It didn't take Washington politicians very long to respond to reports that the Littleton, Colorado, killers had their own Web sites. On Wednesday, Vice President Gore will unveil the White House's latest response to the shooting. At the event, Gore will announce that prominent Web sites, including Yahoo and other portals, will agree to provide links to a collection of children's safety information. Wired News delivered to your inbox or hand-held device. Sponsored by .
Critics wonder why the government is involved in asking Web sites to add or change content.
I think it's good that politicians are beginning to recognize that the complexity of the Internet takes it beyond the capacity of top-down regulation to address. Currently, the federal government taxes local phone service to subsidize Internet connections for schools and libraries. Chairman William Kennard said organizations receiving e-rate cash should have rules governing the acceptable use of the connection. Although he did not explicitly endorse filters as the sole solution, Kennard's comments were widely interpreted as extending the FCC's blessing to a technology that has been plagued with problems. Legitimate sites are often blocked by the software sold by firms like CyberPatrol, NetNanny, and SurfWatch, and one federal judge has ruled that their use in a public library violates the First Amendment.