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India To Ban .xxx Domain
An anonymous reader writes "The Indian government have said they will introduce measures to block the newly approved .xxx domain from the country. The Economic Times reports that 'India along with many other countries from the Middle East and Indonesia opposed the grant of the domain in the first place, and we would proceed to block the whole domain, as it goes against the IT Act and Indian laws.'"
Excuse the pun.
This is exactly why we didn't want the .xxx domain name. It seems like it exists for the sole purpose of being censored.
I don't believe in time. It's a grand conspiracy designed to sell watches.
Excellent move by the Indians.
Nobody wants there porn censored out, not even the Indians (except a few crazy religious zealots). By declaring they will censor it immediately this will surely kill the .xxx domain AND ensure they can get their porn the good ol'fashioned way as they've already been doing.
Why are they against porn being collected into a domain that they can easily block?
a 'toldyouso' tag, it's this one.
They probably need .kamasutra domain instead. :)
Kinda makes you wonder though, if so many people are against pornography that they had made it law, why would they need the law since none of them would look at it anyway?
A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.
GOATSE!
You must be new here hehe
They don't know what they are going to be missing... :)
Ron Gage - Westland, MI
All above-board porn sites migrated to the tld for legitimacy and it was incredibly easy to block the lot from any computer. No pun intended.
Banning the entire .xxx TLD; I didn't see that one coming.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
The people in India and the middle east have their governments, and those governments want to block porn. Now they have a simple way to do it. Why would they not want that? Were they really successful in blocking .com porn sites? And the sites that don't want to deal with that will go to .xxx. It's a perfectly civilized solution.
--
Stay tuned for some shock and awe coming right up after this messages!
Goatse troll. Mod down. Now excuse me while I throw up.....
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
Seriously, if you don't like the internet and all it stands for, fuck off.
Isn't this the same culture that wrote the Kama Sutra?
That's a hell of a turnaround.
And Hare Krsna, too.
"Who put the Ram, in the Rama Hare Krsna?"
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
No porn sites that exist currently use .xxx. Any who choose to use .xxx for marketing, SEO, etc. may do so, and they don't have to forfeit their current domains to do it. On top of that, any porn sites that choose to abide by any and all filtering that is desired by corporations or governments can now do so easily by only hosting on .xxx.
Nobody says you HAVE to host porn on .xxx. It's an *option*.
Options are good, right? I mean, it's not like we're losing redtube or whatever.
How will these domains be distributed? What constitutes porn? Obviously google.xxx and ford.xxx and microsoft.xxx will be bought up quickly just to prevent a squatter from photoshopping Bill Gates humping a goat as a whole domain, but what about, say, the rest of us?
I would like an XXX domain for the hell of it, and I wouldn't put any porn on it. I'm just some random guy- I'm sure plenty of people would feel that way.
Laws exist for the lawbreakers. If you make something illegal people will assume you don't do it because it's illegal.
They have their khajuharo temple with different background
Irony.
A sovereign nation taking steps to enforce their own moral and legal standards. What is the world coming to?
It seems like it exists for the sole purpose of being censored.
Exactly...which is why you have to wonder at what the Indian government was thinking when the article also states that "India along with many other countries from the Middle East and Indonesia opposed the grant of the domain in the first place". Shouldn't they have been campaigning for it since it makes it easier to ban?
This is just like Boston 1970s politicians protesting the Combat Zone. They'll finally build Park Plaza on top of the red light district, and the money will go to Providence... or .PROV
Gently reply
Yea, not like porn sites have any other TLD they can use.
An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
There's no point getting irate about freedom of speech. The whole point of domain names is to make money. The only reason .xxx was introduced was to "offer a new product", i.e. another TLD that could be subdivided and sold. Who would have thought it, people would pay money for the equivalent of a memorable telephone number.
Paul Mockapetris, inventor of DNS, said that "The DNS was built to be simple and predictable" so why is it handled by an organisational committee who make political decisions ? If it was only about ease of use then .xxx would have been decided years ago. And why do you have to pay more than a nominal admin fee to have your details entered into the DNS database ? It's all about money.
A country so prude you can get a year in jail for kissing in public, yet so corrupt the police blatantly ignore child brothels in Kolkata.
FIX UR CNTRY. Then worry about internet domains. Kthxbye.
Have gnu, will travel.
One it's India, so unless you were saying that India would ban it it's not exactly what some people said. Secondly, I doubt very much that this really changes much because all reputable porn purveyors already voluntarily have themselves added to various blocking programs anyways. There's also the issue of the .xxx TLD not being compulsory, if that happens, then I think we need to really worry, at this point it's just optional.
Plus there are ways in which it could be useful for all parties involved, I just know better than to expect that level of discourse and negotiation.
Next thing you know, they'll block blog.com.
Have gnu, will travel.
Kama Sutra is not porn, but it show openess of that culture. The beatiful culture that made this book was destroyed and buried by islamisation. Everyone must wear black, women but be covered head to toes and no one is allowed to drawn animals or plants.
Ya sure, there is always less faithful individual that will be use to masquarade what the cult is really is. They may not extremist, but it is only because they are following a soft religious leader. That leader can change, and the follower will go where ever the new leader go. All religous peoples are dangerous because they can turn extremist anytime. Personal drama or endoctrinment can change them any time.
Let not forgot the history lesson of all the country that have fallen under islam.
So, what does the Islamic Law say on open proxies, Tor and Freenet?
Isn't that the entire point of wanting the .xxx domain? Then laws can be passed to require pornographic sites to use those domains and anyone who does not want pornography on their internet connection can block them easily?
Good job India... you're using it for the reason it was proposed!
This is why that .xxx domain should be created. It enables us to choose weather we want these sites or not. It is undeniable that porn makes up a large part of the internet. The only problem with the .xxx domain is that the pornography providers providers still have the option of buying the .com, .net , etc at the same time rendering the .xxx useless. The only real purpose it can provide is a quick and easy way to filter adult content. I do not agree with an entire country being told what they can or cannot view,. but i do agree that parents should be able to with in there own home with a simple block on .xxx
Eh? I thought the kama sutra was written by Indian Hindus. As I understand it, shortly after gaining independence, India set aside Pakistan and Bangladesh for the muslim population
"People don't want to learn linux" hasn't been a valid excuse since '03.
With our population problem, it's best if peeps didn't have sex on their minds. -- Indian Official
Be seeing you...
You do realise that India is around 80% hindu no ?
Countries are going to have to block the 123.com and 123.net sites to have an effective 123.xxx block. This is a problem because anyone will be able to block a non-porn competitor in many countries by simply registering competitor.xxx; competitor.com competitor.net competitor.org could also become blocked
While India does have a sizable Muslim population, I thought the beautiful culture that made the Kama Sutra was destroyed and buried by British conquering and colonization, and their prudish ways.
Islam certainly isn't very friendly to such things either, though. Interesting how the cultures that have become dominant on Earth are the ones that hate fun and freedom the most.
I haven't read the Wiki pages about it yet, but I thought Pakistan forcibly broke itself away from India during its independence, and the people running India (namely Gandhi) didn't want that, as they believed unity was more important.
Seriously all it would an proxy program that reroutes all the XXX domains to a public DNS XXX cache. You really think the online porn industry doesn't have the incentive to get around stuff like this? They could also just make a plugin for browsers that changed all XXX domain to a sub domain of something else that resolves to the same addresses. Wouldn't cost much bandwidth at all.
.. how can one get phone support for that TLD?
Population: That side of the world.
That same "beautiful culture" also had a caste system and a history of enormous inequality and poverty stretching back three millennia. While the British certainly did some damage, a lot of India's social and cultural problems are old and home-made.
So what? These aren't valid criticisms, because almost every culture has them. Inequality? British culture was full of inequality back then, and still has it. Ever heard of the King/Queen? That's no different from what the Indians already had, with monarchs and hereditary rulers. Even today, inequality is becoming greater and greater in places like the USA, which is now more of a banana republic than any other, as it has a greater difference between the rich and the poor than just about any society in history.
Poverty? 1700s-1800s Britain was full of terrible poverty.
The British taking over India certainly didn't fix any of these problems. What the British brought to India wasn't any better than what the Indians already had, and was mostly worse.
The anti-porn types are upset because they see this as legitimising porn. They would like to see it banned altogether, and this seems like a form of approval.
".xxx is largely a tool of people who just want another TLD to spin money from"
I am not sure all in the money crowd are eager to go there. Can you imagine www.disney.xxx?
It's overkill. I suppose many regular brands will want to protect their names. For example, I'm sure Google will buy up "www.google.xxx" . According to the Indian law, this will be banned? For what possible reason? The courts will surely overturn this.
Is there any law which says that all ".xxx" content HAS to be pornographic?
from icann
The Board intends to complete the process for final approval of the New gTLD implementation program at an extraordinary meeting of the ICANN Board to be held on Monday, 20 June 2011, at the ICANN public meeting in Singapore.
which is why there are 0 sites for india to ban yet as none exist.
Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
... my opinion is that this development is just to score political points, or, more accurately, to pre-empt your (right wing) political opponents from scoring political points. Technically, it's illegal to watch, read, store, sell, purchase, write or distribute porn, just as its illegal to urinate in the open in urban areas. But reality has little to do with the availability of porn or the practical freedom of all Indians to piss and shit wherever they feel like. Indian censorship of Internet porn sites such as this one has little to do with a government of a billion+ people feeling they have to protect the population from the reality of sex. It has a lot to do with not allowing the right wing to score easy political points and with the fact that there's no organised and public body of people calling for citizens' right to read and watch porn. Also, before you jump at it, no, reading porn is not protected under free speech laws in India.
At any rate, all I need to do is buy a cheap $4.75/mo VPS package and run a socks 5 proxy on it. Or be lazy and buy a $9 vpn service to get around it, if I could GAF. literotica.com isn't moving.
Do your research. India has decriminalized homo sexual activity in 2009 and nobody has been convicted for it in twenty years either.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
While I'd love to see the web create an enforceable red light district (it would make my job much easier and be easier for parents). Flat out banning the entire tld will just ensure that those wanting to get around the "ban" simply wont use it or maintain both .com and .xxx domains defeating its entire purpose.
I'm seriously considering moving some of my websites to .xxx and not having porn on them (anybody want to register laughingsto.xxx?). Are there any restrictions to registering whatever you want on .xxx?
Oh, and for the record, RFC 3675 anticipated this whole mess.
Just because every other culture may have had a caste system doesn't make the criticism less valid. They still have problems with the caste system to this day.
SSC
I would welcome a google.xxx if it would autocomplete profanity.
Many cultures have inequality and hereditary entitlements, but those are quite different from the Indian caste system. Point is: India's "beautiful culture" has a dark side as well.
Nowhere did I claim that the British fixed anything. Maybe you should learn to read properly.
If you believe this article the powers that be should force all porn providers to use IPv6 addresses too. If porn helps push technology forward then this should help IPv6 rollout.
They are Halaal per se, but the usage of them could be Halaal or Haraam depending on what it is done with them.
Say, it's Halaal to use them to inform other Muslims about oppression that is going on in the land where Internet access is limited.
And it's Haraam to use it for subj
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
In other words, they wouldn't be banned (since you cannot detect the nature of the use, only the fact of that use).
Then what's the point of filtering plain connections, if it's all so easily circumvented by any who would actually want to get porn?
Unless the argument is that they are haram in a properly implemented Islamic state, because, by definition, they cannot be used for something good there?
That's what we've really been needing.
"they wouldn't be banned" being banned and Haraam are two different issues. It depends on how the tool is used. If there is widespread abuse, it could be banned.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
Given to the existance of Great Fire Wall, this definitely gonna happen in China..
No need to be an asshole, I wasn't entirely clear on the history of a nation 10,000 miles away from me, been a few years since I took a history class. And you seem to be extrapolating just a *tiny* bit. I didn't ever say that india was a hindu nation, I just said the kama sutra was written by hindus who happened to be from india. Going crazy with bullshit? I wrote two fucking sentences.
"People don't want to learn linux" hasn't been a valid excuse since '03.
Not really law, but convention. .xxx is a Sponsored TLD, which means there is a consortium of sorts who will approve or deny applications for the domain name. There are rules and regulations for the registrants of the domain, and I suspect that part of those rules would be a registration fee of some sort -- a token one at a company level, but painful for an individual, say $2500 or so -- in addition to the normal domain registration fee of $10 or whatever it is. I also imagine that while there most likely will be an ibm.xxx, it will be a redirect to ibm.com.
One of the reasons that this has taken so long to be placed into action is how inefficient a system this will become. No one is required to register a particular tld. There are more rules keeping registrants out of tlds or forcing them to give up their current tld than there are forcing registrants to adopt a particular tld. Tlds were never meant to be implemented as a way to filter content.
Also, currently successful sexually themed sites are very unlikely to forego brand recognition. Why should mostviewedsite.com switch to mostviewedsite.xxx when the .com is the recognized brand name? Yes, they'd probably buy their .xxx counterpart, only to have it redirect to .com. In a very real sense, this new tld will likely double the number of adult-content sites, but not necessarily double the content. However, groups opposed to this sort of content will now be able to cry louder than ever that the internet is "full of filth."
It seems to me that the only winners in this are the registrars and the certifying authority. I doubt little else will change.
Why do I M2 everything negatively?
They are really stupid ....the whole point is to force the adult content to move to the .xxx domains so as to make it easier to block through ISP and parent monitoring, by saying no, you are saying yes indirectly to sites keeping their regular .com...and when your son sitting at the comp types in douche bag indian government and finds a picture of some transvestite cross dresser doing go knows what, you will have wondered if stopping the .xxx was a good idea....