August 17, 2005 | Sex & Society

Why dot-xxx sucks

It's a rare occasion when the adult Internet industry finds itself in agreement with the Bush administration on any issue, but it appears there is a growing consensus that the proposed dot-xxx top level domain (TLD), which was scheduled for approval by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) this week, should be scrapped. 

The dot-xxx domain would be reserved exclusively for adult sites (for example, www.bananaguide.xxx.) Yesterday the White House made a last minute request for a hold to be placed on the contract to operate the dot-xxx TLD until its implications could be further studied. Other national governments are also wary of dot-xxx.

ICM Registry, the private, for profit, company that will control the dot-xxx domain, has agreed to a one month delay in the approval process to permit concerns to be addressed.

While some politicians and most adult industry leaders are against dot-xxx, their reasons could not be more different.

Some conservative groups and their sympathizers in government fear that dot-xxx will simply be another way for porn merchants to distribute their wares and that having a domain just for porn provides it with an air of legitimacy it doesn't deserve.

The purported reason for establishing the dot-xxx domain is the big motherhood issue, �the protection of children.� Advocates say it will be easier for filtering programs to screen out all sites with the porno extension.

That is all fine and good, but what established, successful adult website will willingly give up the dot-com domain that it has spent years building?

Furthermore, while current dot-com adult website owners would not be required to register and pay the $75 annual fee for the corresponding dot-xxx domain, most will feel that they have no choice. If they don�t take the name, then a direct competitor will. It is a situation that stands to make the ICM Registry CEO Stuart Lawley very rich, very quickly and has led to allegations of extortion.

Ultimately dot-xxx sucks because it can only succeed in �protecting the children� from erotic content if all adult sites give up their dot-com and dot-net domains and adopt the dot-xxx domain instead. And that's just not going to happen.

• Can't we all get along? [AVN Online]
• ICANN's government advisory committee concerned with dot-xxx [AVN Online]
• Bush gives .xxx domain a red light [silicon.com]
• Bush administration concerns may delay .xxx [AVN Online]