October 9, 2011 | The Biz

Gay.xxx brings in the money

It didn't take long, but the new .xxx domain has already made someone rich. Corbin Fisher purchased the rights to gay.xxx for a whopping $500,000.

Not bad, considering .xxx isn't available for sale to the general public until December. Current sales are being limited to trademark holders during a 'sunrise' period; this will allow companies to protect their names from cyber-squatters (who buy several popular domain names and then wait to sell them at a profit).

The most successful resale of a site involved sex.com, which brought in $13 million last year.

ICM, the company behind .xxx, has promised a "landrush" phase for November. It will allow speculators to bid on "premium' addresses in an auction. 

But, as suspected, .xxx is already being used as a tool for censorship. India has banned access to .xxx sites and is unlikely to be the only country to do so.

Gay.xxx sells for $500,000 [The Register]

Gay.xxx domain name sells for $500,000 to porn company [Daily Mail]