FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
-------------------------- 
Of interest to editors and journalists covering: 
Retail/Manuafacturers, Family/Kids, Internet/Tech, Business/Finance 
 
 

'Kids.us' - The 'Child Protection Zone' on the Web

COLOGNE, Germany - July 7, 2003  /PRnetwire.com/ -- Today, ICANN-Registrar
Secura  announced it is accepting registrations for the new kids.us domain
names during the sunrise period. NeuStar Inc., the registry of US-Domains,
committed itself to offer a "child-friendly" zone on the Internet which
will be free of violence, pornography and other unsuitable material.

The domain "kids.us" can be registered by customers with relations to the
USA starting on September 4th 2003, while owners of registered U.S. brand
names can reserve their service marks and trademarks in a special "sunrise
period" until August 15th 2003. Interested persons and companies can
pre-register kids.us for free or register during the sunrise period at the
websites of ICANN Registrar Secura ( https://www.domainregistry.de/us.html
or at http://www.us-domains.us ).

The U.S. Congress instructed NeuStar to establish the offer of kids.us at
the end of last year. President Bush signed the "Children Internet Safety
Legislation" on December 4th 2002.

The President declared at this event to the press: "Dot Kids will be part
of the U.S. country domain on the Internet. It will function much like the
children's section of the library, where parents feel comfortable allowing
their children to browse. Be a safe place for children to go. This bill is
a wise and necessary step to safeguard our children while they use
computers and discover the great possibilities of the Internet. Every site
designated .kids will be a safe zone for children. The sites will be
monitored for content, for safety, and all objectionable material will be
removed."

As the President stated, Websites within the "kids.us" namespace are
monitored by NeuStar, in order to secure that they do not show violence,
pornography in text or pictures or contain other material unsuitable for
children under 13. NeuStar wants to exclude also certain interactive tools
as chatrooms and Instant Messaging or active links to pages outside of the
us.kids-domain. NeuStar will use automatic software and human monitoring,
in order to secure that "kids.us" websites remain "child-friendly" and
age-fair.

Every expert expected that the idea of kids.us is controversially
discussed in forums and in letters to the editor. But the problem of the
conflict between protection of children and freedom of press and speech
exists at all attempts to realize protection of children and young people.
If there are books for children, why there is to be not also a special web
for children? Kids.us is a serious attempt to protect children.

WHO IS LIKELY TO USE THE KIDS.US DOMAINS 
Companies which focus "kids" as a target group for their "kid friendly"
products or services will be the primary registrants of the
kids.us-domains. This includes shoe companies, kid clothing companies, toy
makers, and similar industries.

Children themselves are unlikely to get a kids.us domain, although it
would be possible with the help of their parents.

More information on this program: https://www.domainregistry.de/us.html


MEDIA CONTACT: 
Hans Peter Oswald 
Secura GmbH 
secura@domainregistry.de 
Tel. +49 221 2571213


  

# # #

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
*Important Note: to reach the person sending the news release contact:
secura@domainregistry.de 

If used for publication, please send specimen copy.
[source of news = Secura GmbH ]
ref: http://www.send2press.com/2archive/2003/pr_03_0707-secura.txt 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
prn/4c/la-ca