Dot-Kids Looks to Join New Domain Name Lineup

Tired of .com, .net and .org? Today is the last day for companies to apply to become operators of new chunks of cyberspace with more user-friendly suffixes.

A Burbank company called .Kids Domains hopes to become one of those operators. It has submitted an application to the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, the Los Angeles group that oversees the Net’s addressing system.

If the application is accepted, the company will oversee a new, kid-friendly portion of the Net where Web sites and e-mail addresses end with the “.kids” suffix. Sites in the .kids domain would “excite, engage and empower children, without threatening or mature content,” according to the company.

.Kids Domains plans to require those who sign up for .kids addresses to sign a legally binding contract that forbids content related to alcohol, tobacco, violence or adult material. The company also plans to work with companies that make Web-filtering software and conduct random audits to ensure .kids stays kid-friendly.