The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has just announced that it has entered into negotiations to establish .xxx as a new Top-Level Domain (TLD). This comes on the fairly recent heels of the establishment of .kids.us as a TLD. So, what are the implications?

The idea behind the .kids.us TLD was to create a safe place within the Internet for kids to surf. Supposedly, parents could set the browsers of their children only to access sites within this TLD. Sites within this TLD are not permitted to contain violent content, pornography, drug or alcohol references, and interactive services such as chat rooms and message boards are barred. All material must pass a content review, and sites within .kids.us cannot link to sites outside of this TLD.

Sounds good, right? Well, actually, this concept has not caught fire. Indeed, little more than 20 sites now are operational within .kids.us, a couple years after this TLD was set up. Why?

For starters, it is expensive. It costs about $150 to register a name within .kids.us, and content reviews come in at about $250 per year. That compares to .com domain names costing at times as little as $7 annually.

Also, because sites within .kids.us cannot link to sites outside of this TLD, and because currently there is so little content within this TLD, there has not been much incentive for others to come rushing in.

What about the .xxx TLD? Domain names within this TLD may sell for as much as $60 annually, which create a cost disincentive. But the rubber really hits the road here if the .xxx concept moves from voluntary to government-ordered.

If Congress mandates that certain sites, such as adult sites containing sexual content, must fall within the .xxx TLD, there is concern that access to information about such topics as abortion and homosexuality could be blocked as part of mass-blocking of .xxx sites. Of course, part of the value of the .xxx TLD would be that parents and others could block access to .xxx sites.

As a political matter, it may not be clear yet whether the Bush administration would favor a .xxx space on the Internet. On the one hand, it could be perceived to add legitimacy to sites within that TLD. On the other hand it could make it easier to block access to sites within .xxx.

Eric Sinrod is a partner in the San Francisco office of Duane Morris (www.duanemorris.com), where he focuses on litigation matters of various types, including information technology disputes. His column appears Wednesdays at USATODAY.com. His Web site is www.sinrodlaw.com, and he can be reached at . To receive a weekly e-mail link to Mr. Sinrod's columns, please send an e-mail with the word Subscribe in the Subject line to .

Reprinted here with permission from USAToday.com.