You might not know it, but Bigfoot Bill here doesn't just pad around Whyville Island. Traveling is my big thing, so the other day, I high-footed it over to Washington, D.C., and boy did I get a surprise.

The big capital city was all abuzz; people were running around, arguing, discussing -- it was just a riot. And what were they talking about? Well, apparently, the ultra-hot topic these days is online privacy protection for kids!

I was pretty much bowled over. Why is everybody talking about that? Is it really so interesting? I didn't think so at first, but the reporter instincts in me made me listen on...

Well, it turns out that the government is really worried about kids going online and giving out personal information like their names, addresses, or what they like to eat for breakfast. They're concerned that unscrupulous folks might use this information to take unfair advantage of the kids.

So an organization called the Federal Trade Commission sat down, rolled up its collective sleeves, and tried to come up with some laws that might help to protect kids online. The FTC invited a bunch of people to meet with them and help decide what to do. There were folks from universities, big corporations, websites, civil rights groups, you name it.

The end result was this big ol' document, more than 90 pages long. And this isn't 90 pages of Harry Potter, you see -- it's 90 pages of rules, regulations, and exceptions thereof. The other day I stopped by City Hall and saw our head honcho hunched over this very document, and I must say she looked bleary-eyed, and her hair was sticking out at some pretty funny angles...

But if you must read it -- don't let me stop you. You can get to it right here.

The upshot of it is that from now on, websites that have chat or BBS (and that means our town Whyville), need to get permission slips from parents when dealing with users who are younger than 13 years of age. "Whoa!" I said, when I heard that. "What are we going to do here at Whyville?"

I caught the next flight back in town and scheduled an interview with City Hall as soon as I could. I asked some hard-hitting questions, if I may say so myself:

Bigfoot: So I know that we ask for some personal information like grade, city, state, and so on. What do you folks at City Hall do with this information?

City Hall: Well, we use this information to help us understand better who Whyvillians are. Knowing demographic stuff like age or location help us get a handle on what is fun and interesting for what ages and types of citizens, so we can keep on improving Whyville.

Bigfoot: Okay, but what about all this talk of taking unfair advantage of kids?

City Hall: Other sites that try to sell people stuff have to worry about that. We don't. We're not trying to sell people anything (well, Akbar might be, but the city sure isn't). We don't even have ads from outside of Whyville in here.

Bigfoot: But what if other companies or websites got a hold of our citizens' information?

City Hall: We don't give away ANY information. If they want it, they'll have to come steal it from under my pillow. I don't see how they can, but if they do, I'll sue their pants off!

Bigfoot: Whoa, take it easy there...so we don't have anything to worry about then. These laws aren't going to change things here in our town?

City Hall: No, actually, we do have to change some things. Newcomers who are younger than 13 will need to fax or mail us a permission slip before they can chat, Y-mail, or post on the BBS.

Bigfoot: That is a drag!

City Hall: It sounds like a drag at first, but permission slips are something we're all pretty used to from school, so I'm hoping that it won't be so bad. Besides, there's still lots of other stuff to do in Whyville. For instance, they can concentrate on playing games and building up their salary for a while. That way, maybe fewer of them will write me and complain about not having enough clams!

Bigfoot: Well, that's a good point, I suppose. But why are folks so worried about chatting and BBS anyway?

City Hall: That's pretty obvious, Bigfoot, don't you think? If a Whyvillian divulged personal information like their fullname, address, or phone number, and it fell into the wrong hands, that could lead to some very bad things! Haven't you read my BBS postings on that?!

Bigfoot: Oh, I may have skipped that one. Sorry... So it's really important that we NEVER reveal fullnames, phone numbers, and addresses while we're in Whyville, whether it's ours or somebody elses?

City Hall: Yes, and you can add email address to that list too. I discourage that strongly as well. In fact, I need to take the Times Editor to task on that -- I've seen some email addresses in the Times...1 sec, let me make a note of that...

Bigfoot: Just one more question, City Hall: what about Whyvillians who are here already? Is chat, Y-mail, and BBS going to get taken away from them?

City Hall: Oh, that would be terrible! But I do need something from their parents showing that they know about their kid's citizenship in Whyville. I know what we can do! We'll use this as a chance to show off our town to all the parents out there!

Bigfoot: Sounds interesting, but how would that work?

City Hall: We'll have a drive for educating your parents about Whyville. Citizens will take their parents around town, explain to them how we don't give out any personal information, show them our games, the salary, the chat, etc., and the parents will sign a certificate saying that they've been properly educated about Whyville. Fax or mail that in to me within the next couple of weeks, and not only will we be satisfying these new federal rules, but we'd have shown our parents a thing or two! I'm sure they will be really proud of this city that we've built. I know I am.

Bigfoot: Uh, and can we get clams for doing that?

City Hall: Sure, sure. 50 clams.

Bigfoot: How about 100?

City Hall: We'll say 80.

Alrighty then! You heard it here first -- parent education bonus. Hah, that's something you don't hear about too often, but hey, that's why we love Whyville.