It’s been five years now since ICANN, the not-for-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, first proposed a .xxx top-level domain for sexually explicit sites and the BBC reports today that the battle has finally ended with the agency’s approval.
The domain name has been rejected numerous times before, with lobbying from the American Family Association and the Family Research Council bringing pressure from the Bush administration, which said it feared creating a virtual red-light district for Internet pornography. Since then, however, ties between ICANN and the U.S. government have been loosened, giving the organization more independence.
As the BBC reports today, however, the .xxx domain can make it even easier to block adult content where it is not allowed or desired. The article quotes Stuart Lawley, chairman of ICM Registry, as saying that this decision is “great news for those that wish to consume, or avoid, adult content.” The creation of a .xxx domain makes it quite simple for places like public libraries and schools to enforce a blanket ban of the domain. To some degree, the opposition of conservative groups seems surprising, as the .xxx domain would also make it easier to block such content from reaching the family computer as well.
On the other end of the spectrum, even many members of the adult industry have been weary of the introduction of a porn-only domain, citing fears that it would be made mandatory. Sex educator and author Violet Blue called much of this “hysteria and hyperbole” suggesting that instead of getting all worked up over the new domain, “you’d think someone with a big porn business would start creating a set of best practices to allay fears and make guidelines that decision-makers could refer to.”
Already, there are more than 110,000 pre-reservations for .xxx domains and the first ones are scheduled to go live early in 2011.
