Senate sets June as "National Internet Safety Month"

In their proud tradition of trumpeting causes by blocking out calendar time in their honor, U.S. Senate politicians have decided that June will be "National Internet Safety Month."

The Senate on Thursday night unanimously approved a resolution, chiefly sponsored by Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, that would afford that status to the summer-solstice month.

Eleven Republicans and three Democrats--including Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln, who has proposed a 25 percent tax on adult-themed Web sites, co-sponsored the measure.

The designation is necessary to draw attention to the issue because the Web has become a veritable "necessity" for families and "children of all ages must use the Internet as part of their basic education," said Alaska Republican Ted Stevens, who counted himself among the measure's sponsors.

June also happens to be the month when a sweeping broadband-related bill in the committee Stevens chairs is scheduled to go up for a vote. That bill, which deals mainly with overhauling the nation's communications laws, also contains a brief section that would instruct federal regulators to make rules requiring cable and other "video service" companies to "prevent the distribution of child pornography."