ICANN has approved the .XXX top-level domain.
Pornographers have been battling against this for several years, now.
They not only have been fighting the idea in the marketplace of ideas, but they protested outside of the ICANN meetings all this past week and there are talks about a lawsuit.
Adult webmasters complain of hiked domain charges, $60-$70 per domain, and the ease in which Governments can ban all .XXX sites.
Considering the fact that pornography is the number one online destination and number one money maker on the web, building a case around a higher priced top-level domain is weak, to say the least.
ICM Registry founder Stuart Lawley said he hopes to have the trademark sunrise period in June with a land rush in the fall.
A land rush it will be, considering how much money there is in the business. I’m sure we’ll see some big bucks being laid down on highly sought domain names snatched up by resellers.
This does make it easier for free thinking individuals to make their own premeditated decision to block all .XXX domains, something that stifles internet pornographer’s tactic of domain deception. Of course, that would only be guaranteed if Governments began to require all obscene websites to use .XXX domains, something that has been seriously considered by lawmakers in the past.
This ICANN decision certainly has the potential of turning the tide towards make the internet a safer place to surf.
Justin says
I’m a proponent of making all pornographic sites use the .xxx domain, but not for the government to ban them. That can start to blur lines in governmental censorship, which I am against.
However, making it much easier to block sites of that nature is a great thing in my opinion. Those who still want to partake will not stop visiting those sites, but those who don’t like that material occasionally showing up on their screen unwanted would have a much easier time avoiding that.
Eric Dye says
Agreed.