A ‘Do Not Call’ Registry For Kids

Ever since parenthood put on running shoes and joined the steeplechase that constitutes a modern childhood, parents have had the suspicion that the obstacles they must clear just to keep up with their fundamental duty to protect and guide their children have been getting higher and higher.  Competition for the attention and interest of kids is fierce. Parental advice and admonitions over time seem to become mere background noise to the kaleidoscope of cable television, the thrum of iPods, and the nonstop chatter on cellphones. And then there’s the Internet.

The stakes are high. This past fall, Newtown police made three separate arrests of men from Southbury, Woodbury, and Bloomfield on charges of using the Internet to arrange sexual encounters with local children. And the vulnerability of children to predators on the Internet continues, notwithstanding our new awareness of the problem. Technology is everywhere and kids have a particular affinity for it, especially as a social tool for connecting with each other and with new ideas.

With that in mind, the state Department of Consumer Protection has proposed the creation of a registry of children’s “contact points,” including email addresses and cellphone, pager, and fax numbers, that would become a “do not call” list for marketers of products that are illicit or illegal for children to possess, like pornography, firearms or other weapons, or illegal drugs. Under proposed legislation, parents or guardians would be able to place their children’s cellphone numbers and email addresses on the list, and marketers would have to delete those addresses from their contact databases.

Similar registries already exist in Utah and Michigan. While there have been some difficulties in prosecuting some violators because of the international scale of such marketing, the registries in these states have been successful in reducing the number of illicit and illegal messages reaching children.

The Free Speech Coalition, an adult entertainment industry trade association, has challenged the Utah registry, claiming it violates constitutional protections of free speech and expression. Yet marketing of all types seems freer than ever. The CEO of one New York ad agency told The New York Times this week, “We never know where the consumer is going to be at any point in time, so we have to find a way to be everywhere…Ubiquity is the new exclusivity.” So we now see thousands of marketing messages a day on everything from our sports stadiums to our eggs. And if it makes you sick, don’t expect a reprieve. US Airways even sells ads on motion sickness bags.

Gov M. Jodi Rell is backing the Department of Consumer Protection proposal for an email and cellphone “do not call” registry to protect children from inappropriate advertising. We urge state lawmakers to follow through with legislation that is a logical extension of existing state laws that make it a crime to sell pornography, weapons, and illegal drugs to children.