Pornography upon more pornography, malware of every stripe, phishing scams, keyloggers and botnets. The criminal underworld - and anti-social derelicts by the score - are having a feast on us. The WWW has morphed into a modern day acronym for the wild, wild west. Less lethal, but infinitely more degrading. It's like having a not particularly attractive neighbor running around in the nude 24/7 with every window wide open, to including the bathroom portals.
The Internet remains the only communications medium still largely unregulated, and that's basically due to its embryonic state. While it could be argued that certain upsides derive from its seminal liassez-faire status, riding shotgun in the shadows is layer upon layer of murk and mire -- filth by any other name. I'm all for a designated electronic playground for adults (if that's your bag), but splashed over every corner of the medium, to include ready access to our young, crosses the bounds of acceptability and responsibility imo.
The time for a designated .xxx domain zone has come. If nations can't decide to do it unilaterally, then it is up to each one to design its own pipe sieve for the fix. Before one's libertarian or anarchistic impulse kicks into gear, it might be worth asking what other part of society remains as patently unregulated? While many of us prefer governmental control(s) scaled to an absolute minimum, who in their right mind would advocate the elimination of regulatory facets like police and military forces, let alone legislative and judicial oversight? Why should the Net and its delivery pipeline be any different?
Such action(s) will naturally spur debate and challenges pertinent to free speech (and its regulation) as it tabs our virtual world, but so be it. Like everything else in "civilized" society, the necessary particulars can be hammered out in due course - and hopefully reined to a bare minimum. But segregating smut on the internet should be held to the same standard as it is anywhere else. In much the same way as the majority of rational folks don't want to see the spread of red light districts to each and every street corner!
For some time now, many groups have called for a special .xxx domain that clearly designates pornographic content on the Internet. How easy would it be to simply filter everything in the so-called “Internet Red-Light District?” Now that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has tentatively agreed to create such a top-level domain, don’t go dumping your content filters just yet.
Guess what? It’s just a name. Have you ever been to Amsterdam? It’s an incredibly cool city with rich history, beautiful museums, countless cultures and all of their associated tasty food, easy walks through the canals, friendly people, and a Red Light District that must be seen to be believed. Even if you have no interest in the pot, the prostitutes, or the live sex shows, it’s worth a quick walk through just to say, “Huh…I don’t think I’m in Kansas anymore.” However, coffeeshops selling marijuana and hash can be found throughout Amsterdam. The concentration is highest in the Red Light District, but they certainly exist elsewhere. Same for prostitution. It’s legal and regulated throughout the Netherlands.
The .xxx domain will be no different. According to an article in the New York Times,
…Most…members [of the Free Speech Coalition] planned to continue operating out of their dot-com domains…
In fact, the Times story suggested that only about 10% of the adult sites on the web would adopt a .xxx domain name. It is, after all, just a name. ICANN doesn’t set laws or policies. It simply decides, among other things, what top-level domains are available for registration and to whom. It isn’t in a position to force Hustler to change the domain name for which it has paid.
So here’s what this development boils down to for schools, parents, and anyone else who wants to regulate how much pornography kids see online: nothing. Even some large religious groups opposed the creation of the .xxx domain, suggesting that creation of such a domain would actually encourage online pornography. Interestingly, the city of Amsterdam has moved in recent years to restrict their own Red Light District, citing criminal activity and abuse of the laissez-faire laws in the city. Will the use of the .xxx domain end any differently? Probably not.
