Officials of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Numbers and Names (ICANN) are becoming increasingly leery of adopting the “.xxx” domain for pornographic websites amid concerns from government officials, the porn industry itself and, oddly enough, many religious groups.
Proponents of the domain believe that it would simplify the process of blocking objectionable content. Rather than spend money and manpower on complicated filters and employee surveillance, companies could simply implement a blanket bat on all “.xxx” domains to prevent employees from access restricted content from their work machines.
Those throughout the porn industry, however, believe that such a domain could result in government regulation, and ultimately infringes upon free speech rights. Religious groups feel that a universally accepted domain would give legitimacy to the industry while also increasing the amount of adult oriented websites on the Internet.
Who would’ve ever imagined that the religious right would be siding with the porn industry?
In its current wording, however, the proposal makes switching to “.xxx” domains a voluntary procedure. While many sites are pre-registering names in order to prevent them from being taken, the likelihood of a widespread migration to the standard is not very high.
AP columnist Matt Moore had this to say about the proposal:
Given its voluntary nature, “.xxx” is unlikely to have much effect on parents’ ability to block porn sites. And because a domain name serves merely as an easy-to-remember moniker for a site’s actual numeric Internet address, even if its use is required, a child could simply punch in the numeric address of any blocked “.xxx” name.
Do you know any children that type in IP addresses into the navigation bar of their web browsers? I sure don’t. That reasoning seems a bit weak, especially given the fact that a precocious youngster who is smart enough to discover the IP of his or her favorite porn site would probably also be smart enough to get around a “.xxx” block anyway.
