Parents tired of filtering through adult advertisements and worried that explicit material could make it into their children's hands, have an option to protect them.

"People don't really understand what it is, what it offers, what it's for," said Kevin Olsen, director of the state Division of Consumer Protection.

Parents can protect their children's e-mail address, cell phone numbers, instant messaging IDs and fax numbers by logging on to the registry's Web site at utahkidsregistry.com. The law that created the registry only restricts messages sent to children that contain adult material, such as pornography, gambling, tobacco or alcohol adds.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said the measure is meant to protect children from advertising for products they wouldn't be able to buy legally. The registry was not designed to protect accounts that belong only to adults. However, adults can register their accounts if a child is likely to have access to it.

"The idea behind this is, if there's material that's hurtful to children, you don't want to make it available to them," Olsen said.

Utah company Unspam Technologies Inc, developed the technology to "scrub" advertisers' lists of protected addresses and phone numbers.

Eric Langheinrich, Unspam's chief technology officer, said once users place their information in the state's database, it can be checked against advertisers' lists. If an address or number matches, it is taken off the list. After 30 days the spam should stop, if companies are obeying the law. Utah law allows for criminal and civil penalties for companies that continue to send material to protected addresses.

Shurtleff said it is important to monitor for unwanted ads and file complaints against those who are violating the law.

Olsen said the registry is not a fix-all for Internet safety, though. Parents should still be cautious with children and their technology.

"The Internet world offers a great means of educating kids, but it's also very dangerous. Parents need to be aware of that danger and protect their kids," Olsen said.

He said parents should always monitor what kids are doing on the Internet, including being aware of whom they are talking to in chat rooms or on social networking sites.

The state is in the middle of a lawsuit concerning the registry. In November 2005, the Free Speech Coalition sued the state, claiming the registry conflicts with the federal CAN-SPAM Act that admonished the Federal Trade Commission to compile a do-not-e-mail list. There is no such federal list. A press release from the Free Speech Coalition also outlines several holes in Utah's law, including a lack of specificity.

In the meantime, the registry has continued to function. "We're not close to a decision yet. I think we've had some favorable rulings. We're pretty confident," Shurtleff said.

Assistant Utah attorney general Thom Roberts, who has been working on the case, said the litigation is going well. An original motion for a preliminary injunction filed by the Free Speech Coalition to stop the registry from going forward was denied, and lawyers are currently working on how to proceed. Roberts said attorneys from both sides have a meeting later this month.

• Brittani Lusk can be reached at 344-2549 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it