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Topic: Tech Industry

ICANN drops plan to approve .XXX

Summary: Discussion of the .XXX domain for online pornography has been removed from the agenda of an ICANN meeting that was due to approve it

Graeme Wearden

By Graeme Wearden |

Attempts to create a domain name to handle adult online content faced an uncertain future on Friday after ICANN abandoned plans to debate the issue.

The proposal to create a .XXX domain was due to get final approval at an ICANN board meeting in Vancouver. But ICANN chairman Vint Cerf surprised the meeting on Thursday by announcing that it had been removed from the agenda.

This is the second time that ICANN has pushed back plans to approve .XXX, after a delay in September. 

ICANN said on Thursday that its governmental advisory committee needed more time to review a 350-page report into the creation of .XXX. This report was finished back in August, but only released earlier this week.

The proposed creation of .XXX has outraged some conservative groups in the US, who have lobbied the US government — which oversees ICANN — to block the proposal.

Syracuse University professor Milton Mueller told Reuters that the US has been lobbying other governments to oppose the plan.

But according to reports from Vancouver, there is speculation that the EU put pressure on ICANN not to approve .XXX.  The EU is pushing to reduce the US influence over the Internet. Holding up the .XXX domain could highlight flaws in the current state of Internet governance.

Topic: Tech Industry

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9 comments
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  • I think it's silly.
    How much easier would it be for companies to offer filtering services if the majority of sites used .XXX domain suffix. I feel the introduction of a root level domain suffix like this would so give more room of the internet for services and companies wishing to use normal .com suffixes currently occupied by porn sites using ligitimate domain names for this cause, and could make filtered web browsing safer for kids.
    anonymous
    Reply Vote
  • So what kind of start-up business type QVC kitchen product would require the currently occupied www.bumhole.com domain prey tell??

    Horses for courses. And I bet you check.
    anonymous
    Reply Vote
  • Not only should the .xxx domain space be approved, but it should be REQUIRED for any form of pornography, with violaters being prosecuted worldwide. This would provide a possible way to avoid pornography if we so desire.
    anonymous
    Reply Vote
  • The denial of the creation of a .xxx TLD is a severe blow to the one policy that would get this problem somewhat under control; It would force others into compliance of a .xxx TLD regardless if they wanted it or not.

    It sounds a lot to me like somebody has received a payoff to prevent the passage of this well needed piece of international legislation. What is the problem? Get this done!

    Nobody is saying that smut does not have a home on the Net. It just says that I have a choice to not have it railroaded and force fed to my computer. If porn sniffers want porn, they will get it -- regardless if it is .xxx or not so don't hide behind that crutch of an excuse that it prevents or hinders business. I get spammed all day long for that garbage and I am not even looking for it.
    anonymous
    Reply Vote
  • ICANN = I CAN'T WHAT A USELESS ORGANIZATION
    anonymous
    Reply Vote
  • Your article seems to be written in a way that favors the creation of an .xxx TLD, without ever discussing the opposing opinion. Your opponents have very good arguments and you can't ignore them. What good would an .xxx TLD do? Without rules in place to force using it, what's to say providers are going to pick up and move, especially considering the high traffic their current names have? Considering that, how useful is it then to block .xxx for kids if no ones using it? I think a .kids TLD would be more effective in that regard. Just my 2 cents.
    anonymous
    Reply Vote
  • Overall I approve of the idea, however there might be problems defining what constitues porn and what constitues erotic art, stories, or whatever. You might end up with companies being accused of violating their dotcom status if there even a discussion relating to sex or whatever. I can usually tell the difference between dirty-mag type porn and artistic nudity that merely celebrates the human form, but how long before A N Religious group forces legitimate nudity or even just frank discussions of sex without any pictures under the 'depraved' .XXX banner, thus demeaning an non-pornographic site that even young teenagers should have the right to access to discuss their sexual questions or admire the artistic nude (ie not legs spread for a gynaelogical exam, but merely the curves of a man or woman as a legitimate celebration of nudity and human beauty). I can already hear the God-botherers screaming 'but that IS porn!' when it's not. After all if an Islamic woman in Saudi Arabia shows much more than her eyes she's accused of being immoral, should all images of women therefore fall under .XXX unless they wear the chadori or hijab? What about the face of a person during orgasm like at beautiful agony dotcom- is that porn? Or can something be erotic and arousing without being considered porn, like a steamy novel or a seductive pose? So my twopenneth is this: the .XXX domain is a good idea for things that an open-minded person would consider to be porn, but we must be careful not to allow it to become a hysterical witchhunt against sex and nudity in general on the internet.
    anonymous
    Reply Vote
  • Pornography exists in the internet - there is no way to deny it. So we might as well have a clear indication where it is to protect our children from it, and not being afraid of them going where they shouldn't go, by mistake.
    anonymous
    Reply Vote
  • I totally agree with anonymous ceo. They need to allow the .xxx domain and force the porn perveyors there. Prosecution for those not in compliance. This would be the easiest solution to filter smut from our children on the internet.
    anonymous
    Reply Vote
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