Forgive me if this has been covered recently, but I just checked the ICANN site and about a week ago, they apparently had a meeting at which they published, yet again, a revision of ICM's proposal to run the .xxx registry for ICANN.

I honestly believe it is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE that anyone who cares about their First Amendment rights as they relate to online adult entertainment send a comment to ICANN (xxx-icm-agreement@icann.org ) Your comment will be published on ICANN's website.

For those of you not aware of the situation, ICM is talking out of both sides of its mouth, telling the anti-porn forces that .xxx will "help prevent children from being exposed to pornography" and "keep those who don't want porn from accidentally running into it" while at the same time telling adult webmasters that ".xxx will always be voluntary."

Obviously, these two statements are totally opposed to one another.

In the best case, .xxx will simply be another top level domain that all of us will have to register our key .com domain names in to keep cybersquatters or others from acquiring them... at a minimum cost of about 60 bucks per year per domain, because ICM will be charging all of the registrars close to that much as the "wholesale" registration fee.

In the worst case, various state, local, governmental authorities could decide that all adult content must under a .xxx domain or risk violating some law or regulation. Such policies would undoubtedly trigger a first amendment fight, but as we know, the loser conservatives have an amazing way of getting their agenda pushed through. Another scenario would have Visa or Mastercard declaring that they will not process for any adult content unless it is on an .xxx domain. This would be harder to defend on a First Amendment basis, as Visa is not restricting speech, only commerce.

So... I hope that you can see this is NOT an issue that anyone should be sitting back and saying "Let others carry the ball." I very strongly recommend that you write to ICANN telling them that the adult industry opposes .xxx, that you personally oppose it, that it will not reduce children's access to adult content, and any other relevant points you wish to make.

ICANN does listen, and a number of its governing representatives are on record opposing .xxx, but ICM has hundreds of thousands of dollars into this proposal, and stands to make millions if it passes, so they will not give up easily. If you operate an adult site, or provide services to those who do, you cannot sit back and not take action.

The new deadline for comments is March 9th.