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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."

11 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 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
      /)
  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. 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 Supurcell · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  4. 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...

  5. 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.
  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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