I run one of the oldest kids sites on the Net which orginally started as a regional
ISP specifically for kids and teens called KidSurf Online. I am also the father of
two sons who surf the Net frequently. From our 5 year experience with kids online,
I have seen and heard way too many horror stories from the kids themselves about
their frustrating experiences online. Even today, thousands of kids innocently type
in whitehouse.com thinking they are going to the official government site only to
be confronted with blatent pornography. Teens rarely are able to type "teen" in a
search engine and not have thousands of pornography sites presented as choices. We
have allowed the so called freedoms of the Internet to go too far and it is time
to reclaim a portion of it as a safe place for our kids to play, communicate, and
learn. I often advise our visitors that the surfing the Internet is like going into
a large city at night. There are some places in the city that are well lighted and
safe, but there are others that may be dark and dangerous. Out of all of the applications
for the .kid TLD, I believe this one has much promise in expanding those safe, well
lighted places online for kids and teens. Therefore, KidSurf Online supports this
application and rejects the others due to their non-restrictive nature. If there
are not policies and an approval process, then we will find whitehouse.kids just
another mirror of whitehouse.com
I question the motives of those who make applications
for .kids without policies in place to assure the safety of our kids. Is the interest
only in exploiting the TLD for monetary gain or is it truly in the best interest
of our children? I submit that we can do better and rise to provide safe cyberplaygrounds
and learning places and encourage ICANN to approve this application.
Darrell Williams
KidSurf
Online