Today’s children use
the Internet in ever increasing numbers. They explore it. They learn from
it. They form associations from and with it. And, they are now helping to
build it. The proliferation of personal computers and access to the Internet
from the home and from within the educational system has given rise to an
online generation. Unfortunately, although children are the fastest growing
constituency on the Internet, many sites are not designed for kids, not
targeted for a child audience, and many contain material that is far from
suited or appropriate for children. The Internet is currently like a vast
unsorted library; a Dr. Seuss book may be on the shelf next to a pornographic
magazine; a set of children’s encyclopedias rests against a hate manifesto.
One mistyped letter can redirect a child doing his homework towards an education
that he/she is not prepared for. Students are turned into voyeurs. Playtime
is unsupervised. Leadership has been absent.
.Kids Domains, Inc.
is has partnered with New.Net to establish and promote the development of
a complete network of kid-friendly websites located at .kids domain addresses.
Domain name owners can then design new content to excite, engage, and empower
children using the Internet throughout the world. These sites will contract
with .Kids Domains to ensure a user experience suitable for young Internet
users. We will require all website operators to conform to a policy that
restricts site content to material suitable for children under thirteen.
The policy was constructed from a framework of international bodies, organizations,
and governments: UNESCO, UNICEF, the SBA, the ABA, and the Bertelsmann Foundation
to name a few. We have included the Children's Online Privacy Protection
Act (COPPA) in our policy to augment kid's safety and privacy. While our
content policy will always be a dynamic document, we believe it represents
a solid foundation with which to construct a greenspace for children around
the world. We would love to hear your feedback. Please email us at feedback@kidsdomains.org
