Mar 21
After much delay–and plenty of controversy–the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has finally given the go-ahead to the .XXX top-level domain for porn sites. The proposed TLD has seen protest from pretty much every side, from politicians, to conservative groups like the Family Research Council, to porn site owners, to free speech advocates like the Free Speech Coalition.
In fact, a strong opposition to the proposal may be the one thing that all of those groups have in common. Of course, they’ve all expressed very different reasons for coming out against it. The Family Research Council was worried that it would help porn sites “expand their evil empires on the Internet.” The porn industry on the other hand, was worried that it would curb its free speech rights, perhaps leading to something of a ghettoization of the adult industry.
Stuart Lawley, CEO of the ICM Registry–the organization tasked with reviewing the newly created domains–argued that the .XXX domain will help better regulate porn sites. “At the moment, the consumer has no way of knowing who is operating to good standards or has viruses. This new domain allows webmasters to associate with best business practices.”
Registration for the domains will be limited to sites with adult content.
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