Home

.xxx Domain Debate Continues

As reported previously on TW, the debate over a .xxx TLD continued with the Governmental Advisory Committee meeting behind closed doors today. They'll issue a formal, non-binding statement on Thursday, which is expected to influence the final ICANN vote on Friday. ICANN has rejected .xxx proposals twice since 2000.

Although the domain name's use by porn sites would be voluntary, the proposal ensnares issues of access and freedom of speech, with many in the adult-entertainment industry worried that its creation would make government regulation tempting.

Meanwhile, religious groups worry that ".xxx" would legitimize and expand the number of adult sites, which more than a third of U.S. Internet users visit each month, according to comScore Media Metrix. The Web site measurement firm said 4 percent of all Web traffic and 2 percent of all time spent Web surfing involved an adult site.

Full Story

- Y! MyWeb

Three strikes...

ICANN voted down the '.xxx' top-level domain again.

Quote:
The 9-5 decision by ICANN's board came nearly seven years after the proposal was first floated by ICM Registry LLC. It was the third time ICANN has rejected such a bid. Paul Twomey, ICANN's chief executive, who had described the proposal this week as "clearly controversial, clearly polarizing" abstained from the vote but did not say why.

and

Quote:
What is certain is that ICANN will no longer hear the proposal but that does not mean that an entirely new application could be drawn up and offered for consideration.

Link

By skore at Mar 30 2007 - 13:25

Transcript of the meeting

Transcript of the meeting here

By Nick Wilsdon at Mar 30 2007 - 14:49