Adult industry fears .xxx top level domains

Porn stars are set to rally against the proposed .xxx top-level domain name outside the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) public meeting in San Francisco next week, according to The Register. ICANN is currently handling a proposal to set up a generic top-level domain for adult content.

Supporters of this idea believe that creating an adult section in the online world will enable the administrator of these domains to protect the interests of underage users and also to detect criminal activity on the websites. In the future this could possibly include to a broad scheme of illegal activities, like for example, copyright infringements. This way, the average consumer does not have to fear encountering illegal content while serving a .xxx domain.

The Free Speech Coalition (FSC), a trade association of the adult entertainment industry in the United States is fiercely against the idea of creating a .xxx generic top-level domain. The organisation believes domain names with .xxx (instead of the usual .com or .net etcetera) will harm the adult entertainment business. FSC says the separate domain invites censorship and blocking and that the proposed registry operator, ICM Registry, sees dollar signs  Indeed, a possible ‘advantage’ of this seperate category may be the setting of certain entry conditions for the use of the domain and of course, a .xxx URL is not free so there is money involved in this story. 

Diane Duke, FSC’s Executive Director explains her concerns about .xxx for the adult industry: “ICM is using child protection as a way to demonize our industry and force the industry to be responsible”. Duke points out that .xxx could damage existing brands in short term and, on the longer term, she fears the adult industry will be forced to ‘voluntarily’ purchase .xxx versions of domain names, or worse: that adult content can only be presented on an .xxx page in the future. Subsequently, a government that doesn’t like porn, could easily turn off the xxx switch.

FSC assumes ICANN will set conditions to the use of the .xxx domain. Diane Duke suggests an obligation to let third parties automatically scan and monitor the .xxx site for “illegal and offensive material” or to check compliancy to the terms and conditions will be among that conditions. Additionally, “If you auto-redirect your existing .com at your new .xxx domain, your .com domain will be required to follow the same regulations as .XXX. This will not only immediately de-value your .xxx domain, but will also pose a threat to your click-through .com domain,” Duke said. As many adult footage is financed by advertising revenues generated by mouse clicks and pageviews this could be of direct consequence to their film business.

It is likely that ICANN will vote on .xxx at their March 18 board meeting in San Francisco.

Read more on generic top-level domains.

Sources: FSC, The Register