WASHINGTON--The manager of the United States' Internet domain asked Congress on Thursday not to interfere with its efforts to set up a kid-friendly zone free of violence, pornography and other adult material.
The Senate should not pass a law requiring NeuStar to set up a ".kids.us" domain because it would disrupt the company's own efforts to set up the domain in a commercially viable manner, a NeuStar official said.
Lawmakers greeted the request with skepticism, wondering whether NeuStar would ever get around to rolling out the ".kids.us" Internet domain if they are not required by law to do so.
"If we don't put the pressure on, I don't know that it's ever going to happen," said Sen. John Ensign, a Nevada Republican who has co-sponsored legislation that would require NeuStar to have the domain up and running within a year of passage.
The hearing marked the first public disagreement between NeuStar and Congress, which for years has sought unsuccessfully to keep children away from violent and sexually explicit material on the Internet.
NeuStar, based in Washington, promised to set up a kids-only area when it won the right to manage the United States' ".us" Internet domain last fall.
Congress sought to set up parameters for the ".kids.us" subdomain after giving up on efforts to force international Internet regulators to set up a top-level ".kids" domain alongside ".com" and ".org."
The House of Representatives in May voted to bar chat rooms, instant messaging, or other interactive features from the subdomain unless NeuStar could certify that they were free of pedophiles or other online predators.
Such restrictions would likely discourage commercial development, a NeuStar official told the Senate subcommittee on science, technology and space. Jim Casey, NeuStar's director of policy and business development, also said the bill would not give the company enough time and freedom to set up the subdomain properly.
"Legislation at this point would probably do more harm than good," Casey said.
NeuStar had an obligation to work with Congress after it won control of the ".us" domain for free, said Illinois Republican Rep. John Shimkus, who sponsored the House bill.
"I have never seen a sweeter deal than the one NeuStar has received," the Illinois Republican said. "Creating and operating the .kids.us domain is a perfectly appropriate cost of doing business."
NeuStar has registered 300,000 names in the domain at $5.50 each since April, company officials say.
