GASTONIA, N.C. — A group in Gaston County wants to make all pornographic Web sites change their suffix to .xxx.

It is gathering support for the Internet Material Classification Act and sending signatures to Washington.

“The main thing is protecting the children,” said Louise Floyd, who is part of the Extension and Community Association in Gaston County.

Floyd and other ECA members want to prevent children from accidentally mistyping an address and coming across pornography.

The Extension and Community Association wants to prevent children from accidentally mistyping an address and coming across pornography.

“If (porn sites) were all grouped in .xxx, it would be very easy for a parent then to have that tool to say, ‘That’s where you don’t go on,'” said Linda Jozwinkowski, the co-president of the Gaston County chapter.

It has been a few years since Congress last took up this issue. It failed before because Congress thought it would be too hard to regulate. Congress also thought it could possibly violate free-speech rights.

“We must do all we can to protect children from improper Web sites on the Internet, but we must also be careful not to infringe upon free speech,” said Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., who sits on the committee that oversees the Internet.

The Extension and Community Association is collecting signatures in support of the porn site regulation. Jozwinkowski said there has to be a happy medium.

“There’s got to be a way to protect the people’s rights and still protect the children,” she said.

Floyd said the ECA has already collected 8,000 signatures statewide. It remains to be seen whether the proposal is successful this time around.