Why the .XXX Domain is a Bad Idea That Won't Die

Reader tqft tipped us to an opinion piece on the UK site The Guardian, which lays out the reasons why article writer Seth Finkelstein feels the .XXX domain is a terrible idea. You may recall that last year (being an election year and all), the concept of a triple-X ghetto was revived, considered, and then quashed all in the space of a few months. We also recently discussed the fact that the idea just won't die, as the company ICM Registry pushes ICANN to allow them to pass out the names by Summer. Finkelstein primarily argues that the new domain is a bad idea from a business point of view. Ignoring for a moment the issue that much of this content is already labeled, he sees this as primarily a means for ICM Registry to gain a monopoly on what is sure to be a hot-selling product. Speculators, pornographers, and above-board companies will all jump on the namespace in an effort to ensure that their domain is represented ... or not, as the case may be. Where do you fall on this issue? Would a .XXX domain be helpful for parents, or just a political salve/moneymaking scam?

Comments

Re:Heh...

[dreddnott]

It's interesting to note that the "latest in animated gif technology" is 18 years old this year. I refer of course to the GIF89a specification. :)

Re:Domain Names I Don't Want to See

[cashman73]

I'd rather not see hillaryclinton.xxx, either!

Re:Why not?

[iamacat]

If you can't come up with a more imaginative description of people exchanging zygote's, this domain is not for you.

Re:Why not?

[Ralph Yarro]

What does a TLD have to do with finding porn, or anything else? Are you gong to make a list of words, append .xxx, and type them into your address bar: aardvark.xxx,.... zygote.xxx?

Greetings, I have come back in time from the year 2007 with exciting news. In my time we no longer have to type in random words to find domains under a particular tld, instead we have a powerful and strange technology called "Google".

For example, to get a list of .org domains we can just enter the following into our web browser:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?as_sitesearch=.org

to get a list of .museum domains:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?as_sitesearch=.muse um

To get a list of .xxx domains this would be:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?as_sitesearch=.xxx

"But", you say, "of what use is a mssive list of all domains? You could never click them all!" The truth is that we can go EVEN FURTHER and search for key words within sites in those domains, but I fear the culture shock from showing you this would be too much for you to bear.

This may all sound like science fiction in your primitive era but one day this technology will seem almost common place.