The internet IS porn. The internet wouldn't be what it is today without it, and if we're talking capitalism, then that should be the overriding factor in any decision.

US govt. censoring ICANN over porn for moral reasons? Gimme a break, the US makes billions from internet porn - a LOT more than the rest of the world does. If anything, establishing a XXX suffix will have an effect on the incidental revenue which comes from the inability to filter porn as things are now.

Establishing a XXX suffix will make it easier for entire countries to filter porn, which will seriously cut into the vast income the US receives as a a result of their present inability to effectively filter it.

Or perhaps Dubya's just having problems in the sack...?

Allow the XXX domains, but move all porn to that XXX domains.
dont allow porn in .com net and org domains.

"Law means nothing to hardcore pornographers"

Law means nothing to hardcore religious fundamentalists like "Family Research Council".

Whether it's correct or a good idea to have an XXX domain or not - the ICANN should not bow to pressure from the US government. This would amount to indirect censorship of the internet by the US government and would set a very bad precedent.

"This would amount to indirect censorship of the internet by the US government"

Nothing wrong with ~that~ !

If the French want it, then change the "fr" domain to "xxx".

The Computer Rodent

Give it to the French..they'll say they thought of it, screw it up, and blame the world.

... I'm really looking forward to this tld. While I agree that setting up a 'red-light district' on the net would put off pornographers due to the domain name seeming less effective than a .com, I would definately support legislation to limit US-based pornography companies to transfer their online businesses to this domain over a reasonable period of time.

It is not legitimate to trick people into visiting porn sites or soliciting pornography on the Internet when children, elderly people, and people who just really don't want boobs in their e-mail find themselves in the crossfire of illigitimate ad campaigns.

I enjoyed when domains cost $70+ per year as it regulated legitimate businesses setting up their own websites and created a simple class distinction. It also would have averted people from bulk registering many similar domains as the pay-off would not be worth the investment.

I think that law makers here are really failing to see the possibilities with regulating US Internet Commerce in regard to family values here. Wasn't the Bush campaign about family values? Weren't Al and Tipper Gore the people who established the rating system on video games? As far as family values go and labelling content (rather than censoring - cheers to Al & Tipper) -- this new TLD should be celebrated and the pornography business should see this as a positive thing.

If .xxx is introduced, it will pose a challenge to pornographers to move forward in a new direction and many of the sites that thrive on trickery and misinformation will now have a chance to be disenfranchised.

If I want to [sexual inuendo here], I'm more than happy to type that suffix. In the meantime, I would be glad to keep the real Internet separate from the porn sub-culture influenced internet.

I highly suggest reading the post below by Polychronopolis.

Not allowing the .xxx domain name won't change anything for the pronography industry. Nor will it change anything for those who don't want any part of the pronography industry.

this would have to be one of the funniest topics i have read in a while.

the porn industry IS a legitimate business. hell they make just as much money a year as hollywood, so just because some people dont agree with it because they are 'offended' by the art that is porn(yes art, every film maker considers themselves an artist, doesnt mean u need to agree)is a joke. that aside, WHY stop the xxx domain? wouldnt it make it slightly easier for things like netnanny and what not to just go open slather with their blocking? thus making it easier to block porn getting into the hands of kids?

The issue i think these people dont realise is that its the porn companies that are 'above board' that will go across and get blocked.... its the niche fetish freaks that have always been 'underground' that wont move to the new domains...

i think the xxx domain is a good idea. and i would like anyone try and give a DECENT reason as to why its not. (and not accepting porn is already a legitimate industry is not a reason)

The upside is that porn blockers can block all .xxx domains. Aparently, they dont think!

No porn dude with half a brain would do this. It's a target. Anything ".xxx" would suddenly be treated like a virus anyhow by spyware, controls, browser safe zones, etc. etc. So why go run out and take up residence in the "internet red light district"? The internet let porn peddlers on main street. Don't expect them to walk away from that.

I'm really not sure why anyone would be against this. It doesn't make any sense.

The XXX domain is a good idea for the most part. It won't take care of all pornography. That's impossible. But it would at the very least help the situation for people that don't want to see any of it.

You'd think people would be happy with any help they can get. I makes no sense to turn down the domain, no matter how little they think it will actually do. It will at least do SOMETHING...

People are weird.

I think the main argument from those in opposition would be the fact that giving them a domain would be seen as validating the legitimacy of their business, putting the "OK" stamp on Porn as an industry, so to speak.

A lot of moral-high-grounders obviously see that as a bad thing and cannot even come close to realizing any of it's benefits. They cannot get past the "it's OK" ideal to see the ways it could help their causes.

It's called blinders. Most folks who fanatically follow any belief or ideal suffer from this crippling malady.

You're probably right. And those people are so blind. I'm not happy about it, but I can at least acknowledge the fact that the porn industry is very wide-spread.

The best idea would be to not let the US to control the internet so BS like that would not happen and things on the internet can progress much faster.

So what is the point of "forcing" the move to .xxx the companies who own the .com will still own it what are they going to be forced to do? Make a redirect?

Here is your US Govt at its best. Anti-company, anti-democratic and forces their opinions onto other people and takes a control of the Internet which they do not own so they should not pass these stupid laws like anti-spam, anti-spyware because of lack of enforcement and laws like that still don't mean anything since the Internet is global beyond what the US govt thinks.

*News flash*

There wouldn't be an Internet without the U.S. Government.

Remember ARPAnet? Yeah... that old thing?

Yes, the US "invented" it. Since then, however, we have proven beyond any doubt our complete inability to regulate, legislate, coordinate, structure, or accomplish anything other than watch as it does whatever it is that it does and make a lot of noise about how good/bad it is depending on the season.

US policy is dictated by capitolistic corporate policy. I wouldn't want my company running the net, I sure as hell don't want the US running it

Would you suggest we allow, say.... China?

I'd have to agree with you. However, I'm not sure who I would want controlling the Internet. The U.N.? Heaven help us. I dunno. And that's pretty much how everyone feels. No one knows how to deal with it, which is why it has taken this long for anything like this to happen.

top of the list for those who I'd not want in control of the internet...closely followed by the US.

We all know that the function of the government is to control our lives. Democracy was founded on the belief that the people would be the controlling body.

I believe we are seeing a pitfall of Democracy, it's called Capitalism. Here we are seeing that the Adult Entertainment Industry is being unfairly treated because of mostly religious beliefs about morality. These beliefs are being forced upon the general population by an outspoken minority.

I believe the AEI is being unfairly treated because of political gain. What better way to appeal to your voters than to tackle this "evil" organization (AEI). No career minded politician wants to be associated with this industry, so they fight against it.

Flip the coin and you have the RIAA/MPAA. Two huge organizations that gain their finances from the accomplishments of those that they represent. Since these industries are socially acceptable, and provide valuable campaign contributions, they are allowed to continue their monopolistic ways.

Relating to this article, it is unfair to not provide an acceptable place for the AEI to sell their goods. The .XXX domain should be created with laws set in place to govern the other top-level domains to prevent redirects and exposure to minors.

Congress is now run by individuals who are so horribly disconnected with the needs and beliefs of the people. Congress has changed course from its intended role. Representatives no longer speak for their constituants, they speak what their lobbyists and contributors want to hear.

"Here we are seeing that the Adult Entertainment Industry is being unfairly treated because of mostly religious beliefs about morality. These beliefs are being forced upon the general population by an outspoken minority."

...

This has nothing to do with religion. Go to any therapist or psychologist. They will tell you that pornography addictions are harmful to relationships. Period. It doesn't matter what religion, if any, you believe in.

I could go on, but then I would be off-topic.

I was with you until you got to that point. I didn't even read the rest of your comment. Your entire argument fell to pieces right there.

any addiction is harmful to relationships... Should we close down all the gambling sites online? What about folks addicted to shopping, should we shut-down all internet commerce?

What was your point again? Oh yeah..that the GP's argument had no basis on morality/religion. Take a look at the lobbyists/organizations fighting this and try again.

"any addiction is harmful to relationships... Should we close down all the gambling sites online? What about folks addicted to shopping, should we shut-down all internet commerce?"

Who said porn was being outlawed? You made the exact same point I did. I'm with you here :p

My point was that the overall change to the XXX domain is not being pushed by any religious organization. Obviously, this specific action was. And really... I think they're being stupid. All they're doing is helping the porn industry by stopping the domain. People are stupid.

You argued that the domain shouldn't go through because it fosters an addiction. I missed my point with that quote. I should have used that same argument for shutting down any possibility of domains for casinos or e-commerce.

*shrug*

Doesn't have the same punch though.

Ah well.

Your previous statement also led me to believe you held the notion that the delay was not in response (had nothing to do with) morality/religion, which you have since done a 180 on, at least in respect to the current delay.

Gee, thanks for not giving me anything to argue with you about. There goes my day.

bia***.

lol sorry.

I do that a lot. People think I'm making a specific statement when I'm making a very general statement and viceversa.

Come on guys, here's what you do. Put all the porn on the XXX domain, and then set your router to block the XXX domain.

What better way to stop all porn on the browser.

that's actually a great idea.

Agreed.

It sounds good, but it would never work. There is no chance in hell that every single one of the porn sites is going to move.

1) They paid a lot of money for the domains they have now.

2) There's a risk of not getting the same name under the xxx domain.

3) Porn sites never play by the rules anyway. Why should they start now, especially for this system. That would mean lowered profits because they wouldn't be able to draw someone in who just wanted to go to the Whitehouse website...

That's the reason I think the top-level domain is a good idea. I was shocked the USA were not happy with the ICANN descision, for it would only 'separate the market' so customers would be better able to filter the contents.

even if "most" of them do not (and I believe most would), some will. Even if it is a relatively small amount, moving *any* off of the .net/.com domains should be seen as a victory those opposing it.

I understand the argument that giving them a domain "validates" their legitimacy, but not "validating" them sure as hell isn't solving the problem, eh?

Wincemeat is correct. A xxx domain won't "solve" anything. Porn vendors who don't obey the law now will just have 2 domain names. If porn vendors were *forced* to move and then people could block them, that would make everybody happy - except the porn vendors who would still disregard the rules.

While religious conservative may object, that alone doesn't mean it's a bad idea. Porn vendors indiscriminately push their wares on everybody. When my son was growing up, I had to change his email several times to keep him from getting porn spam. 10 year olds don't need to be seeing that.

Whoa! How this was even an idea is beyond me. Sure you can block access to *.xxx however that doesn't take care of what is already on every other extension. Converting them over isn't going to work, even if the images/videos are hosted on a .xxx you'll see the images/videos all over .com's , .net's , etc... The only thing this idea is good for, is any new coming port site that wants a decent domain name.

If .xxx is giving to the porn industry, give .mlb to baseball sites, and .hax to the hacking website. we could go on until we're blue in the face.

Open this door for the .xxx and see what else comes out.

We're on the same side here PhoenixPath. Read my other comments. I said something almost exactly like your comment a little ways up the page.

I was talking about the specific scenario of blocking the .xxx domain at the router. There's no way that's going to stop everything.

**EDIT**
You must have already read my comment above because you replied to it :p

you are exactly right.

And here is the reason why,

Because the same group of people are the ones that are secretly surfing porn late at night. 6,000 people hardly represents the millions of Americans. Politicians don't need to surf porn, they get it first hand for free. They don't care. Big deal that the industry is to be put on their own xxx domain. I think that it will not hurt any business, but limit the dirty tricks used by some to redirect to them. The catholic priest and father of three will not be able to surf porn without having some knowledge in computers to erase his tracks from history. Now, they both have to type in xxx and explain to the wife and constituants why they were there. They cannot just easily say, "I don't know how that got on there!"

Also, the IT guy that doesn't think this is a good idea is probably surfing porn on his s***, or being told by the CEO that he wants to be able to get to his porn at work.

funny!!

"Open this door for the .xxx and see what else comes out."

Maybe we should. Help bring more structure to the Internet. .gen for general, .tech for technology, .help for how-to's and support, etc. Kinda like the structure of Usenet (but more regulated).

On a side note, as a network admin, I've set the router to filter out .xxx to remove one source of porn (for when .xxx comes available).

Porn companies (of whatever kind) should be given a free transfer to .xxx along with a redirect. Porn websites that do not comply will lose their hosting. If their hosting company does not remove the site, then they lose their own Internet access or are heavily fined.

In this specific thread you came off as holding the assumption that the domain would do nothing to benefit anyone but the pornographers. I was simply trying to argue the fact that there will be benefits to those of us wishing to avoid it as well.

Mis-stating, mis-communicating, mis-reading, misunderstanding...we seem to be on the same page, just reading it in different languages perhaps.

*shrug*

Oooh... Man, I wish there was a way to post anonymously here... This comment is just begging to be trolled.

*sigh*

Back to /.

I know your anti-porn and I respect that. However, remember that it is a business.

Just because I lure you to my site does not mean that you are giving me money. In fact, any traffic costs them money.

The legitimate distributors will move to the .XXX without question because they know if you come to their site, you may be able to pay them.

Only the fly-by-night distributors looking for a quick buck use the scam and spam techniques. In that arena, the .XXX domain will do no good. As I said earlier, enforceable laws need put into place with severe punishments for violations.

I can complicate this matter even further by asking what is considered pornography. The soft-core variety can technically be marketed as instructional videos. Therefore they would not be pornography, but they would still be adult only.

There is never an easy answer that will fix all of the problems, but there's nothing wrong with taking steps in the right direction.