xxx porn domain name rejected
2006-05-11 08:57
New York - Faced with opposition from conservative groups and some pornography websites, the internet's key oversight agency voted to reject a proposal to create a red-light district on the internet.
The Wednesday decision from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers reverses its preliminary approval last June to create a ".xxx" domain name for voluntary use by the adult entertainment industry.
Paul Twomey, Icann's chief executive, said the decision largely came down to whether by creating an "xxx" domain Icann might be put in a position of having to enforce all of the world's laws governing pornography.
He said board members were aware of the controversy but "the heart of the decision today was not driven by a political consideration."
Icann had postponed making a final decision in August after the US government stepped in just days before a scheduled meeting to underscore objections it had received.
Icann's rejection in a 9-5 vote ends, for now, a six-year-old effort by ICM Registry Inc of Jupiter, Florida, to establish a domain for the porn industry. Icann first tabled its bid in 2000 out of fear it would be getting into content control.
ICM resubmitted its bid in 2004, this time structuring it with a policy-setting organisation to free Icann of that task.
Clean-up effort
The company argued the domain would help the $12bn online porn industry clean up its act. Those using the domain would have to abide by yet-to-be-written rules designed to bar such trickery as spamming and malicious scripts.
Anti-porn advocates, however, countered that sites would be free to keep their current ".com" address, in effect making porn more easily accessible by creating yet another channel to house it.
And they say such a domain name would legitimise adults sites, which 2 in 5 internet users visit each month, according to tracking by comScore Media Metrix.
Many porn sites also objected, fearing that such a domain would pave the way for governments - the United States or repressive regimes abroad - or even private industry to filter speech that is protected in the US.
The porn industry trade group Free Speech Coalition believes a domain name for kids-friendly sites would be more appropriate.
Meanwhile, Icann approved the creation of a domain name designed to help people manage their contact information online.
As envisioned, internet users could buy a ".tel" name and set up a website with their latest digits - home, cell and work phone numbers, home and work e-mail addresses, instant messaging handles and perhaps even a MySpace profile.
- AP