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No smoking! Rules laid down as .kids reveals launch dates

Kevin Murphy, July 21, 2022, 19:53:02 (UTC), Domain Registries

DotKids Foundation has published its launch dates and its fairly strict rules about what kinds of content are permitted and prohibited on .kids domains.

The sunrise period for trademark holders will run from August 11 to September 14, to be followed a week later by a “community sunrise” targeting non-profits “with a main mission of championing children’s rights, children’s well-being, education or child-welfare” that runs until October 19.

Then comes the “pioneer domains” program, where DotKids seeks to recruit a suite of anchor tenants who it can name at launch when it goes into full general availability on November 29. Just in time for Christmas.

But .kids will be far from a free-for-all, with a bunch of regulations on content.

Content bans include the stuff you might expect related to violence, drugs, pornography, kids drinking and smoking, and gambling (but only where the gambling is with “lawful currencies”, presumably because video games nowadays are rife with virtual-currency gambling).

The policies are laid out in several documents here.

While content rules such as these may seem to amount to an effective ban on user-generated content, DotKids is actively encouraging its registrants to use their sites to engage with kids and provide a “platform for children’s voices to be heard”.

Developers on .kids domains will need to have a decent moderation budget, it seems.

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