The "com" or "net" that you're referring to aren't just added to the URL, they're how your site is found. There's actually an implied . at the end of every URL, so http://slashdot.org/ is actually http://slashdot.org./ and then it is somewhat similar to the way you would use the directories on your computer, but in the opposite direction, and some more details. So if you're looking for http://slashdot.org/ it first goes to ".", which is overall, then finds "org" within ".", then finds "slashdot" within "org" and that's how you get here. If there are subdomains, like "yro.slashdot.org" or "politics.slashdot.org", then it keeps going down the line. There's a few more things in there, but they don't really matter for the sake of this discussion.
As for creating an ".xxx" in place of ".com" for all porn sites, even if it were possible, there's no way to gaurantee that all porn sites will be in the ".xxx" domain, or that all sites in ".xxx" are even porn.
".tv" is a good example. ".tv" is supposed to belong to a country in the Pacific. However a few years ago when it was first found out that ".tv" was the countries domain, television shows wanted to use the names in ".tv" because it would be perfect for them because they are TV shows. You could enforce other sites not getting into it with strict regulations I suppose, but then you'd have to define what is pornography,which could eventually lead to what pornagrophy is allowed, etc etc.
Also, there is then no way to make sure that a porn site is not outside of ".xxx", in fact, if you make regulations on ".xxx" then it'd be easier to make a new porn site just a ".com" instead of a ".xxx".
I agree that upgrading your hardware could be a problem. However there are some reasonable ways to use this kind of technology. For instance, the MSDNAA, an agreement between Microsoft and some colleges allowing students to recieve software that would be needed in classes for low cost or free, would be an example. The students that have access to this are only supposed to use the software they have for one computer, so it would make sense to use this technology there. Since it is also controlled primarily by the campus, if the student got a new computer they'd be able to talk to the administration and get a new copy that could be used. As the agreement is now it's difficult to get a new copy without talking to administration anyway.
I don't believe that Sony will use this on their products that they will sell to the general consumer, in fact I believe it violates the Fair Use rights that we are granted under current copyright laws. I'm not sure about the last statement, going off my memory, feel free to correct me on it.
I agree it's not that hard to remove, but I don't want to have to put up with un-installing it every time I install windows, and then it trying to sneak in a new install when I run Windows Update.
Slashdot Mirror
The "com" or "net" that you're referring to aren't just added to the URL, they're how your site is found. There's actually an implied . at the end of every URL, so http://slashdot.org/ is actually http://slashdot.org./ and then it is somewhat similar to the way you would use the directories on your computer, but in the opposite direction, and some more details. So if you're looking for http://slashdot.org/ it first goes to ".", which is overall, then finds "org" within ".", then finds "slashdot" within "org" and that's how you get here. If there are subdomains, like "yro.slashdot.org" or "politics.slashdot.org", then it keeps going down the line. There's a few more things in there, but they don't really matter for the sake of this discussion.
As for creating an ".xxx" in place of ".com" for all porn sites, even if it were possible, there's no way to gaurantee that all porn sites will be in the ".xxx" domain, or that all sites in ".xxx" are even porn.
".tv" is a good example. ".tv" is supposed to belong to a country in the Pacific. However a few years ago when it was first found out that ".tv" was the countries domain, television shows wanted to use the names in ".tv" because it would be perfect for them because they are TV shows. You could enforce other sites not getting into it with strict regulations I suppose, but then you'd have to define what is pornography,which could eventually lead to what pornagrophy is allowed, etc etc.
Also, there is then no way to make sure that a porn site is not outside of ".xxx", in fact, if you make regulations on ".xxx" then it'd be easier to make a new porn site just a ".com" instead of a ".xxx".
I agree that upgrading your hardware could be a problem. However there are some reasonable ways to use this kind of technology. For instance, the MSDNAA, an agreement between Microsoft and some colleges allowing students to recieve software that would be needed in classes for low cost or free, would be an example. The students that have access to this are only supposed to use the software they have for one computer, so it would make sense to use this technology there. Since it is also controlled primarily by the campus, if the student got a new computer they'd be able to talk to the administration and get a new copy that could be used. As the agreement is now it's difficult to get a new copy without talking to administration anyway. I don't believe that Sony will use this on their products that they will sell to the general consumer, in fact I believe it violates the Fair Use rights that we are granted under current copyright laws. I'm not sure about the last statement, going off my memory, feel free to correct me on it.
I agree it's not that hard to remove, but I don't want to have to put up with un-installing it every time I install windows, and then it trying to sneak in a new install when I run Windows Update.