Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

ICANN Approves .xxx Suffix For Porn Websites

Posted by Soulskill on from the if-you-build-it dept.

An anonymous reader tips news that ICANN has officially approved the creation of a .xxx suffix for porn sites, confirming the rumors we discussed on Thursday. While this resolves a 10-year debate on the subject, the Guardian notes that "many pornography companies are unhappy with the idea of a dedicated space online because they expect that as soon as .xxx is implemented, conservative members of the US Congress will lobby to make any sex-related website re-register there and remove itself from other domains such as .com or .org." Others are more confident, like Stuart Lawley of ICM Registry, the company sponsoring the new TLD. "Mr. Lawley said more than 100,000 domains had preregistered. He said he expected that when the dot-xxx domains opened for business, nine to 12 months from now, some 500,000 domains would register, or roughly 10% of the five million to six million adult online sites."

26 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. 100,000 preregistered? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm sure that 90% of those preregistrations are by domain name squatters.

    1. Re:100,000 preregistered? by ericlondaits · · Score: 4, Insightful

      DNS is just a big extortion racket... I can imagine that Google will make sure to register google.xxx, gmail.xxx, youtube.xxx, etc. just like Facebook and any other big site. Celebrities are probably being advised to register their names (e.g. sandrabullock.xxx). It's the same as with the .net and .org domains defensive registering but much worse.

      Ironically, big porn sites will probably want to keep their .com domain around anyway. I can't imagine Vivid leaving vivid.com to someone else, to name one.

      --
      As a Slashdot discussion grows longer, the probability of an analogy involving cars approaches one.
    2. Re:100,000 preregistered? by nmb3000 · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'm sure that 90% of those preregistrations are by domain name squatters.

      Of course they are, which is to be expected since this whole exercise is nothing more than registrars grabbing at cash.

      The sad part is all the uninformed idiots posting here who support the idea -- if even a fair number of Slashdot posters still don't understand why this is such a horrible idea then it's no wonder ICANN caved. On the one hand, they look good to the morons who have been pushing for this stupid idea for years, and on the other they were probably bribed with a huge amount money. Win win!

      For those wondering why .xxx is a terrible idea that is completely doomed to fail (at all the "official" goals at least, it will certainly succeed as the gravy train it's designed to be), read RFC 3675: .sex Considered Dangerous. It has all the same arguments being presented here, plus more.

      --
      "What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
      /)
    3. Re:100,000 preregistered? by h0dg3s · · Score: 4, Informative

      DNS is a protocol, you're thinking of TLDs.

  2. "Domain name squatters" by fyngyrz · · Score: 5, Funny

    (Tries to imagine hot chick squatting on a domain)

    [fails, shrugs] I guess there really is a site for every kind of fetish.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  3. What is the point? by axl917 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All this will do is rake in registration $$$ and have zero effect on anything else. Take any site for example, like youporn.com. They will go register youporn.xxx so they have their name protected, and one will redirect to the other. If some other company tried to register youporn.xxx out from under them, the real site would just sue and claim it.

    They won't give up their .com addresses, so nothing will change.

    1. Re:What is the point? by ciderVisor · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They will go register youporn.xxx so they have their name protected, and one will redirect to the other.

      But if the .com address always redirects to the .xxx address, then firewalls could be easily configured to disallow all .xxx domains.

      I guess that's one possible plus point.

      --
      Squirrel!
    2. Re:What is the point? by mwvdlee · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Most likely the .xxx will redirect to the .com so all internal and external links will remain working and you won't have to convert or test anything.

      Redirecting .xxx to .com is much faster, easier and cheaper than vice versa and without the risk of being blocked by firewalls or filters.

      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
    3. Re:What is the point? by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Funny

      They're more likely to serve both from the same machine, just with different virtual host names. No need to redirect.

      Besides, at $60 a domain, when a dot.com is $10, that's obscene!

    4. Re:What is the point? by maxwell+demon · · Score: 5, Funny

      Besides, at $60 a domain, when a dot.com is $10, that's obscene!

      Well, obscenity is to be expected for that domain. :-)

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    5. Re:What is the point? by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Funny

      So what you're saying is that getting screwed on the price is normal?

    6. Re:What is the point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      so what you're saying is you're not nearly as clever as the poster you replied to?

    7. Re:What is the point? by Artifakt · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There will be real effects. Consider - in the US we have had recent obscenity convictions against some porn producers seen as turning out content especially degrading to women (slapping, punching, spitting in faces, and faux rape.). We haven't had anything in well over a decade focused on non-violent porn, targeting gay porn selectively has apparently died out even in the south, and even such things as bondage and fisting videos get a pass, (but many of them are careful to have spoken discliamers from the submissives involved and various "no sluts were harmed in the making of this video" claims included to protect themselves). Scat probably would draw legal action, but the mainstream producers haven't tried that. The industry has been vocally extremely divided over violence for the last few years.
            I'd just about bet real money that some porn producers will use .xxx to prove they are being responsible corporations and trying to keep their material out of the hands of minors, because that would be another way to protect themselves from prosecution, and they seem to be willing to go to some trouble over creating an image that they are not one of 'those' porn businesses, but rather one of the 'other' ones. Some will see it as a financial hit to move content exclusively to .xxx domains, but others will see it as another way to avoid being the rare porn producer singled out.
            The bigest force actually working against this is the evangelical right, which usually sees no difference between a Girls Gone Wild video and Underaged Wet Mule Sodomizers part 83. If they focused their complaints on the companies that produce the kinkiest stuff, they'd get a lot more results from various justice departments, but then they would have to admit that some porn producers really do care if all the 'models' are over 18, really do show safe sex practices, or avoid violent sex, so don't hold your breath.

      --
      Who is John Cabal?
  4. Wtf is xxx? by bjourne · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is only in the US that xxx is equivalent to porn. In other languages, xxx means crossed over or censored. So why the fuck is the new tld called "xxx" when the porn link is only obvious to Americans? Isn't ICANN supposted to care about the whole world and not just the US? If they wanted a porn tld, they could have called it ".porn," ".adult" or even ".sex" both which would have been more logical than ".xxx" Is it because the word "porn" is so dirty you have to call it "xxx" instead and pretend it is something else?

    --
    Football Odds
    1. Re:Wtf is xxx? by Ziekheid · · Score: 5, Informative

      Nope, xxx is actually recognised in a lot of countries. I have never heard of it meaning crossed/censored before.
      I just asked people from Germany, England, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden (IRC ftw) and they all knew what it meant.

    2. Re:Wtf is xxx? by mwvdlee · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually, quite a few languages use "xxx" as a placeholder for "adult", "porn" and the likes. I have seen it used as such in practically every country I've ever been to.

      Words like "adult", "porn", and -- to a lesser extend -- "sex" are English words that have no meaning in other languages. "xxx" is pretty universal in that it isn't actually a real word that would need translation.

      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
    3. Re:Wtf is xxx? by Jafafa+Hots · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In 1930s newspaper cartoon world, XXX means a barrel of rum.

      --
      This space available.
    4. Re:Wtf is xxx? by Supurcell · · Score: 5, Funny

      XXX means porn?! Looks like I'm going to have to rethink the domain name for my moonshine business.

  5. it took me a while to figure this one out by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They've been trying to get a .xxx domain for a long time, but I couldn't figure out why. The porn industry opposes it, the people who oppose the porn industry oppose it, and tech people generally oppose it. Took me a while to realize it was only some registrars who wanted some extra cash who kept bringing it up.

    My question is, why did ICANN finally relent? Were they bribed? Did they just become impatient over the issue that they've said 'no' to for over a decade? Is it possible to get anything passed through ICANN if you just ask enough times? Why is ICANN supporting this blatant rent-seeking?

    --
    Qxe4
    1. Re:it took me a while to figure this one out by mysidia · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because the ICANN board is chosen by domain registrars who stand the most to gain by introduction of a new TLD.

  6. Terrible idea by TuballoyThunder · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think the concept behind the .xxx domain has the potential of leading the internet down a dangerous path. If the other TLD's are forced by their governing entity, e.g. the US government for the .com TLD, to prohibit pornographic content, the precedent will be set to segregate and regulate content.

  7. What a great opportunity to creep everyone out! by Aboroth · · Score: 5, Funny

    Register yourname.xxx as your personal homepage, and give it out to all of your friends and coworkers! When they ask, "Umm, is this...", respond with, "You'll just have to go find out, now won't you?", and follow with a wink and a wry smile. Of course, you always could, you know, if you wanted...

  8. Wget syntax? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    What's the correct syntax for wget to retrieve an entire TLD?

    wget -r *.xxx isn't working.

    1. Re:Wget syntax? by colinrichardday · · Score: 4, Funny

      The shell is swallowing the *.

      Try wget -r "*.xxx"

  9. Re:why do people think this is a bad idea? by Aboroth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Here are some points in reply:

    -It is stupid to expect all porn to go to ".xxx".
    -Therefore it doesn't make it easier to filter porn, it means your filters have to have one extra line for "block *.xxx". Technically, it is a little more work to block porn now than it was before.
    -Who defines porn, anyway? What is it, exactly?
    -The only reason it exists is to print money, and everyone is jealous that they can't do that

  10. To be fair... by arielCo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Pornography/erotica is a genre. So are Action, Romance, Documentary, etc. Is there a similar push to create the likes of .action, .docu, and .love ?

    And of course, the argument that certain content is especially sensitive hasn't been wielded to lobby for creating .hate, .religion or .violence

    --
    This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.