The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“DOT KIDS IMPLEMENTATION AND EFFICIENCY ACT OF 2002” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H2669-H2676 on May 21, 2002.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
DOT KIDS IMPLEMENTATION AND EFFICIENCY ACT OF 2002
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 3833) to facilitate the creation of a new, second-level Internet domain within the United States country code domain that will be a haven for material that promotes positive experiences for children and families using the Internet, provides a safe online environment for children, and helps to prevent children from being exposed to harmful material on the Internet, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 3833
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
(1) the World Wide Web presents a stimulating and entertaining opportunity for children to learn, grow, and develop educationally and intellectually;
(2) Internet technology also makes available an extensive amount of information that is harmful to children, as studies indicate that a significant portion of all material available on the Internet is related to pornography;
(3) young children, when trying to use the World Wide Web for positive purposes, are often presented--either mistakenly or intentionally--with material that is inappropriate for their age, which can be extremely frustrating for children, parents, and educators;
(4) exposure of children to material that is inappropriate for them, including pornography, can distort the education and development of the Nation's youth and represents a serious harm to American families that can lead to a host of other problems for children, including inappropriate use of chat rooms, physical molestation, harassment, and legal and financial difficulties;
(5) young boys and girls, older teens, troubled youth, frequent Internet users, chat room participants, online risk takers, and those who communicate online with strangers are at greater risk for receiving unwanted sexual solicitation on the Internet;
(6) studies have shown that 19 percent of youth (ages 10 to 17) who used the Internet regularly were the targets of unwanted sexual solicitation, but less than 10 percent of the solicitations were reported to the police;
(7) children who come across illegal content should report it to the congressionally authorized CyberTipline, an online mechanism developed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, for citizens to report sexual crimes against children;
(8) the CyberTipline has received more than 64,400 reports, including reports of child pornography, online enticement for sexual acts, child molestation (outside the family), and child prostitution;
(9) although the computer software and hardware industries, and other related industries, have developed innovative ways to help parents and educators restrict material that is harmful to minors through parental control protections and self-regulation, to date such efforts have not provided a national solution to the problem of minors accessing harmful material on the World Wide Web;
(10) the creation of a ``green-light'' area within the United States country code Internet domain, that will contain only content that is appropriate for children under the age of 13, is analogous to the creation of a children's section within a library and will promote the positive experiences of children and families in the United States; and
(11) while custody, care, and nurture of the child reside first with the parent, the protection of the physical and psychological well-being of minors by shielding them from material that is harmful to them is a compelling governmental interest.
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to facilitate the creation of a second-level domain within the United States country code Internet domain for the location of material that is suitable for minors and not harmful to minors; and
(2) to ensure that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration oversees the creation of such a second-level domain and ensures the effective and efficient establishment and operation of the new domain.
SEC. 3. NTIA AUTHORITY.
Section 103(b)(3) of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 902(b)(3)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end and inserting ``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
``(C) shall assign to the NTIA responsibility for providing for the establishment, and overseeing operation, of a second-level Internet domain within the United States country code domain in accordance with section 157.''.
SEC. 4. CHILD-FRIENDLY SECOND-LEVEL INTERNET DOMAIN.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 901 et seq.) is amended in part C by adding at the end the following new section:
``SEC. 157. CHILD-FRIENDLY SECOND-LEVEL INTERNET DOMAIN.
``(a) Responsibilities.--The NTIA shall require the registry selected to operate and maintain the United States country code Internet domain to establish, operate, and maintain a second-level domain within the United States country code domain that provides access only to material that is suitable for minors and not harmful to minors (in this section referred to as the `new domain').
``(b) Conditions of Contract Renewal.--The NTIA may not renew any contract to operate and maintain the domain with the initial registry, or enter into or renew any such contract with any successor registry, unless such registry enters into an agreement with the NTIA, during the 90-day period beginning upon the date of the enactment of the Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002 in the case of the initial registry or during the 90-day period after selection in the case of any successor registry, as applicable, which provides for the registry to carry out, and the new domain operates pursuant to, the following requirements:
``(1) Written content standards for the new domain, except that the NTIA shall not have any authority to establish such standards.
``(2) Written agreements with each registrar for the new domain that require that use of the new domain is in accordance with the standards and requirements of the registry.
``(3) Written agreements with registrars, which shall require registrars to enter into written agreements with registrants, to use the new domain in accordance with the standards and requirements of the registry.
``(4) Rules and procedures for enforcement and oversight that minimize the possibility that the new domain provides access to content that is not in accordance with the standards and requirements of the registry.
``(5) A process for removing from the new domain any content that is not in accordance with the standards and requirements of the registry.
``(6) A process to provide registrants to the new domain with an opportunity for a prompt, expeditious, and impartial dispute resolution process regarding any material of the registrant excluded from the new domain.
``(7) Continuous and uninterrupted service for the new domain during any transition to a new registry selected to operate and maintain new domain or the United States country code domain.
``(8) Procedures and mechanisms to promote the accuracy of contact information submitted by registrants and retained by registrars in the new domain.
``(9) Operationality of the new domain not later than one year after the date of the enactment of the Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002.
``(10) Written agreements with registrars, which shall require registrars to enter into written agreements with registrants, to prohibit two-way and multiuser interactive services in the new domain, unless the registrant certifies to the registrar that such service will be offered in compliance with the content standards established pursuant to paragraph (1) and is specifically constructed and operated to protect minors from harm.
``(11) Written agreements with registrars, which shall require registrars to enter into written agreements with registrants, to prohibit hyperlinks in the new domain that take new domain users outside of the new domain.
``(12) Any other action that the NTIA considers necessary to establish, operate, or maintain the new domain in accordance with the purposes of this section.
``(c) Treatment of Registry and Other Entities.--
``(1) In general.--Only to the extent that such entities carry out functions under this section, the following entities are deemed to be interactive computer services for purposes of section 230(c) of the Communications Act of 1934
(47 U.S.C. 230(c)):
``(A) The registry that operates and maintains the new domain.
``(B) Any entity that contracts with such registry to carry out functions to ensure that content accessed through the new domain complies with the limitations applicable to the new domain.
``(C) Any registrar for the registry of the new domain that is operating in compliance with its agreement with the registry.
``(2) Savings provision.--Nothing in paragraph (1) shall be construed to affect the applicability of any other provision of title II of the Communications Act of 1934 to the entities covered by subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (1).
``(d) Education.--The NTIA shall carry out a program to publicize the availability of the new domain and to educate the parents of minors regarding the process for utilizing the new domain in combination and coordination with hardware and software technologies that provide for filtering or blocking. The program under this subsection shall be commenced not later than 30 days after the date that the new domain first becomes operational and accessible by the public.
``(e) Coordination With Federal Government.--The registry selected to operate and maintain the new domain shall--
``(1) consult with appropriate agencies of the Federal Government regarding procedures and actions to prevent minors and families who use the new domain from being targeted by adults and other children for predatory behavior, exploitation, or illegal actions; and
``(2) based upon the consultations conducted pursuant to paragraph (1), establish such procedures and take such actions as the registry may deem necessary to prevent such targeting.
The consultations, procedures, and actions required under this subsection shall be commenced not later than 30 days after the date that the new domain first becomes operational and accessible by the public.
``(f) Compliance Report.--The registry shall prepare, on an annual basis, a report on the registry's monitoring and enforcement procedures for the new domain. The registry shall submit each such report, setting forth the results of the review of its monitoring and enforcement procedures for the new domain, to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate.
``(g) Selection of Contractor.--
``(1) Withdrawal of registry.--
``(A) Election by registry.--Upon a good faith showing by the registry of the new domain to the NTIA of extreme financial hardship in the operation of the new domain occurring any time after the date of the enactment of the Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002, the registry may elect to relinquish the right to operate and maintain the new domain. Notwithstanding the time of occurrence of such extreme financial hardship or the time of such election, the registry may not relinquish such right before the expiration of the 3-year period beginning upon such date of enactment.
``(B) Selection of new contractor.--If the registry elects to relinquish such right pursuant to subparagraph (A), the NTIA shall select a contractor to operate and maintain the new domain under the competitive bidding process established pursuant to paragraph (2).
``(C) Extreme financial hardship.--For purposes of this paragraph, the term `extreme financial hardship' means that each quarter, for a period of 6 or more consecutive quarters, the costs of establishing, operating, and maintaining the new domain exceed the revenues generated from registrants by more than 25 percent.
``(2) Competitive bid selection process.--The NTIA shall establish a process for soliciting applications and selecting a contractor to operate and maintain the new domain pursuant to this subsection), which process shall comply with the following requirements:
``(A) Timing.--The selection process shall commence and complete not later than (i) 120 days after the registry elects to relinquish the new domain for extreme financial hardship, or (ii) the expiration of a contract referred to in paragraph (4), as applicable.
``(B) Notice.--The selection process shall provide adequate notice to prospective applicants of--
``(i) the opportunity to submit such an application; and
``(ii) the criteria for selection under subparagraph (C).
``(C) Criteria.--The selection shall be made pursuant to written, objective criteria designed to ensure--
``(i) that the new domain is operated and maintained in accordance with the requirements under subsection (b); and
``(ii) that the contractor selected to operate and maintain the new domain is the applicant most capable and qualified to do so.
``(D) Review.--Not more than 60 days after the conclusion of the period established for submission of applications, the NTIA shall--
``(i) review and apply the selection criteria established under subparagraph (C) to each application submitted; and
``(ii) based upon such criteria and subject to submission of an application meeting such criteria, select an application and award to the applicant a subcontract for the operation and maintenance of the new domain.
``(E) Failure to find contractor.--If the NTIA fails to find a suitable contractor pursuant to the process under this paragraph, the NTIA shall permit the registry to cease operation of the new domain.
``(3) Rights and duties.--A contractor selected pursuant to this subsection shall have all of the rights and duties of the registry specified under this section, except that such duties shall not include the technical maintenance of the new domain.
``(4) Conditions of contract renewal.--In the case of the expiration of a contract for operation and maintenance of the new domain with a contractor selected pursuant to paragraph
(2), the NTIA may renew such contract or, subject to paragraph (2), rebid the contract to a new contractor. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the registry of the United States country code Internet domain from bidding to become the contractor of the new domain.
``(h) Suspension of New Domain.--If the NTIA finds, pursuant to its own review or upon a good faith petition by the registry, that the new domain is not serving its intended purpose, the NTIA shall instruct the registry to suspend operation of the new domain until such time as the NTIA determines that the new domain can be operated as intended.
``(i) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:
``(1) Harmful to minors.--The term `harmful to minors' means, with respect to material, that--
``(A) the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find, taking the material as a whole and with respect to minors, that it is designed to appeal to, or is designed to pander to, the prurient interest;
``(B) the material depicts, describes, or represents, in a manner patently offensive with respect to minors, an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual contact, an actual or simulated normal or perverted sexual act, or a lewd exhibition of the genitals or post-pubescent female breast; and
``(C) taken as a whole, the material lacks serious, literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
``(2) Minor.--The term `minor' means any person under 13 years of age.
``(3) Registry.--The term `registry' means the registry selected to operate and maintain the United States country code Internet domain
``(4) Suitable for minors.--The term `suitable for minors' means, with respect to material, that it--
``(A) is not psychologically or intellectually inappropriate for minors; and
``(B) serves--
``(i) the educational, informational, intellectual, or cognitive needs of minors; or
``(ii) the social, emotional, or entertainment needs of minors.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton).
General Leave
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Michigan?
There was no objection.
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, sometimes I think that the World Wide Web should be renamed perhaps the World's Wicked Web. I woke up this morning listening to the Today Show, and I heard this very sad case of a young girl in Danbury, Connecticut. I read from CNN: ``The body of a 13-year-
old girl missing since Friday has been found. The FBI has arrested a Brazilian national living in Connecticut who allegedly met the girl on the Internet, the agency said Monday. Christina Long's body was found Monday. She had been missing since Friday evening.'' She had been contacted through a chat room on the Internet.
Last week in Kalamazoo, Michigan, we held a hearing on chat rooms. We know as parents that there is no better way to watch over our children than with parental involvement. The story, whether it be in Danbury Connecticut, or other communities across the country, is a nightmare waiting to happen in virtually anyplace in the country.
Last Friday, I visited an elementary school just outside of Kalamazoo, Northeastern Elementary School, where I spoke to about 80 or 90 sixth grade children. I asked the question, as I often do as I go to an elementary school, how many of you use the Internet on a fairly routine basis? They all raised their hands, every one of them.
I then asked the question: How many of you have seen something that is inappropriate coming into your house or your classroom on that Internet? And again, virtually every hand went up.
Mr. Speaker, what this legislation does is creates a new domain for the Internet. Like we have a dot-org and a dot-com and a dot-gov, we are now going to have a dot-kids. Actually, it may be a dot-kids dot-
U.S. It may be a dot-Disney dot-kids; it may be a dot-Boy Scouts or dot-Girl Scouts, it may be a dot-games. But whatever it is, it will be aimed and earmarked towards children that are 12 and under. In essence, it will be a children's section of the library.
When my 10-year-old son, Stephen, goes to the library in my hometown, I know that that children's library in the basement of the Maud Preston Palenske Memorial Library has children's books and he is safe in that area. We know that as 10- and 12-year-olds and even 9-year-old children, they often have their own Internet identity name. They use the Internet for their school and home. They chat with their friends.
As parents, we want to make sure that they are safe, because that Internet will be their tool of learning for business and school the rest of their lives. But obviously, for so many of those young minds, they are not ready for some of those folks that would like to lure and prey on them.
That is what this legislation does. By setting up a new domain, we as parents will know that that road map for them is a safe, safe place.
{time} 1030
This legislation, Mr. Speaker, is bipartisan. It passed in the subcommittee and full committee without dissent. We had great leadership from the author of the bill, the gentleman from Illinois
(Mr. Shimkus), the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), the ranking member of the subcommittee, my chairman, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin), the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell), the ranking member, the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry) and other members of the subcommittee who were very involved in making sure this legislation passed and moved.
I would note that the bill has been endorsed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Family Research Council, the American Center for Law and Justice, the National Law Center for Children and Families and a Safe America for Everyone, SAFE. And I want to thank them all for their support.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation is needed. As parents, as members in a community, we know that we can stop some of this awful stuff that comes to our homes. Mr. Speaker, when someone rings the doorbell or knocks on a door, often as we go to that door we look through the peephole, we look through the windows to see who is there before they come in. On the Internet you are not able to do that.
In so many cases we see other folks masquerading maybe as 12 or 13 or 15-year-old children. Maybe they are in their 40s or 50s looking to prey on our kids. We had an arrest last week in Kalamazoo, and they found out just in 72 hours that that individual had 20 other victims that he will probably be charged with as he moved across county lines to try and seek and prey on kids just like this very sad story of the young girl in Danbury, Connecticut.
Mr. Speaker, as Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3833, the ``Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002''. This bill was introduced by the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Shimkus, the gentleman from Massachusetts, the ranking member of the Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee, Mr. Markey, and myself--
and the bill has 40 bipartisan cosponsors.
Mr. Speaker, more and more parents have recognized that they are losing some control over what enters their home as their children spend more and more time on the home computer surfing the Internet. While the Internet is an excellent tool for children to learn, there are all sorts of inappropriate material that--with just one wrong click--comes right into your living room, den, or bedroom--wherever the computer is located. I visit a school every week in my district, and at every middle school I ask for a show of hands about how many kids use the Internet, and about every hand goes up. I then ask how many have seen inappropriate material--pornography or bad language--and virtually every time about 80 percent of the hands stay in the air. This has got to stop.
While there is no substitute for proper parental supervision, responsible parents want more tools to assist them in protecting their kids on the Internet. Filters are one solution, but we believe more must be done to help.
The ``Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002'' (H.R. 3833), would enable the establishment of a kid-friendly space on the Internet. We have made passage of this important bipartisan legislation, a top priority of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and its Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee, and I want to thank Chairman Tauzin and Ranking Member Dingell for their assistance in moving this legislation forward.
Just like ``.com'', or ``.gov'', or ``.org''--``.kids'' will be an Internet address code, but the difference is that only websites with content which is both ``not harmful to minors'' and ``suitable for minors'' could get access. Under the bill, a ``minor'' is defined as a person 12 years old and under. The ``.kids'' space would be a safe place devoted solely to material which is appropriate for kids--where parents could choose to send their kids. This is really no different in concept than the children's section at the public library--which is the only part of the library where kids are allowed to check out books.
More specifically, the ``.kids'' space would be housed within our country's Internet code, otherwise known as ``.us'', which would result in ``.kids.us.''. For instance, if the Boy Scouts of America, whose website currently is: www.scouting.org, decided to set up an additional mirror site in the ``.kids.us'' space it would be: www.scouting.kids.us. The U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) would oversee the implementation of ``.kids.us'', and while the bill stipulates that only websites with content that is ``not harmful to minors'' and is ``suitable for minors'' can get into the ``.kids.us'' space, the written content standards and rules of the road would be developed and enforced by the private sector, under the direction of the registry which has the contract from the Department of Commerce to manage the ``.us'' country code.
While the Supreme Court has cited the First Amendment as the basis for striking down previous efforts by Congress to protect kids on the Internet, H.R. 3833 is drafted in a manner which is consistent with the First Amendment. First, the proposal doesn't affect anyone's ability to put whatever kind of speech they want on the World Wide Web, on a ``dot com,'' ``dot net,'' ``dot org'' or anywhere else. This bill only addresses a subset of Internet--the ``dot us'' space. Moreover, it doesn't even curtail speech throughout the entirety of the ``dot us'' space. Speech more appropriate for adults or teenagers will not be affected by this bill and can appear elsewhere in the ``dot us'' space. The bill solely says that if you want to operate in the ``dot kids'' area--a subset of the ``dot us'' country code domain--you have entered a kid-friendly zone--where the content is suitable for children 12 and under. Again, this is completely voluntary for parents to use if they wish and content providers to avail themselves of if they are so inclined.
Moreover, now more than ever, parents recognize the dangers posed to their children in Internet chat rooms, where pedophiles can prey on children right in the comfort of the family living room. This is why the bill also bans chat rooms and instant messaging in the ``.kids.us'' space--unless such can be done without jeopardizing the safety of kids, through effective monitoring for example. Also, hyperlinks, which would take kids outside of the ``.kids.us'' space, would be banned.
Mr. Speaker, I would note that this bill has been endorsed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Family Research Council, the American Center for Law and Justice, the National Law Center for Children and Families, and a Safer America For Everyone
(SAFE), and I want to thank all of them for their support.
Again, I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois and the gentleman from Massachusetts for all of their hard work and perseverance on this bill, and I urge an ``aye'' vote on the bill on this measure which will help protect children and families on-line.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bill. I am an original co-sponsor, along with the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus), of this legislation as well as many other Members. I want to commend the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin), the ranking member, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) and everyone else who is involved with this excellent process that has led to a consensus, a bipartisan proposal.
The bill was approved unanimously by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and I want to congratulate the subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) for his fine work in the processing of this legislation. It is, in fact, a very good bill.
As many parents today know, the Internet often appears to be a veritable jungle of websites. When a child logs on to search for games, stories or educational material, search engines often churn up pages for kids laden with pornography, violence or other content that is simply not appropriate for young children. To give children their own playground on the Internet and to facilitate the easier browsing and filtering of contents that many parents desire, we have introduced H.R. 3833, the Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act. This bill directs the Department of Commerce through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to accelerate the creation of a dot kids domain by making it a secondary domain under our Nation's country code top level domain which is dot U.S. The Department of Commerce awarded a free contract last October to authorize private sector management and commercialization of dot U.S. Therefore, what we are talking about here today is the creation of a place on the Internet for websites that end in dot kids-dot U.S.; for example, www.example.Kids.U.S. The proposed
``dot kids'' domain will be a cyber space sanctuary for content that is suitable for kids and will be an area devoid of content that is harmful to such minors.
I want to address at this point very briefly some of the free speech concerns that any endeavor of this type will inevitably raise. First, let me emphasize how this approach departs from previous congressional activities in this policy area. First, the proposed legislation will not subject all of the Internet communications to a harmful-to-minors standard. If you are in Tennessee, Taiwan, or Timbuktu, you can publish or speak any content you want on the Internet. This proposal does not affect your ability to do so on a dot com, dot net, dot org or anywhere else. This proposal now only addresses a subset of Internet commerce, the dot U.S. space.
Moreover, it does not even curtail speech through the entirety of the dot U.S. country code domain. If you are in Providence, Rhode Island or Provo, Utah, under this bill you are free to exercise your constitutional rights and this legislation contains no proposal which would subject anyone utilizing the dot U.S. space to a standard suitable only for kids. Speech more appropriate for adults or teenagers will not be affected by this bill and can appear anywhere else in the dot U.S. domain.
The bill solely stipulates that if you want to operate in the dot kids areas, a subset of dot U.S. country code domain, you have entered a kid-friendly zone, a green light district, where the content is suitable for children 12 and under. The dot kids proposal is not aimed at censoring Internet contents, per se; rather, it is crafted to help organize content suitable for kids in a safe and secure cyber zone where the risk of young children clicking outside of that zone to suitable contents or being preyed upon or exploited online by adults posing as kids is vastly diminished.
Organizing kid-friendly contents in this manner will enhance the effectiveness of filtering software and enable parents to set their children's browsers so their kids only surf within the dot kids domain. I also want to emphasize that use of the dot kids domain is not compulsory. Signing up for a dot kids domain or parents sending their kids to websites in that location remains completely voluntary and the free choice of both speakers and parents.
Finally, I want to note that this bill is not meant in any way to diminish or thwart the many laudable private sector efforts to create new and affirmative ways for kids to have a safe and educational online experience. Our efforts here today are meant to supplement, not supplant, initiatives underway elsewhere by ensuring that our dot kids country code reflects our public interest goals as a society in a way that hopefully can harness the best of advanced technology for kids across the country.
Again, I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) for his leadership on this legislation, and I want to thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin), the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell), and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) for his excellent work in this area.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin), the chairman of the full committee.
Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I, too, want to join my friend, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) in congratulating the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) and the gentleman from Michigan
(Mr. Upton) for the loving care they have given this legislation. And I think it is going to be landmark legislation for the kids of America in dealing with the Internet. And I want to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) in particular for the great assistance they have played in putting this together and making something very good happen for the families of America.
Like other filtering tools, this is just another great tool that American families will have to have their children go to a site that is monitored and where they can enjoy, indeed, the tremendous potential of the Internet without being assaulted by so many of the bad features we find on the Internet. And I think this is exactly the right kind of response to the Supreme Court which has recently ruled that virtual pornography is somehow protected under our Constitution. When you live on the Internet in a digital age, 1's and O's can be real. They can be virtual. They can be anything. And to say while one form of presentation is legally protected while another is not was a rather strange decision for our high court.
This is a good answer. This says regardless of what the court says about it, here is going to be a safe place for kids to go and enjoy, indeed, the tremendous educational entertainment features of the Internet without running into the bad features that somehow afflict their lives.
Again, I want to thank the chairman of our subcommittee, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton), for his great work in working with us and, most importantly, to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) for the excellent work they have done in putting this together.
We should also thank Senator Byron and Senator Dorgan on the Senate side who have done such a great job in advancing this legislation and give them great credit for, again, working across the two bodies and perfecting it.
Again, Mr. Speaker, that is a good day for kids in America, and I think the Committee on Energy and Commerce, particularly its Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, deserves a great deal of credit for bringing this legislation to the floor. I commend it to all Members. It deserves passage.
Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Silicon Valley, California (Ms. Eshoo).
Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I thank my wonderful colleague, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) for yielding me time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the bill, the Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act. I think it takes a very important step of trying to provide a kid-safe zone on the Internet. We know that in raising our children that we always wanted to keep them out of tough, rough neighborhoods, and I think that this important step will do that on the Internet for our Nation's children.
When we considered this bill at the subcommittee, I expressed my support for the intent of the bill, but I also raised some questions as to whether this approach was totally realistic. Through the efforts and the cooperation of the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton), and the bill's sponsors, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), changes were made that in my view make the dot kids space a safe and more effective domain. And that is the way it should be as we work these bills from subcommittee to full committee to the floor.
To make the site more secure, the bill now contains language that prohibits interactive services in the domain. This protects users, the young children under the age of 13, from inappropriate emails, online discussions in chatrooms, and from intentionally or unintentionally being able to hyperlink their way to inappropriate contents.
For the agency and the companies charged with establishing the standards and securing the site, this is a monumental task. They must find a way to operate a domain that is educational and entertaining for young children and at the same time keep it secure from inappropriate outside influences. I am very pleased that the substitute now gives NTIA the authority to suspend operation of the new domain if it is not serving its intended purposes. The revised bill also gives Neustar the ability to relinquish its right to operate the domain if it suffers from extreme financial hardship. Because the costs of maintaining this domain are still imprecise, I think the allowance of an exit strategy is an important addition to the bill.
As this very well intended bill stands, it is still my strong belief that one of the best Internet filters for children is an involved parent. Nothing takes the place of that, not even government action and legislation. So I want to thank the sponsors of the bill, the work of the committee, certainly the full committee chairman, the ranking member, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell), certainly the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), one of the most eloquent and knowledgeable Members of Congress in this area, and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus). I think we are taking an important and a correct step today.
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus), the sponsor of the legislation, the one who shepherded this bill through the subcommittee and full committee. We appreciate his leadership on this with so many others.
(Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I rise today to speak on H.R. 3833, the Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002.
First, I would like to thank my friend and colleague, the gentleman from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) for his great work and efforts in education as we move this process forward.
{time} 1045
Of course, my chairman, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton), for believing in this concept and joining the team, I appreciate that, along with the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) for their great work.
We do our best work in the committee when we work together; and this floor, this House, does our best work together when we work together; and this is a perfect example of doing that.
Of course, we are only as good as the other members of our team. I have said this before in the committee briefings. Full committee staff Kelly Zerzan and Mike O'Rielly, I want to thank them. Chairman Upton's staff, Will Nordwind, I thank him for his help; of course, the impeccable Collin Crowell from the staff of the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey); Brendan Kelsay from the gentleman from Michigan's (Mr. Dingell) staff; and my own Courtney Anderson who did a lot of lifting. Again, we are only as good as those people around us, and we have got a good team of staffers that do that well.
The development of the Internet has been a mixed blessing. It has moved our economy forward and provides us with a wealth of information after only a few strokes of the keyboard. Unfortunately, this new medium also has a dark side that holds a lot of danger for kids 12 and under.
In addition to adult content and violence that kids inadvertently stumble on as they surf the net, the recent well-publicized FBI sting of the Candyman child porn news group reminds us that child predators are running rampant in chat rooms and other places where they have the opportunity to interact and entice minors.
Following the logic of a child's section of a library, the Dot Kids Act will create a safe place for children on the Internet. H.R. 3833 facilitates the subdomain ``.KIDS.US,'' on our Nation's country code that will host content that is especially intended for children.
A number of safeguards were put in this bill. ``.KIDS.US'' will be monitored for content and safety; and should objectionable material appear, it will be taken down immediately. The legislation does not allow chat rooms, instant messaging or e-mails unless the entity hosting the site certifies that they will be done safely. Furthermore, hyperlinks, which would take children out of the safe ``.KIDS.US'' base are expressly prohibited.
Knowing that this child-friendly subdomain is a grand experiment, we have embedded in the bill an opt-out provision. If ``.KIDS.US'' turns into something it was not intended to be, the bill requires the Department of Commerce to take it down. While I believe strongly that there is a huge demand for a child friendly domain, if ``.KIDS.US'' is a place no one visits, then it can be eventually taken down.
Finally, ``.KIDS.US'' will cost the taxpayers nothing. When it comes to the Internet, there is no replacement for good parenting. However,
``.KIDS.US'' will promote good Internet content for children and will be a tool for parents to use to help keep their children safe online.
I urge my colleagues to join me this morning in voting to pass H.R. 3833. Again, I want to thank everyone that has been involved, especially my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey). It has been a long road. We still have additional hurdles to overcome, but I am confident that we can get our friends in the other body to take this up expeditiously, get it passed, and get it to the President's desk.
Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.
The goal of this legislation is to try to harness the best of the new technology and to put it at the fingertips of kids and parents and teachers across the country.
One of the things we have to remember about technology and innovation is that the technology itself is neither good nor bad in and of itself. It only becomes so after it is animated by human values. The great truth of the Information Age is that the wondrous wire that brings cyberspace into the home or the school or the business will have a certain Dickensian quality to it. It will be both the best of wires and the worst of wires simultaneously.
The Internet can debilitate and debase core values, but it also can educate and ennoble us as well. The bill is designed to create a haven, a cyberspace playground to ennoble, educate and entertain children 12 and under in a safe and secure way. It is an additional tool that we can put into the hands of parents, and then each parent who decides to do so can use it as another weapon to fight off the debasing effect that parts of our culture can have upon children as they are growing up.
It is about time that Congress and the Federal Government put something on the books that gives this kind of a tool to the parents of the country.
My friend, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus), already went down the litany of saints, the staff who worked on this bill: Kelly Zerzan, Will Nordwind, Brendan Kelsay, Mike O'Rielly, and on my staff, Collin Crowell, who worked very closely with the majority in crafting this bill, and he mentioned Courtney Anderson on their side. My mother was a Courtney, and she always told me that the Courtneys are very intelligent people. And we have Courtney Johnson on our side who worked with Courtney Anderson on this bill, and I just did not want there to be a Courtney intelligence gap that opened up between the Democrats and Republicans on this bill. We were equally represented by these highly-
intelligent people.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, might I inquire how much time is remaining on both sides.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Isakson). The gentleman from Michigan
(Mr. Upton) has 9 minutes remaining. The gentleman from Massachusetts
(Mr. Markey) has 7\1/2\ minutes remaining.
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry), a co-sponsor of the legislation, a very valuable member of the subcommittee.
(Mr. TERRY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. TERRY. Mr. Speaker, I am an enthusiastic supporter and original cosponsor. In fact, this is one of the reasons why I joined the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet is trying to find a safe harbor, a constitutional way of protecting our children on the Internet; and I was proud that two of my colleagues, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), were already lapping me in there and allowed me to join them in that process, and I thank them for that because it is important that we establish a safe haven, a secure area for our children on the Internet.
We have heard of a story of an 11-year-old boy looking for computer games, typed in fun.com and unknowingly brought up a pornographic Web site. Two elections ago, my opponent was Michael Scott and any junior high physics class that typed in MichaelScott.com got a porn site. My 7-year-old, yes, 7-year-old, loves to get on the Internet, especially this weekend after we saw ``Spiderman.'' I stand over him. I type it in first because I fear that typing in something as simple as
``Spiderman'' or ``fun'' or a political name may bring up a pornographic Web site.
Nearly 24 million youths today use the Internet. By the year 2005, it is expected that 77 million youth will regularly log on. 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.
An independent firm will methodically monitor and immediately remove any content which is harmful to minors. No access to chat rooms, and this is an important fact, because it is not that we were just putting all the children in one safe, what we believe is a safe, area, so all the predators know where they are. We bar that. That is an important part of this bill, that there will not be any interactive component here where a predator can break in. This is so our children can have a safe haven.
Sexual predators, not only is it the pornographic Web sites that we are trying to keep away from our children, but it is the predators.
In my closing remarks here, I want to point out to my colleagues that the Crimes Against Children Research Center reported that one in five teenagers who regularly use the Internet have received an unwanted sexual solicitation, and one 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. That is what we are trying to prevent with this legislation; and I appreciate the efforts of the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus), and our chairman.
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne), a fellow member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and one who is also very supportive of this legislation.
Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) and others on the committee for this legislation.
Yesterday, a young woman who had been sexually assaulted asked me what Congress was going to do to address the problem. I mentioned my support of the Dot Kids legislation. As was made mention, Dot Kids provides a safe haven for children from Internet predators and sexually explicit material.
Certainly this legislation is a step in the right direction. However, it does not address the whole problem.
A few months ago my name, used as an Internet search vehicle, brought up a porn site. Children wanting to find out about their Congressman were exposed to graphic material.
We have done a good job of proving the link between smoking and cancer and heart disease, and we have aggressively attacked the tobacco problem with advertising, higher taxes and legislation. The connection between pornography and sexual abuse of women and children is equally clear. Yet we have done very little until now to address the problem.
Fifteen years ago, a Nebraska senator, Jim Exon, sponsored legislation to outlaw pornography on the Internet. He was laughed at at the time and the legislation went nowhere. Today, pornography is a $15 billion industry per year in the United States. It is the most lucrative endeavor on the Internet of all other projects and commercial attempts.
In attempting to protect free speech, we have badly trampled the rights of women and children to be protected from exploitation and physical harm. Dot Kids is an excellent start. I urge its support. I also hope that this is just a beginning in attacking the pornography industry.
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp), someone who is just as equally concerned about kids and their lives, a cosponsor of the legislation.
Mr. WAMP. Mr. Speaker, it is an awesome responsibility to serve in this House, but I have no more awesome a responsibility in my life than to be a father of a 15-year-old son and a 13- year-old daughter. The Internet is a powerful tool. It is also a very dangerous tool.
I was reminded of F.S. Oliver's poem about politics when he speaks of it being a noble profession. He says, and I paraphrase, there is no other profession where someone can do more good for their fellow man nor is there another profession where you can do such widespread harm, and the Internet has the same potential for good or bad.
Dot Kids Act gives young people a domain for use under tight guidelines with standards for content and registration; and as has been stated, it is like a children's section in a library. It is only appropriate. Recent Supreme Court rulings underscore the need to pursue multiple approaches to protecting our children from pornographers and demented individuals like pedophiles.
This is illegal pornography that we are trying to protect people from. There is a difference between what is legal and protected under the first amendment and what is illegal and not protected. It needs to be pursued. It is a cancer on our culture that requires aggressive treatment.
A journey of a 1,000 miles begins with a single step and this is just one step, but it is an important step; and we have got miles to go to continue coming to this floor and finding new, creative and innovative ways to protect our children from the dangers of the Internet.
I applaud the authors of this legislation and the committees for working together in a bipartisan way to do what is right for the children of America in a very dangerous world.
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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Again I want to recommend to all the Members that they support this legislation. It is a real step forward in giving parents a tool they can use to protect their kids under 12 when they are on-line. The sooner we pass this is the sooner we can put this additional protection in place.
I want to thank again the majority for their cooperation in working with us in a way in which we can craft a bill that we can honestly recommend to every Member, Democrat, Republican, liberal or conservative, that will move forward to help the families in our country.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
I would note that at our very first hearing as chairman of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, we talked about
``I Can'' and the various domain names that were out there. All of us jumped on the name of Dot Kids and how it could be protective of our kids. The stories we hear virtually every day, whether it be this morning, this young girl killed in Danbury, Connecticut, stories in our own districts across the country, we know that we need something that can protect our children from a nightmare that no family, no community ever wants to experience. I would reiterate that groups who spend literally every waking hour trying to protect families across this country, groups like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Family Research Council, American Center for Law and Justice, the National Law Center for Children and Families, a Safer America For Everyone, all of them as well as every parent that serves in this House, every Member of Congress that has watched some of this junk that has come in unasked for, we know that Dot Kids can be a savior for all of us. We compliment those Members of the Senate that are wishing to pursue this legislation. We look forward to when this can be enacted into law by President Bush. We know that the administration supports this legislation.
Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the House of Representatives is considering H.R. 3833, the ``Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002.'' I am a cosponsor of this legislation, which is important to parents and their young children exploring the Internet.
This legislation makes good sense. As a parent of a 7-year-old who surfs the net, I am concerned, as many parents across this Nation are, about the unseemlier side of the Internet, which our children can be exposed to, through a couple of mouse clicks, or the misspelling of a website name.
Where monitoring our children's use and installing filtering software helps, in the real world neither method is perfect. By creating the domain ``.kids.us'' and setting up guidelines on what is unacceptable in this domain, we go a long way to improving the safety of our children on the Internet. This bill creates a safe space on the Internet for our children, which is free from stalkers and free from the harmful imagery to which we do not want our children exposed.
I applaud the work of the sponsors of this bill for this valuable legislation that will help make the Internet safer for our kids.
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, as a parent, grandparent, and ob-gyn who has delivered over three thousand babies, I certainly share the desire to protect children from pornography and other inappropriate material available on the internet. However, as a United States Congressman, I cannot support measures which exceed the limitations on constitutional power contained in Article one, Section 8 of the Constitution. The Constitution does not provide Congress with the authority to spend taxpayer funds to create new internet domains.
Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, the federal government is singularly unqualified to act as the arbiter of what material is inappropriate for children. Instead, this is a decision that should be made by parents. Most of the problems pointed to by proponents of increased government control of the internet are the result of a lack of parental, not governmental, control of children's computer habits. Expanding the government's control over the Internet may actually encourage parents to disregard their responsibility to monitor their child's computer habits. After all, why should parents worry about what websites their children is viewing when the government has usurped this parental function?
The market is already creating solutions to many of these problems through the development of filtering software that responsible parents can use to protect their children from inappropriate materials. The best way to address this problem is by allowing this market process to develop, not by creating new government regulations.
In addition to creating new Internet domains, Congress is also expanding federal wiretapping powers. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues should also remember that the Constitution creates only three federal crimes, namely treason, piracy, and counterfeiting. Expansion of federal police power for crimes outside these well-defined areas thus violates the Constitution. In addition, expansion of federal wiretapping powers raises serious civil liberties concerns, as such powers easily can be abused by federal officials.
I therefore hope my colleagues will respect the constitutional limitations on federal power. Instead of usurping powers not granted the federal government, Congress should allow state and local law enforcement, schools, local communities, and most of all responsible parents to devise the best measures to protect children.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as we enter the new millennium the Internet has become a playground for our children. In today's' playground there are many dangers, some examples are child pornography and sexual predators to name a few. In the past we have drafted legislation to insure the safety of our most precious resources, children. The Dot-Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act is this House's attempt to safeguard children.
The bill before the House today will go far to create a safer environment for children to explore the Internet. The legislation will create, within the United States a top-level ``dot-us'' country code domain and a ``dot-kids'' subdomain. The Web address of any site registered under the new subdomain would end with a ``.kid.us'' suffix. The dot-kids subdomain would ban sexually explicit material and other content deemed harmful for children under 13. The bill's definition of
``harmful'' includes any material that ``lacks serious, literally, artistic, political or scientific value'' for children.
The legislation would authorize the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration to remove from the dot-kids subdomain any content that does not meet the bill's ``child-
friendly'' standards. That means that NeuStar, Inc.--the company that manages the dot-us domain under a contract with Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration--would be required to monitor the content of all Web sites registered with a ``.kid.us'' address.
According to the Congressional Budget Office there are no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. The Act would impose no costs of state, local, or tribal governments. Based on information from the Department of Commerce, CBO estimates that launching a publicity and education campaign for the new domain would cost less than $500,000 per year, subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
Another provision in the bill would permit the Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration to pull the plug on the subdomain if it fails to adequately protect children. This gives the Department of Commerce the needed enforcement mechanism to maintain a safe Internet environment for children. As the Chair of the Children's Caucus and a mother I rise to support the passage of H.R. 3833.
Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3833, the
``Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act.'' I am proud to be a cosponsor of this important legislation, which was introduced by Representatives Shimkus and Markey, and commend the efforts of this House to protect our children on the Internet.
While the Internet has afforded our children amazing opportunities for learning and discovery, it has also posed serious dangers. The Internet makes it easy for children to gain access to inappropriate materials, turning simple searches into avenues for pornographic or violent web pages. As a parent of a young daughter, my hope is that she will be able to search the Internet freely and use it as a tool to explore books, stories, and educational games without worrying about what might turn up. This bill will make this possible.
H.R. 3833 creates a safehaven for children using the Internet by creating a separate domain name for content that is appropriate for kids under 13, while filtering any subject matter that may be harmful or threatening to this audience. By directing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to establish and oversee the structure and rules for the new domain name, we are ensuring that the criteria for the ``dot.kids'' domain meet the necessary standards to protect children using the Internet. Further, this bill requires that the NTIA publicize the availability of the new domain and educate parents on how filter and block inappropriate material.
In today's web-based environment, it is vitally important that we work together with parents to ensure that our kids are safe in cyberspace. Congress is taking a remarkable step forward in this endeavor by passing this legislation. I urge my colleagues to support the ``Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act'' on the House floor today.
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Isakson). The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3833, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of those present have voted in the affirmative.
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
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