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ICANN Begins "Land Rush" For .XXX Web Domains

Velcroman1 writes "The World Wide Web red-light district is poised to explode. After more than a decade of debate, rejections and legal challenges, the Internet's governing body began accepting applications for .xxx websites from the adult entertainment industry on Tuesday, Nov. 8 — otherwise called the 'begin printing money phase.' The so-called 'landrush' phase signifies the true launch of .xxx websites, following the Sept. 5 date when ICM Registry began accepting .xxx applications from trademarked companies — those looking to use a .xxx address and those seeking to prevent their company from appearing on a .xxx website."

24 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Can't wait for Slashdot.xxx by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Open source porn! (Plus Apple stories)

  2. google.xxx by rwv · · Score: 3, Funny

    Can we expect a new, porn-only search engine? There's lots of money to be made with porn ads. It would be surprising to see what Google does with its own XXX site.

    1. Re:google.xxx by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 3, Interesting

      They already have that, it's called Xvideos.com.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  3. goatse.xxx by vlm · · Score: 2

    The only valid use I can think of this is for goatse.xxx to return (actually it was a .cx, but whatever). Whats the QR code for that, anyway?

    In a way its a good idea... the over-controlling nutcases can think they are actually doing something by blocking the entire domain, while all the actual pr0n, not wanting to be blocked, remains in the .com domain.

    In a way its a bad idea, because most of the money will be generated by giant corporations buying the domain so pranksters/whatever can't abuse their name. Expect to see ibm.xxx purchased by ibm solely to keep other people from messing with it.

    --
    "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    1. Re:goatse.xxx by masternerdguy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Actually its not a bad idea. It's an awesome way to extort more money for domain hosting to offset the steadily dropping costs. If you don't register your XXX domain, someone else will. It's practically legalized extortion!

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    2. Re:goatse.xxx by GameboyRMH · · Score: 2

      The only valid use I can think of this is for goatse.xxx to return (actually it was a .cx, but whatever). Whats the QR code for that, anyway?

      Haha good idea. A lot of QR code reading apps stupidly open a browser window with a page in it immediately instead of showing you the URL and giving you the option to open it. Great for goatse and browser attacks.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  4. scam + blackmail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is a scam.

    I own a adult domain non-generic and working website.
    I have the trademark for it but they didn't let me register my domain.xxx because they have reserved thousands of popular words for a later auction.
    When i try to register it it says "RESERVED". My lawyer has contacted them without response.

    Also they have sold lots of valuable domains before september to investors without telling nobody, you can check register date in some generic domains.

    It can also be called blackmail.

    This domain will not succeed because its owned by speculators and cybersquatters.

    1. Re:scam + blackmail by khallow · · Score: 2

      Blackmail doesn't mean what you think it means.

    2. Re:scam + blackmail by LordLimecat · · Score: 3, Informative

      It can also be called blackmail.

      Extortion perhaps, but not blackmail: blackmail is when someone threatens to make private information public if you do not comply with their wishes.

  5. Re:There will be no pr0n in the .XXX domain by Lincolnshire+Poacher · · Score: 4, Insightful

    > will soon be filtered out and go out out of business.

    The main environments in which such filtering would occur are libraries, schools and workplaces. Somehow I doubt there is much demand for porn originating from those environments anyway, at least not much money-raising porn.

    According to a recent article in the Economist, porn browsing is growing fastest on smartphones. The .xxx domain wouldn't be blocked on those devices unless attached to a corporate network.

    So who exactly will be blocking this?

  6. It's such a scam by hawguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My company's attorney asked me if we needed to register all of our domains under their "Register your brand with .XXX so someone else doesn't" program. I told them that while we could do that, there's no reason why someone would want to use our domain for porn, and even if they wanted to, they could register under .org, .net, .info, or one of the dozens of country domains available to anyone (some domain speculator already grabbed our .org and .net domains). I asked him if he was prepared to spend thousands of dollars/year preemptively registering our domain and common mispellings across all available TLD's on the off chance that some porn operator thought that our company's would be attractive to people looking for porn (our company's name is associated more with industrial products than big bouncing boobs). I think he finally understood why this .xxx preregistration was such a scam.

    1. Re:It's such a scam by Dunbal · · Score: 2

      I think he finally understood why this .xxx preregistration was such a scam.

      Also especially because the .info and .biz TLD's are doing so well...

      As a side note, I don't get it. I clicked on the button to register the domain, and it took me to another page where I had to fill out another form and enter my CC info yet again. When I clicked register on that page, it took me to yet another page and I had to apply again...

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  7. Re:There will be no pr0n in the .XXX domain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Any idiot who thinks otherwise and sets up a pr0n site will soon be filtered out and go out out of business."

    Um, no. You could not be more incorrect.
    Do you really think that the more successful sites are the ones not filtered?
    Think - existing filters already exist, AND they block a vast majority of porn sites.

    Sites like brazzers dot com etc all do just FINE and they are filtered 100%. Presuming they open brazzers dot xxx, they will STILL be filtered 100%.

    I /guess/ you could possibly make an argument that a .XXX level block is "shorter" or "simpler" than traditional URL pattern blocks that work within .COM, etc.
    But that's irrelevant ... it does not matter WHERE a site is located, it will be blocked.

    There's no real-world argument that .com sites are better at evading filters (and thus "not going out of business" because of it). Content filters are usually updated HOURLY, so they'll block every new porn site on any TLD. Smart filters will block the DNS nameservers which are owned by porn sites, so new sites can not slip through like say a "zero day warez" site might slip through.

  8. Re:There will be no pr0n in the .XXX domain by Joce640k · · Score: 2

    Any idiot who thinks otherwise and sets up a pr0n site will soon be filtered out and go out out of business.

    People make money from porn on the Internet?

    Is there really any porn you can't get for free by the gigabyte?

    --
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  9. Re:There will be no pr0n in the .XXX domain by mehrotra.akash · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So who exactly will be blocking this?

    Entire countries?

  10. Phase names by sootman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    > The so-called 'landrush' phase signifies the true launch
    > of .xxx websites, following the Sept. 5 date when ICM
    > Registry began accepting .xxx applications from
    > trademarked companies — those looking to use
    > a .xxx address and those seeking to prevent their
    > company from appearing on a .xxx website

    ... which is, in turn, known as the "extortion" phase.

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    1. Re:Phase names by The+Wild+Norseman · · Score: 3, Funny

      and those seeking to prevent their company from appearing on a .xxx website

      Where at "microsoft.xxx" the truthful comment that their servers constantly go down on you, brings on an entirely new and unintended meaning...

      --
      "A government is a body of people usually -- notably -- ungoverned." -Shepherd Book
  11. Re:There will be no pr0n in the .XXX domain by Jibekn · · Score: 5, Funny

    They're called fetishes, show me where I can get 40 hours of a midget beating a south American prostitute with a halibut while reciting the pledge of allegiance and ill stop paying for my porn.

  12. Barebones servers... by ackthpt · · Score: 2

    On slashdot.xxx

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  13. Synchronicity by bryan1945 · · Score: 3, Funny

    A few articles ago there was an article about a better way to pack balls into something.
    Now this story.

    Coincidence? You decide.

    --
    Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
  14. Re:There will be no pr0n in the .XXX domain by LordLimecat · · Score: 2

    You mean the ones that already do?

  15. Re:There will be no pr0n in the .XXX domain by mehrotra.akash · · Score: 3, Informative

    I cant say about other countries, but here in India, there are around 30-40 porn sites blocked, and on addition to that the entire .xxx domain is blocked

  16. Re:There will be no pr0n in the .XXX domain by S.O.B. · · Score: 2

    While reciting the pledge of allegiance? That's just going too far.

    --
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  17. Re:There will be no pr0n in the .XXX domain by ooloogi · · Score: 2

    I think that was the intended point: 0.00001% of non-.xxx blocked, while 100% of .xxx blocked - it shows that companies using an xxx domain will also provide access via other TLDs as well