.xxx domain moving forward

[Lee]

John,

Also you may find this link of some interest..

http://forum.icann.org/lists/stld-rfp-xxx/msg00003.html

I do beleive he is one of the members of the 'FSC'

Regards,

Lee

[Top Cat]

I have to say my concern is purely a practical one: what happens to the .xxx versions of my .com domains. It seems my choices might be:

-Pay $60 for each of the two dozen ,com sites I own

-Have someone else buy the .xxx domains and skim wehat should be my type-in or other traffic

-Have someone else buy the .xxx domains and offer them to me...for lots of money

If the move is not mandatory but quickly captures the public's attention, many surfers may assume ALL adult sites are now.xxx domains and that could cause more problems for webmasters than the 2257 regs.

[Dzinerbear]

Okay, Amersterdam and the xxx is not quite the same. For starters Amersterdam has a much healthier approach to sex in general than say the USA and comparison is a bit off the mark.

And unless I've read things wrong, the company that will likely be administering the .xxx is a Canadian company. Now I don't want to start a my-country-is-better-than-your-country discussion because that's simply not true and it's a pointless discussion. Both Canada and the U.S. have their good points and bad points. However, what is true at the moment is that Canadian religious nutbars have far less influence than their American counterparts. Yes, we've got them. Alberta is full of them, the Reform Party (now Conservative Party) is full of them, but by and large, when they start going off about prayer in the school or whatever, the vast majority of Canadians simply say, "Would you please mind blowing it out your ass?"

So, if this is going to come to pass, and if we are going to be forced into a .xxx ghetto, then I'd rather have that ghetto monitored by a Canadian company than an American company.

Secondly, the matter of responsibility. If you believe that segregating.. because that is exactly what this is, any section of a population will end abuses by some in that group, then in all frankness Dzinbear, you are still dreaming.

I don't think this at all. What I was trying to say is that in the past the online adult community hasn't done a great job at acting ethically or policing itself. Yes, there are many of us who act appropriately, but generally speaking as a community we have rarely done much to slap the people who behave badly. For the most part, as a community we turn our backs and say, "It's not my issue, it's not my problem."

The only thing I think that a .xxx domain might do is make it easier for parents to help filter their children's online activities.

I don't happen to think that online porn should be so easy to get. I don't think it should be readily and easily available on .com tlds. I also think we need ticket collectors in adult movie theatres to prevent children from entering, I believe that pornographic magazines should be on higher shelves in variety stores. I also believe that hookers should be registered, licenced, and taxed and housed in a redlight district. They should not be able to stand out in front of my building to solicit johns and bring down the property values of my property. They should definitely be allowed to exist and make money, but let's put it in a controlled area of the city. Likewise with online porn. It should exist, but we need to have guidelines because when left to our own devices to figure out what is right and appropriate we almost always default to whatever will make us the most money.

I don't think this is an easy issue and there are definitely scary implications. And there are all kinds of issues around allowing people who want access to get it, billing issues, first amendment issues, etc. But right now there are very few rules, and that's just not right.

dzinerbear

[gaystoryman]

Nice response Dzinbear, which is why I enjoy debating this with you.

Okay the responsibility issue for parents. The current software out there is sufficient really, it doesn't work for two major reasons...

1. Parents turn it off or let the kids be able to. No different than the parental controls currently in place with your cable... simple to use and operate but most parents never activate it... yet they are the one's bitching the most too.

2. Labelling your site. How many actively take advantage of ICRA and SAFESURF just to mention two... not many and that is our responsibility really which we should do.

As to the company being Canadian. Well that is nice and I agree in principle that if such monitoring is to be done I'd much rather have it done from a company outside the USA however that doesn't alter the fact that the three major players in SE are USA and as such far more succeptable to pressure from the current type of regime in power there.

The canadian company can monitor all they want but if the US government gets to Google, Yahoo, & MSN to block xxx domains, won't matter what the Canadian says or does, they get blocked... and we lose... all of us in the industry.. because targetted traffic no longer exists for us from the largest consumer region...

There are other economic considerations as well. To begin with it opens up a whole new way to limit our financial rewards all the way from limiting VISA to simply limiting advertising opportunities.

But to me the worse is the whole concept of segregation. My grand parents came from the shtetls of Russia... small enclaves there and they had vivid memories of how hard it was to enjoy the simple pleasures of the sabbath... because when things got rough economically in the area, the local land barons would pass out free booze and point the fingers at the jewish enclave... telling the drunken people it was them Jews responsible and naturally off they rode to wreak some havoc. Now it wasn't too bad, mostly burned homes, some beatings, bit rape.. but the point is, it was easy to point the finger, to generate an action when everyone was in one place.

Go to the 30's in the Southern USA... where blacks were kept in their own segregated communities and the Klan would rile folks up, get em liquored up and off they went to go teach them folks a lesson or two, to put them in their place... specially when some would want to say vote... very easy to intimidate when they could quickly and easily locate them.

Now fast forward to this scenario... where all adult sites are located on one domain... FBI goes to the ISPs and gathers up all the addresses, pressures Google and others to delist any xxx domain site... and suddenly we are out of business... it becomes easy to point the fingers of blame as well. In addition, remember 2257? Webmasters now are also going to be real easy to find, cause gee they have to list their addresses online... how hard will it be to point the fingers then to the drunken masses looking for someone to blame for all that is wrong?

So even though xxx is monitored and even say controlled outside the USA, the damage is still horrendous and the potential for it is not that far away. At least with adult sites being whatever TLD, it becomes harder for the crazies, for the easily inflamed to actually act.. in short harder for mob rule to exist.

By itself, the notion of adult having its own TLD is not that distasteful, but add into it all that is currently in place, the current mood in the USA, and it suddenly becomes a very dangerous proposition.

As to the industry being irresponsible. Well I don't know if I'd agree totally here either. Yes there are a great many who do indeed stretch the limits, and even now, given all the 2257 crap they still want to live in that make believe world where they assume no responsibility. But that is growing less and less over time, no different than the taming of the west took time.

I agree rules need to be enforced, and made clear. Problem is that the industry is world wide with different cultures mixing together and getting a world wide consensus is what is truly at the crux of the issue as to what is legit and what isn't. In some way the guidelines are being set by the market place and by outside sources such as VISA and Google...

Prime example is the whole issue of age. In some countries it is 16, others 21, and the range goes in between. No different than when you can get your drivers license or legally drink in a bar. Each state, province, country has different limits and getting a universal age is partly to blame. THe other part is the simple perception of porn.

In a survey conducted by some pseudo religious group I think 80% said they opposed porn being accessible... and like what else will they say? Someone phones you up and asks are you for porn online, whether you agree or not most will say no simply to avoid the problems that could come from answering yes. You have no idea who these people are calling, no idea what they record or don't so you play it safe... makes the results bogus but it is stll those results that will give impetus to government legislation.

Bush was comfortable in pushing for a constitutional amendment to define marraige as between man & woman not just because he believed it, but because the polling data said close to 70% of americans opposed calling same sex marraige.. marraige. It really is that simple.

Anyhow.. as usual just my opinion.
Ian

[Top Cat]

So I was all set to register my key domains at New.net based on an earlier post to this thread, but then when I got to check-out I read this:

I have read and agree with New.net's™ Registration Agreement. I also understand and acknowledge that the number of internet users who have access to New.net domain names is currently limited to the number at the bottom of this page, which includes those who access the Internet via one of our ISP partners or who have activated their browsers using New.net's plug-in software.

Going back to the news stories, most say the .xxx domains will be available for registraion in the fourth quarter, and I see nothing about New.net on IFFOR's website .

Can someone clarify what's going on?

[Slade]

So I was all set to register my key domains at New.net based on an earlier post to this thread, but then when I got to check-out I read this:

I have read and agree with New.net's™ Registration Agreement. I also understand and acknowledge that the number of internet users who have access to New.net domain names is currently limited to the number at the bottom of this page, which includes those who access the Internet via one of our ISP partners or who have activated their browsers using New.net's plug-in software.

Going back to the news stories, most say the .xxx domains will be available for registraion in the fourth quarter, and I see nothing about New.net on IFFOR's website .

Can someone clarify what's going on?

It's my understanding from what I read on gfy (where someone did already buy a couple of domains from them), you are not actually buying, for example, the domain porn.xxx..instead you would be buying porn.xxx.new.net or pornxxx.new.net..something to that effect.

The xxx domains will not be for sale until fall at the earliest.

[Top Cat]

It's my understanding from what I read on gfy (where someone did already buy a couple of domains from them), you are not actually buying, for example, the domain porn.xxx..instead you would be buying porn.xxx.new.net or pornxxx.new.net..something to that effect.

The xxx domains will not be for sale until fall at the earliest.

As you can imagine, they do NOT explain that on their site!

Thanks.

[Slade]

As you can imagine, they do NOT explain that on their site!

Thanks.

Yeah..sadly I can imagine that.

[tombarr]

An interesting article on new.net and .xxx registrations

New.net's "top level domains"