ICANN Rejects .XXX Top Level Domain, Again

eldavojohn writes "After yet another contentious vote on the .xxx concept, ICANN has finally rejected the pornography TLD. The debate has gone on for quite some time, and the 9-5 decision was the third time a decision was reached on the subject. This is the second time the body has ruled against the idea, and is likely the last time we'll see it come up for vote any time soon. One member abstained from voting. From the article: 'Many of the board members said they were concerned about the possibility that ICANN could find itself in the content regulation business if the domain name was approved. Others criticized that, saying ICANN should not block new domains over fears like that, noting that local, state and national laws could be used to decide what is pornographic and what is not. Other board members said they believed that opposition to the domain by the adult industry, including Web masters, content providers and others, was proof that the issue was divisive and that .xxx was not a welcome domain.'"

Comments

Re:And who classifies this stuff?

[helicologic]

"...could end up sequestered to .xxx because someone somewhere doesn't want the kiddies to accidentally see naughty bits."
... or naughty tits.

Why label adult content

[gillbates]

If the goal is to protect children?

Rather than argue over what is and what isn't pornography, why not just setup a .kids domain which is explicitly for children?

That way, those seeking to register a .kids domain would have the onus of proving their material was appropriate for kids. (Not that this is difficult). With the .xxx domain, every .com .net .org, etc... site has the burden of proving they don't belong in the .xxx domain. But, if the opposite approach is taken, only those sites specifically meant for children will have the burden of proving their content appropriate for children, and we can leave the rest of the internet as is.

I'm not sure why politicians keep on beating a dead horse when neither liberals nor conservatives want a .xxx domain. And "protecting the children" is as simple as giving them their own TLD, rather than trying to disrupt the internet as we know it.