ICANN approves '.xxx'
Source: Agencies |
March 20, 2011, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
YOU'VE heard of ".com" and ".org." Joining them soon will be their bawdy cousin: ".xxx."
On Friday, the board of directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which oversees the Internet's naming system, approved the creation of a red-light district for pornographic websites. It follows a decade-long battle over such a name.
The uproar over the idea has brought together unlikely bedfellows.
Religious groups argue that giving adult websites their own corner of the Internet legitimizes the content.
Pornographers worry it will ghettoize their sites. Although it's meant to be voluntary, they fear governments could try to mandate the domain's use, so that pornographic content is more easily blocked.
Diane Duke, executive director of the adult entertainment industry's Free Speech Coalition, said ICANN has "disregarded overwhelming outpouring of opposition from the adult entertainment industry - the supposed sponsorship community" and dismissed the "interests of free speech on the Internet."
Supporters have maintained approving the domain is in keeping with the principle of openness that has fueled the Internet's growth.
While the idea of ".xxx" has provoked a philosophical debate, for the US company that submitted the application for the domain, the issue is little more than a matter of dollars and cents.
It will likely cost registrars US$60 per year for .xxx domain names.
On Friday, the board of directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which oversees the Internet's naming system, approved the creation of a red-light district for pornographic websites. It follows a decade-long battle over such a name.
The uproar over the idea has brought together unlikely bedfellows.
Religious groups argue that giving adult websites their own corner of the Internet legitimizes the content.
Pornographers worry it will ghettoize their sites. Although it's meant to be voluntary, they fear governments could try to mandate the domain's use, so that pornographic content is more easily blocked.
Diane Duke, executive director of the adult entertainment industry's Free Speech Coalition, said ICANN has "disregarded overwhelming outpouring of opposition from the adult entertainment industry - the supposed sponsorship community" and dismissed the "interests of free speech on the Internet."
Supporters have maintained approving the domain is in keeping with the principle of openness that has fueled the Internet's growth.
While the idea of ".xxx" has provoked a philosophical debate, for the US company that submitted the application for the domain, the issue is little more than a matter of dollars and cents.
It will likely cost registrars US$60 per year for .xxx domain names.
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