XXX top level domain approved

Like it or hate it, ICANN approves domain for porn

PC World is reporting that the board of directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today approved a dot-XXX top level domain for “adult” web sites. The decision comes after a decade of controversy over the issue.

The domain was proposed by the company ICM Registry.

PC World said, “The proposal was made under ICANN's rules for ‘sponsored’ TLDs, through which domains have been created by interest groups including the aeronautical industry (dot-aero) and the cooperative movement (dot-coop).”

Story here: “ICANN Board Approves Dot-XXX Top-level Domain for Porn”

IBTimes said “Figures collated by Internet Pornography Statistics suggest more than $3,000 is spent on Internet pornography every second, with ‘sex’ the number one search term in the world, accounting for 25 percent of all Internet searches.

“With an estimated 370 million pornographic websites on the Internet, .xxx could become one of the largest domain name repositories, as big if not bigger than .com.

“But some members of the adult entertainment industry oppose .xxx, saying it will invite censorship and harm their business. Members of the American religious right also oppose its creation on moral grounds.”

Story here: “Internet bosses set to approve .xxx for porn sites”

This has been one of the biggest controversies connected with Internet management in the last decade because of the touchy moral issue of pornography. Anyone who has ever been connected to the Internet, however, knows that the number of porn sites out there is enormous.

It’s a good thing for everyone involved. Internet censors can filter adult sites now whether they’re government officials trying to block their entire citizenry from seeing porn or just parents trying to keep their kids from viewing it.

And anyone who thinks that URLs with a .xxx top level domain will lure the innocent into temptation never looked in his spam bucket or done a search for the word “sex” (803 million hits — this morning.)



Tom Kelchner