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Economics of Kid-Friendly Domain Questioned
December 12, 2002
Now that Congress has zoned off an Internet neighborhood for children, online real estate agents are questioning whether they can attract enough tenants to make it a worthwhile place for parents to send their kids. Authors of the Dot-Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act, which President Bush signed into law last week, envisioned the new "kids.us" domain as a sanctuary where children could explore the Internet without being exposed to its dangers.
The law is designed to protect children -- 13 years or younger -- from pornography, profanity and other content that it defines as inappropriate by not allowing Web sites that end in kids.us (www.washingtonpost.kids.us, for example) to link to locations outside of the domain.
Some critics of the dot-kids concept say it creates a ready-made stalking ground for sexual predators, but supporters of the law say it contains strong provisions to prevent criminals from stalking the users of kids.us addresses.
The question remains, however, whether or not there is an economic case for the new domain.
"If it is ubiquitous it can actually be effective; if it's not, it's nothing," said Elliot Noss, president of Canadian address seller Tucows Inc.
Noss went on to charge that kids.us has "absolutely zero" probability of achieving that ubiquity and is nothing more than "an exercise in making politicians who don't understand the medium feel good."
More at: http://www.bizreport.com/article.php?art_id=3946&PHPSESSID=968723ddea123cfb19dd93197e01732d
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