June 2, 2005

• From excite news:
  *****************

  Internet Group OKs 'Xxx' Web Addresses
  
  

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  Jun 2, 11:00 AM (ET)

  By TED BRIDIS

  WASHINGTON
  (AP) - The Internet's primary oversight body approved a plan Wednesday
  to create a virtual red-light district, setting the stage for
  pornographic Web sites to use new addresses ending in "xxx."

  The
  Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers said it would begin
  negotiations with ICM Registry Inc., run by British businessman Stuart
  Lawley, to iron out technical issues and prices for the new Web
  addresses.

  Adult-oriented
  sites, a $12 billion industry, probably could begin buying "xxx"
  addresses as early as fall or winter depending on ICM's plans, ICANN
  spokesman Kieran Baker said. The new pornography suffix was among 10
  under consideration by the regulatory group, which also recently
  approved addresses ending in "jobs" and "travel."

  ICM
  contends the "xxx" Web addresses, which it plans to sell for $60 a
  year, will protect children from online smut if adult sites voluntarily
  adopt the suffix so filtering software used by families can more
  effectively block access to those sites. The $60 price is roughly ten
  times higher than prices other companies charge for dot-com names.

  "It will
  further help to protect kids," said John Morris, staff counsel at the
  Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology. Morris predicted
  some adult sites will choose to buy "xxx" Web addresses but others will
  continue to use dot-com.
  

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  Now,
  can someone please tell me, why it is that ICM thinks ANYONE in the
  porn industry will "voluntarily" give up their .com addresses? 
  Especially if ICM is charging ten times the cost for a .xxx address?
  

  Better
  idea, if they were really concerned about making filtering
  easier?  They'd offer some sort of incentive for the porn sites to
  switch to .xxx rather than trying to charge them so much more than they
  have to pay for addresses they already have.
  

  My
  guess?  Since $60 per year really isn't all that much for a porn
  site to have to pay, most of the larger porn sites will keep their .com
  addresses and also purchase .xxx addresses.  And for us pervs,
  that is a good thing.  Makes it easier for us to find our
  porn.  But does nothing to help libraries and parents filter out
  those "smut" sites.
  

  Fricken idiots.
  

  • 7:36 pm
  • 1 Comment