brand-spanking newborns: dot-commodify your kid

kelley kelley at interpactinc.com
Fri May 25 11:24:48 PDT 2001


brand-spanking newborns: dot-commodify your kid.

hmmm. i'm reminded of giving birth. the hospital crowed about the fact that i was the first to use the birthing bar (supports you so that you can stand and deliver..heh...) they'd shown us the contraption in lamaze class. i swore i'd not be caught dead using the thing. well, when the time came, i was quite happy to try anything. they asked, i said, "hell yeah! anything you think will get this over with. NOW!" so, they wheeled out that birthing bar and brought in some med students for the show. did i care? moi?

later, they used me for promoting the hospital's newest technology. so, now they're just giving away domain names as a selling feature. give birth at our hospital, your kid gets her own brand name!

NEW RECRUITS FOR THE INTERNET: GET 'EM WHILE THEY'RE YOUNG In a pilot program described as "the wave of the future," a California hospital and the Namezero.com domain name provider are giving new parents a domain name for their baby. The chief executive of Namezero explains: "Individuals realize domain names are a way for people to stake out a permanent identity on the Web. We're starting at ground zero with newborns," and says that a personal Internet domain name is "the single worldwide standard for finding content, people and places on the Web." (San Jose Mercury News 24 May 2001) http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/baby052401...

kelley

Kelley Walker, Researcher/Writer Interpact, Inc. www.interpactinc.com

Internet and Computer Ethics for Kids Excerpts available at: http://www.nicekids.net/book/excerpts/index.htm



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