Porn domain .xxx delayed
2010-12-11 09:19
Bogota - The global body responsible for regulating internet domain names delayed on Friday launching an ".xxx" domain for pornographic websites.
During their convention in the Colombian port city of Cartagena, leaders of the California-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) agreed to delay the decision to an unspecified date, the group's CEO and president said.
ICM Registry, a company sponsored by the International Foundation for Online Responsibility (IFFOR), owns the domain name and has been trying to get the green light from ICANN since 2004.
Should ICANN finalise a deal reached earlier this year to launch the domain name, ICM Registry would sell .xxx addresses for $60 each to an estimated 500 000 adult entertainment providers starting next year.
"An exclusive domain for adult entertainment has the advantage of allowing for greater control over their content and, in addition, for each web page added to the domain we will donate 10 dollars to finance initiatives to protect children," ICM Registry chief Stuart Lawley told the conference on Thursday.
If approved, .xxx would join other so-called Top-Level Domains, or TLDs, including .com, .edu, .mil, .gov and a host of country code TLDs.
Global Internet pornography generates around $3 000 a second and the keyword "sex" appears in a fourth of all online searches, according to the Spain-based Internet Commitment for Social Responsibility (ICSR) non-government group.
ICANN spokespeople insisted any delay in launching a .xxx domain name was not the result of pressure from US religious and conservative groups that have campaigned against the move, saying it trivialises pornography.
