Humans love to think up easy fixes for complicated problems. Those easy fixes often end up instigating their own problems and the cycle rolls on.
One easy fix proposed to solve the whole "Internet porn problem" is to assign a specific TLD at the end of adult domains. TLD stands for Top Level Domain. It is the suffix that comes after your domain name, e.g., dot COM, dot NET or dot ORG. Supposed problem-solvers would like to create a special TLD for adult websites. They want to call it dot XXX.
| "But here’s the thing. Despite the finality you read in copious articles back in June, this fight is not over. XXX is not a done deal. " |
Sounds easy, right? Just slap a XXX after all those evil sex sites and then all the worried mommies and daddies can set their content filters to KILL. Little Sally and little Billy will never see dirty bad pictures on their computer machines ever again.
In fact the idea sounds so amazingly simple that a certain fellow has been pushing to become the official XXX registrar for over five years. His name is Stuart Lawley and all he wants to do is apply an easy fix to the complicated problem of adult content on the adult Internet. At least, that’s what he claims.
Mr. Lawley isn’t the first nor the only person to espouse the benefits of a dot triple x TLD. Numerous legislators and purported safe-browsing advocates have lauded the advantages of relegating adult sites to a virtual red-light district. They claim that the TLD serves the dual purpose of shielding minors from pornographic content while upholding the tenants of free speech. They don’t want to make porn illegal. They just want to put it behind a nice, safe cyber wall where the kids can’t get at it.
Sounds lovely except for that whole implementation thing. You see, Stuart Lawley’s little venture, ICM Registry, is bound to make hundreds of millions of dollars a year if he gets his way. He plans to charge anywhere between $50.00-$275.00 per year, per domain. What’s more insidious he also wants to set up some sort of governing board that will determine whether or not a registrant has the right to register a XXX TLD. Of course, there’s also his goal to become the main payment processor for the entire adult Internet. Yes, ICM Registry has grand plans for us and those plans do not serve our best interests, In fact, to revive a phrase from the days of ACACIA patent wars, to Mr. Lawley, we’re nothing but "low-hanging fruit".
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But here’s the thing. Despite the finality you read in copious articles back in June, this fight is not over. XXX is not a done deal. Those news stories were more concerned with garnering traffic than they were with accuracy. Some of them flat-out stated that the XXX TLD was a reality. It’s not.
The governing body that controls and determines which TLDs is called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers or ICANN for short. Lawely has brought TLD applications before them in the past and he was rejected. This time, Lawley cornered ICANN into a tough spot because he threatened to sue them. Because of this ICANN decided to go ahead and approve ICM Registry’s application for the XXX TLD. Take note - the application was approved - not the TLD. Lawley has a lot of hoops to jump through and our industry intends to fight him to the bloody end.
On our side is the wonderful Free Speech Coalition, the majority of our profession and a delightful new entity: DotXXXOpposition.com
Dot-XXX Opposition premiered a funny film about ICM’s nefarious motives at this summer’s AVN show. According to reports the film was a hit and a fitting compliment to FSC’s XXX panel.
Funny films aside, the ICM Registry is no joke. Mr. Lawley is serious. If he wins we all suffer. We’ll see a future where we’ll all be subject to the whims of a man who sees us a nothing but an income stream. We’ll be cordoned off by an optional TLD that will undoubtedly be made mandatory once the lawmakers get their hands on us. We’ll be fucked and not in a good way.