of a very
successful .us space.
Senator Dorgan. At this point on .us, How many registers do
you have?
Mr. Casey. Just over 300,000 registrants since going live
April 24th. Not the biggest domain in the world right now, but
a lot bigger than it was when we took it over, and a lot more
modern than how the .us space has been run in the past. So we
responded to what the Government has asked us to do, and we
will respond to this.
We have committed to a Dot Kids.us space. So there is no
need to pressure us. We're doing it. We've already started the
process. Our biggest goal is to make sure that as we do it, we
do it correctly, because God forbid we get it wrong.
Senator Ensign. I appreciate that. I think you have put
together a good proposal for .us. But how much money did you
pay for that?
Mr. Casey. How much money have we paid for that? Did we
actually----
Senator Ensign. To the government.
Mr. Casey. To the government, no money paid to the
Government.
Senator Ensign. I just wanted to check on that, because the
same comparison can be made of the spectrum. You remember the
networks and everything, they had to put in huge amount of
money to develop that, but they did that to develop a product
to make money. The bottom line is, it is a fair comparison that
the networks, you know, were basically given the spectrum in
the same way that you've been given a spectrum. It's a
different kind of a spectrum, and, therefore, a public
responsibility.
So, I don't think it's an unreasonable comparison for
Congress, then, to ask for a certain type of a public good to
come out of that, just like we asked of the networks.
Mr. Casey. Agreed. And part of our contract already states
that we will serve the public interest. We have already stepped
up to that.
Senator Ensign. Thank you.
Senator Dorgan. Ms. Brown, would you like to comment?
Ms. Brown. Yes, very briefly. After 8 years in government,
when I start to hear words like ``exploring and review,''
``begin process,'' ``outreach,'' ``figuring out,'' ``first
step,'' ``next step,'' ``analysis,'' ``develop relationships,''
it seems to me that I always knew we were in a 5- or 6-year
project. And I think it would be--I think it is incumbent upon
what you Senators have said, that having a little pressure to
get this done in a timely time frame would be very important.
I think the time is now. And, from what I can tell,
parents, and even the kids, would really like it to be done
sooner rather than later. So I think the passage of this
legislation would help to a great respect.
Senator Dorgan. All right. As I conclude the hearing--Jan
Whitley, would you like to give us two minutes? You're here
with your children. And I will put this in the record, but why
don't you come forward and give us the final two minutes as a
mother. You were gracious enough to come to the hearing today
and let us hear your observations about what you've heard at
this hearing.
STATEMENT OF JAN WHITLEY, MOTHER, SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND
Ms. Whitley. Thank you very much. Let me first say, this is
quite an honor and one that I didn't expect when I came in
through those doors. But, as I've sat here today and listened
to all of the comments, I have to sort of put myself closest to
Ann Brown and say that I do think the time is now.
Just this week, my children--we utilize a Website, which I
won't name, to check homework assignments and that sort of
thing. And when you went into the site, we were faced with
Howard Stern. And while I don't think we would classify his
rantings and his dissertations as being pornographic, they're
certainly not appropriate.
Senator Ensign. I would.
[Laughter.]
Ms. Whitley. Thank you, Senator. But it was totally
inappropriate for the children, and this is a safe site. It's
supposedly a safe site. And I think this happens more and more.
And I think the figures don't tell the whole story, all the
statistics, because I didn't call anyone to report it to other
than to call the school to alert them so that they could start
the process. But I think that we don't--I don't want to wait
until a tragedy, until one of my daughters is missing or has
been contacted.
I know that I even shudder sometimes when I come across a
site, and I'm a grown person, well above the age of 12. And I
think that it's something that is needed. And I applaud you for
pursuing this.
And I have to laugh and say that, as Ms. Brown was saying
those words, being sort of the government buzz words, that it's
going to be a slow process kind of thing, I think the time is
now for action, and no more studies and all of that.
So that said, I would just like to say thank you again for
this opportunity to comment on this.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Whitley follows:]
Prepared statement of Jan Whitley, Mother, Silver Spring, Maryland
Dear Members of the Commerce Committee,
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the issue of Internet
safety for children and more particularly on Senate Bill 2537, Dot Kids
Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002. I was quite honored when I
was contacted by a staff member of Senator Dorgan's office to address
this issue and bill as a parent. As an American citizen, it certainly
gives true meaning to the phrase `` . . .government of the people . .
.''
My name is Jan Whitley. I am from Silver Spring, Maryland. My
husband and I have three children, Derek--age 16, Dara--age 10, and
Dona--age 7. We are members of St. Camillus Parish and my words today
reflect the sentiments of the parents and parishioners at St. Camillus.
As a parent, I am always trying to protect my children from the
dangers that exist in our world. Some of them are easy to identify and
items like locks and seat belts provide the needed safety. However,
some of the dangers are less easy to identify and if identifiable, they
are hard to protect our children from them. One such danger is the
Internet. Overall, the Internet is a wonderful tool that provides us
with access to information and hours of enjoyment. But often it is a
scary place and one that is full of information that is inappropriate
for children. Sometimes, it is even inappropriate for adults like me.
Just this week, I attempted to visit a homework site for my younger
children and encountered messages from Howard Stern. Needless to say I
was shocked. While the information would not be considered pornographic
from a legal standpoint, it was not what my 7 and 10 year olds should
see.
Senate Bill 2537 would have prevented this from happening. The
creation of an Internet domain that is dedicated to children under the
age of 12 will give parents like me greater peace of mind. I will be
able to let Dara and Dana ``surf the net'' and not worry that they will
come upon something they shouldn't see. This is very important,
especially given the fact that most 10-year olds are more computer
savvy than their parents. That is how it is in my house.
I have one suggestion for improving the legislation being
considered: the education of parents and the general public should
begin immediately upon the bill becoming law. Everyone is so busy and
this is such an important matter that there is no such thing as
overkill in this instance.
I sincerely hope that Senate Bill 2537 is passed and that ``dot
kids'' becomes a reality. Thank you for listening to me.
Senator Dorgan. Ms. Whitley, thank you very much. I just
have to tell you, my son, like a lot of sons, was playing a
computer game at one point that was--it was a decent game; it
was not inappropriate--and it was one of those games where it
was difficult. And there's this site on the Internet where they
will give you hints on how to play it more effectively. But
this was a game that had a name that, if you would go to the
Internet and type in that name, he discovered material that I
won't describe at this hearing. He was quite innocent. He was
trying to go to this game site, but he typed ``www'' and the
name of this game, and he got a site that really was quite
extraordinary.
And it happens all the time, all across the country, and
the issue is not whether we should try to do something about
that. Everyone believes we should. You, on behalf of parents,
speak here today saying we should. I think Mr. Casey and
NeuStar believes we should, and Mr. Rodriguez, Ms. Brown. So
the question isn't whether; it's how. And I hope that this
hearing will advance the interest in the United States Senate
to move forward on some legislation.
Mr. Casey, we will be working with your corporation. We
will be working with the Members of the House. Mr. Rodriguez,
thanks for what your organization does. And Ms. Brown, again,
thank you for your service as chairman of the Consumer Products
Safety Commission. Mr. Casey, thank you for coming. And, Ms.
Whitley, thanks for bringing your children.
This hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:40 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]