Are You Ready For The Porn Ghetto?

[Lee]

In all probability, there will be a final decision about the creation of .xxx TLD at the ICANN meeting in Wellington. ICM Registry, a private company founded in 2000 specifically to seek approval for the .xxx TLD (top level domain), has meet ICANN’s criteria for creating a TLD, according to an ICANN decision in June. Since then ICANN and ICM Registry have been negotiating the contract that would create a virtual red-light district.
The company’s president and chairman, Stuart Lawley, will attend the meeting in Wellington.

“We look forward to the ICANN board ratifying the contract,” he says. “Once our contract is signed, we can implement plans which we expect would lead to the .xxx TLD being operational around six months later.”

Lawley and his business partners say they have no links, now or in the past, to the porn industry. Lawley, a successful entrepreneur, started Oneview, a UK ISP, in 1999 and cashed out in 2000 before the dotcom bubble burst.

He has told AVN Online, a porn industry news website, that it is no secret that he sees .xxx as an opportunity to make money. He says that “the online adult industry, as one of the largest sectors of e-commerce today, is a clear choice for a dedicated TLD”.

ICM Registry would operate the register of .xxx sites, and sell each domain name for US$60. Resellers will be free to add their mark-up of maybe US$10 to US$15 per name.

Lawley describes the .xxx TLD as a “win-win situation”. It would make it easier for parents, schools and companies to block access to porn on the internet, he says.

“It’s also a ‘win’ for the consenting adult consumers … as they can browse and buy with greater confidence in that the .xxx sites they visit will adhere to the best business practices set out in the .xxx registration agreement,” he says.

This increased consumer confidence is expected to increase revenue and lower credit card charge-backs for the online porn providers, according to Lawley.

A not-for-profit, Canadian organisation, International Foundation for Online Responsibility (IFFOR), will be the policy-making authority for the .xxx TLD, says Lawley. IFFOR will be funded through .xxx domain name registration fees and will have its own board of directors, consisting of representatives from the online porn industry, child-safety community and the free speech community, says ICM Registry’s website.

IFFOR will have the somewhat split role of supporting free expression, creating a safe and protected environment for consumers within the domain, supporting business practises that protects children online and sponsoring anti-child pornography organisations, says the IFFOR website.

Registrants of the .xxx TLD are obliged to follow the rules set by IFFOR, and these will include safeguarding children, deploying accurate meta-tagging and not engaging in spoofing, phishing or fraud, says Lawley.

Liz Butterfield, executive director of the Internet Safety Group, says that because the application for .xxx has gone through ICANN’s rigorous process and has met the threshold for becoming a top level domain, the ISG sees no reason why it shouldn’t proceed.

“However, it is important to be realistic about what this can achieve,” she says.

“If the regulation of .xxx is effective, it may indeed mean that member organisations offer less links to illegal material such as child abuse images or bestiality, practice less inclusion of spyware, malware and diallers in downloads, make less attempts to trap unsuspecting children by having a domain name that is one keystroke off a legitimate children’s site.”

She thinks it unrealistic that .xxx will have much impact reducing the illegal trade in child pornography.

“Whether .xxx will make pornography easier to filter will depend on how many pornographers choose to use .xxx.”

Keith Davidson, executive director of InternetNZ, says that the .xxx application has met the guidelines and should “probably proceed”.

Frank March, senior specialist advisor at the information technology policy group, Ministry of Economic Development, says that the government doesn’t have a view of the .xxx TLD issue. “It is a matter for ICANN to decide,” he says. “The New Zealand government recognises ICANN’s right to make decisions of that sort.”

His personal view is that .xxx could possibly have a small positive effect, depending on the capability of ICM Registry to enforce the code of behaviour it says will be required for .xxx websites.

“It’s not likely that the .xxx TLD will make the current situation any worse,” March says. The worst outcome of .xxx is that it will be completely neutral and have no effect, he says.

http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/...F?OpenDocument

Looks like the .XXX TLD is only a short step away from becoming a reality

This is going to mean the ghetto-ization of web porn as we know it, especially if the US government gets their way and mandates that all 'adult' material be put on a .xxx tld

Regards,

Lee

[gaystoryman]

Segregation just won't work, no matter how or who extolls its supposed virtues. Unless the make it mandatory in every country for every adult site to comply, it is nothing more than one more political ploy to control people's thoughts, and expressions.

I will never register for a XXX TLD.

It certainly will be an interesting story to watch unfold however, specially given that even the Democrats in the USA are pushing for it. :coffee:

[hdkbill]

Segregation just won't work, no matter how or who extolls its supposed virtues. Unless the make it mandatory in every country for every adult site to comply, it is nothing more than one more political ploy to control people's thoughts, and expressions.

I will never register for a XXX TLD.

It certainly will be an interesting story to watch unfold however, specially given that even the Democrats in the USA are pushing for it. :coffee:

I think that you are correct that segregation won't work especially when you consider the many sitesoutside of the US who won't have to worry about which and won't do it which will place a burden on the sites in the US.

I'm guessing that the US politicians will make sure that this happens. If so, do we have any choice....seems as if we'd have to have a .xxx domain if we are based in the US.

Oh well, just another of the many challenges we face each day.

Bill

[Dzinerbear]

I will never register for a XXX TLD.

Never say "never." If law makers legislate it illegal for sponsors and processors to do business with any adult site not on a .XXX domain, then we'll have little choice.

Michael

[MWCren]

If/when it happens, I just hope there is a period of time for the owners of the dot coms have first option at the dot xxx domains. If not, its going to be a nightmare of turf wars and squatters and hijackers.

[Northstar]

Wouldn't moving all adult sites to .xxx have a major effect on search engine traffic? Everyone would lose all search traffic they get to their current .com domains until they are picked back up. That would pretty much destroy even the major adult sites. Surely these major adult companies aren't going to let all the search traffic they have built up over many years just be wiped out.

[hdkbill]

Wouldn't moving all adult sites to .xxx have a major effect on search engine traffic? Everyone would lose all search traffic they get to their current .com domains until they are picked back up. That would pretty much destroy even the major adult sites. Surely these major adult companies aren't going to let all the search traffic they have built up over many years just be wiped out.

Northstar, yep, it would certainly create a ton of problems. I would guess that that current adult sites, if forced to start using the .xxx domain, would have their current sites automatically re-direct to the .xxx domain when a user typed in the current url, assuming, of course, that some cyber squatter didn't grab up the adults sites domain name with the .xxx first.

You would think that a certain amount of time would be provided before adult sites would be required to switch over to the .xxx domain. But then, when dealing with politicians one never knows.

It will be quite a mess and a heyday for the attorneys I would guess.

Bill

[Paco]

Deja vu *queue in xylophone*.

Well, I am sure many of you will spit or piss in my general direction, but I am all for it (I support the .xxx domain idea, not the piss thing), and in all honesty, I do not see why so many are getting all huffy about a 'red light district', for online porn. So what, does your local convenience store have porn mags on the lower shelves of the news stand next to the newest issue of Teen Idol, DragonBall Z/GT etcetera?

I expect many of you will start :argue: about freedom this, classification that and how we are being pushed to the dark corners of society.
NEVERTHELESS, at the end of the day, the CONCEPT is a good one: this will help the loving parents with their little battle against (their offspring and husbands from viewing) porn.

What I cannot believe is how many of you are trying to use the possibility that many filthy bastards will continue to operate as a dot com, as a righteous argument? I mean WTF half-baked kinda crap is that (but mom, all the other kids are killing people, why can't I, too *stamp stamp the feet*)?
Chances are, they are not 2257 compliant, so why are you?

Hell, my neighbours are stealing/sharing cable/satellite, so why should I pay for it!
... not paying taxes ... why should I.

My only concerns with .xxx are:
1). (as the oh so loverly MWCren said) I just hope there is a period of time for the owners of the dot coms have first option at the dot xxx domains.

2). whether or not billing and credit card companies will continue to process transactions for those filthy bastards (trying to sneak under the .xxx radar).
I hope they are capable of seeing past the almighty buck!

Regarding all the trials and tribulations of the move ... I am willing to lose a little $ --- the industry/we all sure as hell made enough money in the past (no different from a donation to a charity).

AND ... GO :gossip:

[MWCren]

I don't have a problem with it either. The ability of parents to block XXX domains might be easier than the content filters that pretty much suck. i also think it gives us an opportunity to put good old fashioned hardcore porn back in our tours!

Now, to hope that the regulators that want to keep cracking down on porn will take this as a final step and leave us alone, is pretty much a pipe dream.

I fully intend to go with the xxx when its available, but I'm not giving up the dot com until they drag it out of my ass. Autoforwarding is pretty simple.

[Dzinerbear]

I don't really have a big problem with the concept either.

My concerns are how this will affect search engine rankings. Does everyone start over from scratch?

My other big concern: does this make it easier and probable that traffic to our sites will be cut off. Search engine could decide not to spider XXX domains and ISP's could decide not to let surfers venture there.

If this is really about protecting children, then why don't they establish a .KIDS domain and control who is allowed to be in there?

Michael

[Paco]

I don't have a problem with it either. The ability of parents to block XXX domains might be easier than the content filters that pretty much suck. i also think it gives us an opportunity to put good old fashioned hardcore porn back in our tours!

Now, to hope that the regulators that want to keep cracking down on porn will take this as a final step and leave us alone, is pretty much a pipe dream.

I fully intend to go with the xxx when its available, but I'm not giving up the dot com until they drag it out of my ass. Autoforwarding is pretty simple.

Excellent points.
- I agree, current content filters suck!
- I, too, really miss hardcore tours! The biggest loss to the pocket book was when sites went limp.


Nice pic, BTW, but where's dah pup, MWCren?

[Chilihost]

I don't have any issues with .xxx becoming a reality, after all it will be a cash-cow for the registry companies and may make it easier for legit searches for porn online.

However, it will never replace .com, even if the USA law makers do pass legislation it will only meanthat more and more adult webmasters & companies will move all their businesses offshore. And if they try to implement government controlled / run filtering, I predict an increasing number of .com domain names with no porn related words in them that try to escape filtering, thus making it even harder for legitimate filtering options.

cheers,
Luke

[Paco]

I don't really have a big problem with the concept either.
My concerns are how this will affect search engine rankings. Does everyone start over from scratch?
My other big concern: does this make it easier and probable that traffic to our sites will be cut off. Search engine could decide not to spider XXX domains and ISP's could decide not to let surfers venture there.
If this is really about protecting children, then why don't they establish a .KIDS domain and control who is allowed to be in there?
Michael

If that is what the mainstream SEs & ISP want, so be it, after all it is up to them (their business, let them run as they see fit). You should keep in mind that that move will only open up the path for adult oriented SE (which I am all for). In the end, it will provide me with better returns on what I am looking for (man alive do I get upset when I am searching for something non-porn related, yet porn is always a result).

Does everyone start over from scratch?
Just think: all those people complaining about getting in the business too late now have a second chance, which does not happen often in life (at least for those that are not Roman Catholic), so look at it as a blessing in disguise.

[Paco]

predict an increasing number of .com domain names with no porn related words in them that try to escape filtering, thus making it even harder for legitimate filtering options.

Yes, our world will always have low-lifescum bags, which is my second concern:
(not to quote myself, BUT ...)

2). whether or not billing and credit card companies will continue to process transactions for those filthy bastards (trying to sneak under the .xxx radar).
I hope they are capable of seeing past the almighty buck!
-Me

[Northstar]

Here is a good article that describes some of the problems associated with this proposal. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060319-6411.html Personaly I think the only thing that will protect childen from xxx content are responsable parants and better filtering software. Ultimatly thou if a teen wants to view adult conent they will figure a way to do it no matter how good the system. Hell, I remember back in the late 80's and 90's when I was in my teens I managed to get access to porn mags. and videos with no problem at all and without my parants having a clue.