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Irish Domain Registry Banning Adult Domains

Karate Sid writes "An Irish adult website has blogged about the Irish domain registry banning adult domain names, including porn.ie and pornography.ie. The IEDR's reasoning is that the words 'porn' and 'pornography' are offensive and immoral. Of interest is how Sex.ie took legal action against the IEDR — and proved that neither word is offensive — yet still lost the case, as the IEDR are the highest authority in Ireland when it comes to deciding what is and isn't an offensive domain."

27 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. It's a shame by MBGMorden · · Score: 4, Funny

    Really a shame on this. I'd argue that we need more Irish porn in the world :(.

    --
    "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    1. Re:It's a shame by meringuoid · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ah come on now. When have you ever seen the sun in Ireland?

      --
      Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  2. Name vs. content by MrEricSir · · Score: 4, Funny

    So this only applies to the domain name, and not the content, right?

    Is there anything offensive about the name "goatse"?

    --
    There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
  3. Re:Not so big an issue by Facegarden · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Really. Who gives a shit? Nobody should.

    This is just a TLD, which is obviously run by some governing body in Ireland. They get to choose what they want on the TLD, and I assume at some level it is supported by the politicians.

    Now, if there are people that feel oppressed in Ireland, they can simply get a domain at a different TLD. They could also just move out of Ireland. That's a choice too.

    The real problem is when Irish ISPs start blocking other TLDs and controlling what domains people can resolve on their networks. Then of course come all the blogs and posts about proxies/TOR/Freenet/OpenDNS.

    Maybe I am triviliazing the issue, but being restricted on possible domains on a TLD that only applies to a single country does not seem as big of an issue as actually interferring with what traffic can reach a country. It's large scale censorship such as the Great Firewall in China that should be more concerning than this.

    If the Irish people feel that they are being oppressed and it is a free speech issue, then they need to address that with their politicians. It's still largely ineffective.

    It's still a government trying to tell its people what words they should and should not see, which is censorship and something to notice and oppose.
    -Taylor

    --
    Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?
  4. Darn! by Locke2005 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well, there goes my chance to register "p.ie"... by the way, isn't it already April 1 in Ireland?

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  5. Oop! Here we go! by Samschnooks · · Score: 4, Funny

    Really a shame on this. I'd argue that we need more Irish porn in the world :(.

    Such as....

    • Suck my potato.
    • Eat my cabbage.
    • My limerick or yours
    • Kiss this blarney stone!
    • Lass' ass
    • Angela's asses
    • Manly yes, but I like it too!(Gay site.)
    • Shamrock hard
    • Protestant against Catholic school girls!
    • Catholic School Girls in the North with Big Bad Englishmen
    • Brutish English MILFS and poor downtrodden Irish Lads
    • Big Bad Burly English Men punishing little Irish Lads (Gay S&M site)
    • Irish MILFS and English MILFS licking for a Truce

    Oh God! I'm done.

    1. Re:Oop! Here we go! by ionix5891 · · Score: 5, Funny

      you forgot the following classics:

      Real Sluts 9

      and

      Provisional Lollipops 3

      and

      Continuity Blondes 4

  6. Re:How about pornograph.ie? by meringuoid · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not sure about that one. How about creamp.ie?

    --
    Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  7. Re:I just shit an obama by MightyYar · · Score: 3, Funny

    Everyone knows that the official unit of excrement is the Couric.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  8. Re:Honestly by meringuoid · · Score: 5, Funny

    And yet it seems that nobody's registered usefirefoxinsteadof.ie.

    --
    Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  9. Hmmm.... by Facegarden · · Score: 4, Funny

    I guess i shouldn't bother with my idea for ShitPissFuckCuntCocksuckerMotherfuckerTits.ie then, Huh?
    -Taylor

    --
    Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?
  10. Good for them! by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is slashdot. Anything with IE in it is dirty and disgusting and offensive and downright immoral.

    BTW, next they'll be banning slashdot.ie because it contains the word "slash", which is reminiscent of Jack the Ripper and violence in general. They've already banned OJ's domain - (W - W - W -SLASH - SLASH - BACKSLASH - SLASH DOT EYE EEE).

  11. Re:Not so big an issue by Chyeld · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When I start seeing porn sites on .us, .gov, or .edu domains, then you have a point. Till then, this is a non-story. There are TDL's out there that are open to everyone. The nationally owned ones are solely responsible to that nation's government.

  12. Re:Not so big an issue by Chyeld · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Slippery Slope arguements are fallacy's. There is no proof that one step forward equates the same thing as ensuring that someone is going to go the full nine yards, or even that if they were, they'd end up where you want to paint them as going.

    There is a middle ground here, there are plenty of TLD's out there that you can register with that are open to all comers. Government TLD's, despite the recent trend towards poorer countries whoring them out, are meant for that nation's government's use. If the government of Ireland wants to nix porn on the government owned TLD, that's entirely their perogative (till they are no longer the government of Ireland).

  13. Re:Not so big an issue by grcumb · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Really. Who gives a shit? Nobody should.

    [snip]

    It's still a government trying to tell its people what words they should and should not see, which is censorship and something to notice and oppose.

    I give a shit, precisely because it's not government performing these actions. I get worried whenever an autonomous body takes it on itself to be an arbiter of public morals, and even the courts refuse to step into the fray.

    I've a number of personal reasons for finding this particular story interesting. My parents and extended family are Irish, and some of them have been fighting for a generation against the reactionary inclinations of some elements of Irish society. (That's half the reason I was born in Canada.) This sanctimonious approach to 'dirty' subjects is typical of the kind of thing that makes even a polite discussion about morality nearly impossible. How can you talk about something if you can't even use the word that most aptly describes it?

    Second, I'm coordinating work on the creation of a governance mechanism for a ccTLD in the developing world. Society here is very conservative in nature, and this is exactly the kind of object lesson we need to learn from.

    You may not find this an interesting or enlightening topic, but those of us who care about the places where technology and society intersect find stories like this fascinating, challenging and yes, definitely news for nerds.

    --
    Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
  14. Re:Not so big an issue by Anachragnome · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Slippery Slope arguements are fallacy's. There is no proof that one step forward equates the same thing as ensuring that someone is going to go the full nine yards, or even that if they were, they'd end up where you want to paint them as going."

    I've heard THAT bullshit before, and I'll respond the exact same way I do every time I hear it used.

    While it may be true that a certain step, in a certain direction, MAY not end up with bad results, if it DOES, you then have to go back two steps, instead of one, to fix that which is broken.

    That is PRECISELY the thought process these people are using to THEIR advantage. Take a little at a time, under the radar, infuse yourself into the "system", to the point it is too hard to undo the damage once everyone gets wise to the effects.

    The A.I.G. mess is similar. Too big to fail? Not at all. Simply to big to LET fail...as was their intended goal all along.

  15. Heres an idea! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If it offends you, don't type it into the damned address bar.

  16. Re:Not so big an issue by Chris+Acheson · · Score: 4, Informative

    Like lu.scio.us?

  17. Re:Not so big an issue by DGolden · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's still a government trying to tell its people what words they should and should not see, which is censorship and something to notice and oppose.

    The irish constitution has some dangerous weasel-wording in it around that area. Lately it's been taken that european/international human rights law trumps more problematic aspects of the constitution, and it's important to remember that basically no sane irish person takes mere human law entirely seriously in the first place, but it just isn't particularly wonderful as constitutions go. May still better than still being ruled by the British I guess (I mean just look at Jacqui Smith...)...

    6. 1. The State guarantees liberty for the exercise of the following rights, subject to public order and morality.

    i. The right of the citizens to express freely their convictions and opinions.

    The education of public opinion being, however, a matter of such grave import to the common good, the State shall endeavour to ensure that organs of public opinion, such as the radio, the press, the cinema, while preserving their rightful liberty of expression, including criticism of Government policy, shall not be used to undermine public order or morality or the authority of the State.

    The publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law.

    --
    Choice of masters is not freedom.
  18. .IE Always Been Crap by meehawl · · Score: 4, Informative

    I had dealings with the .IE crowd back in the early-mid-90s trying to set up some domains. At the time it was being run by a small cabal of jumped-up sysadmins-turned-pointy-haired-bosses hidden away in University College Dublin (one of the larger public universities in Ireland). They blocked basically every application for any domain name that was any way lucrative, exciting, or with a potential to make a profit, and took an amazing amount of time to actually get anything done. I am unsurprised but a little dismayed to see that the descendant of that dismal sinkhole apparently still possesses much of the same bureaucratic DNA.

    --

    Da Blog
  19. Re:Not so big an issue by Kingrames · · Score: 4, Funny

    Clearly you have no idea how the internet works.

    Deliberate acts of censorship are interpreted as DAMAGE to the internet, which routes around it.

    This means that the actions of the governmental body have caused irreperable harm to the internet.
    Al Gore might very well sue. That's his baby.

    --
    If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
  20. Re:Nay but I'll tell you bout my 1st time in Irela by RiotingPacifist · · Score: 3, Funny

    tl;dr
    can you try and keep your trolls short, i mean "i just shat an obama" see below, is short, to the point (horrendous display of stupidity and racism) and even partially successful as people will take a second to reply to the troll.

    --
    IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
  21. Re:Not so big an issue by XnavxeMiyyep · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Who cares? Just because it hurts your feelings doesn't mean the government needs to do something about it.

    --
    I put the 't' in electrical engineering.
  22. What they really mean to say is... by Hojima · · Score: 4, Funny

    Irish Domain Registry Banning Porn Sites

    So they're getting rid of the internet?

  23. sex.ie by sqldr · · Score: 3, Informative

    I just checked it out. It's possibly the most disappointing porn site i've ever seen. It doesn't have any porn on it, for a start.

    --
    I wrote my first program at the age of six, and I still can't work out how this website works.
  24. Re:Not so big an issue by bigtomrodney · · Score: 3, Informative
    Also, from their site

    The IE Domain Registry is not a governing or regulatory body, but provides a public service for the .ie namespace on behalf of the Internet community.

    I am Irish and I'm more than a little bit outraged. For a start, neither of the words in question are taboo or offensive; they are english words of greek origin and are in daily usage. My main problem with this is that it claims to be on moral grounds but this body is in no position to determine what is or is not moral, nor are they under their own mandate a governing or regulatory body.

    --
    I never get used to these constant resurrections
  25. Honest Question Here by AP31R0N · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why do we have the TLDs?

    They seem to be meaningless and create problems like WhiteHouse.com/.gov. i'd much rather know that www.Coca-Cola belongs to Coca-Cola and not "Jeff who had 20$ and got to it first".

    If we had some kind of enforcement of what could be on what TLD, it would make sense. As it is, only .gov, .mil and .edu are meaningful. Even the national TLDs are fudgable.

    Having a TLD of .adlt or .prn would allow parents and schools to block pr0n from their kids. Then if a site had porn on it, and it didn't have an appropriate TLD, you could fine it or take it down for a day or two. This would be to the advantage of the porn sites because their customers could easily find the product. "in *.prn: Chasey Lane".

    --
    Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!