.XXX Domain Available for Sale to the Porn Industry
After 10 years of intense legal wrangling, the domain name “.xxx” is now available for purchase, giving pornography a new home on the Internet.
Interestingly, critics are mixed on whether the domain’s approval by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is bad news or not.
Morality in Media is convinced the domain would increase the spread of pornography on the Internet and cause even more harm to families. But others argue that a .xxx Web address would make it easier to monitor and block porn sites.
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"It's a win for people who want to consume adult content, it's a win for people who produce adult content, and it's a win for people who want to stay away from this material as well,” said Stuart Lawley, chairman and president of ICM Registry, the company behind .xxx, according to MSNBC.
Supporters for the domain believe that the .xxx domain will allow easier government regulation for the pornography industry, which critics strongly deny.
Even though parents will have an easier time blocking access to adult content, faith-based advocates maintain that the number of porn websites will multiply on the internet because adult site operators can simply occupy both the .com and .xxx suffix.
“Those of us concerned about pornography’s impact on individuals and families are troubled because it will further spread the amount of harmful content that is already so pervasive online,” wrote Georgia Family Council president Randy Hicks, in Crosswalk.com on Wednesday. “Porn isn’t hard to find online, or to unwittingly stumble across, but ICANN is expanding the territory exponentially.”
Hicks also noted that companies making porn-filtering software face new challenges because “the amount of online porn will double.”
Ironically, mainstream pornography providers are among those vocally against the domain.
Though the price for changing suffixes is relatively negligible for the estimated billion-dollar industry, it is still seven times more expensive than purchasing the average “.com” suffix that is commonly used by established adult websites.
The pornography-only suffix is currently up for auction, after coming online last week. Once high-value key words have been auctioned away, remaining .xxx addresses are likely to cost roughly $70 a year.
Porn companies are worried that governments with strict internet policies will altogether block access to the domain – something which India and Saudi Arabia has already vowed to do.
In an interview with The Christian Post last month, Morality in Media CEO Patrick A. Trueman said there was no evidence that the public wanted or needed the .xxx domain.
"I am deeply disappointed with the decision of ICANN because the .xxx domain was unwanted by the public, by governments and even by the porn industry," Trueman insisted.
Former chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Trueman rejected the argument made by .xxx domain proponents that the move will protect minors from being exposed to pornography.
Only a small percentage of families use Web filtering, and children will have even more access to pornography because the domain will increase the number of adult sites, Trueman explained.
ICM registry, the company behind .xxx, proposed the domain to ICANN in 2000. ICANN rejected the proposal, under pressure from the administration under then U.S. President George W. Bush.
The company tried again in 2006 and 2007, and made gains after the ICANN board of directors allowed it to move forward on the top-level domain last year.
The .xxx suffix was approved in a 9 to 3 vote last month at the annual ICANN meeting in San Francisco.
