Members TampaYankee Posted March 19, 2011 Members Posted March 19, 2011 Domain '.xxx' Approved for Web Porn Sites AP SAN FRANCISCO -- You've heard of ".com" and ".org." Joining them soon will be their bawdy cousin: ".xxx." On Friday, the board of directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which oversees the Internet's naming system, approved the creation of a red-light district online for pornographic websites. It follows a decade-long battle over such a name. The board of directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers approved the domain ".xxx" for pornographic websites. Religious groups argue that giving adult websites their own corner of the Internet legitimizes the content. Pornographers worry it will ghettoize their sites. Although it's meant to be voluntary, they fear governments could try to mandate the domain's use, so that pornographic content is more easily blocked. Diane Duke, executive director of the adult entertainment industry's Free Speech Coalition, said in a statement that ICANN has "disregarded overwhelming outpouring of opposition from the adult entertainment industry - the supposed sponsorship community" and dismissed the "interests of free speech on the Internet." Supporters have maintained that approving the domain is in keeping with the principle of openness that has fueled the Internet's growth. While the idea of ".xxx" has provoked a philosophical debate, for the U.S. company that submitted the application for the domain, the issue is little more than a matter of dollars and cents. ICM Registry and its CEO, Stuart Lawley, who has led the fight for ICANN's approval of ".xxx," stand to profit handsomely from the rollout of ".xxx" websites - because he will be in charge of collecting fees for the use of the new domains. Lawley plans to charge registrars $60 per year for the domain names. He estimates that he could sell as many as 500,000 by the time he rolls them out this summer. "This was always going to be a very lucrative arrangement," he said in an interview Friday. Lawley's prices have been a critical issue for opponents to his plan, since domain names typically sell for a fraction of what Lawley plans to charge. They often sell for $10 or less. ICANN had repeatedly rejected Lawley's application since 2000, under pressure from Christian groups and governments unhappy with the spread of online porn. Lawley has pitched the suffix as a way for parents to more easily block access to the content. He argues it will be easier for Web filtering software to block ".xxx" sites since they are clearly labeled as porn. See original article at: http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/18/domain-xxx-approved-for-web-porn-sites/ Quote
Members TampaYankee Posted March 19, 2011 Author Members Posted March 19, 2011 Just one more step in the control and censorship of the internet. Quote
Members lookin Posted March 19, 2011 Members Posted March 19, 2011 Pornographers worry it will ghettoize their sites. Although it's meant to be voluntary, they fear governments could try to mandate the domain's use, so that pornographic content is more easily blocked. While I can't see as far down the road as these guys can, it seems like it would be a pretty messy undertaking for a government to start classifying sites as .xxx. What criteria would they use? Maybe Google's already coming up with an algorithm that would assign a Porn Index to all websites. I notice they've been crawling around here lately. Whoops! They're here now. Better keep it clean fellas! Quote
Guest zipperzone Posted March 19, 2011 Posted March 19, 2011 Would it not be up to the individual webmasters to decide if they want to use .com or .xxx? Quote
Members MsGuy Posted March 19, 2011 Members Posted March 19, 2011 "Although it's meant to be voluntary, [porno site owners] fear governments could try to mandate the domain's use, so that pornographic content is more easily blocked." Once you have folks wearing yellow stars and living in ghettos, it's much easier to load up the boxcars, Zipper. Better to fight the construction of the ghetto in the first place than to wait until you smell the smoke. ---- Maybe that's too strong an image. I'm of two minds about using it. It's hard for me to judge, so I apologize now if anyone is offended. And feel free to call me an idiot as often as needed. ---- ps for Lookin: my preference is both the pic on the left and the guy on the left. Quote
TotallyOz Posted March 19, 2011 Posted March 19, 2011 This is something I did not want to happen. With the idiots in charge of our country making decisions for the Internet, I do strongly believe that porn will be regulated to something like an XXX name. They want to push pornographers as far into the closet as they prefer homosexuals to be. Mark my word, this is a horrible thing that has happened! Quote
Members RA1 Posted March 19, 2011 Members Posted March 19, 2011 Just to be the usual carmudgeon and "conservative", MSguy and others seem to recognize that the "powers that be" are not necessarily in our best interests. There are SO MANY examples of this to include the TSA, HSA and many others that I do not understand why "others" are not totally against the current regime (meaning not only BO but others) as well as pols in general, as they appear to be today. Sorry to be so negative. Best regards, RA1 Quote
TotallyOz Posted March 19, 2011 Posted March 19, 2011 There are SO MANY examples of this to include the TSA, HSA and many others that I do not understand why "others" are not totally against the current regime (meaning not only BO but others) Well, I for one am not happy with the "powers that be" at the current moment in time. It seems that they don't realize they are in power. Amazing but true. It seems after the election 2 years ago, someone forgot to tell the democrats they were in charge. They pussy footed around until another election and now they have to play pick up. Quote
Guest zipperzone Posted March 19, 2011 Posted March 19, 2011 Well, I for one am not happy with the "powers that be" at the current moment in time. It seems that they don't realize they are in power. Amazing but true. It seems after the election 2 years ago, someone forgot to tell the democrats they were in charge. They pussy footed around until another election and now they have to play pick up. Careful now! or this will end up in the Politics forum....... Quote
Guest zipperzone Posted March 19, 2011 Posted March 19, 2011 This is something I did not want to happen. With the idiots in charge of our country making decisions for the Internet, I do strongly believe that porn will be regulated to something like an XXX name. They want to push pornographers as far into the closet as they prefer homosexuals to be. Mark my word, this is a horrible thing that has happened! Do you imagine "they" would be able to control off-shore sites as well? Do I smell a global conspiracy here? Quote
TotallyOz Posted March 19, 2011 Posted March 19, 2011 Do you imagine "they" would be able to control off-shore sites as well? Do I smell a global conspiracy here? Many countries are very upset that all domain name control is from a US based organization (ICANN). Can they control off shore sites? YES they can. Quote
Members MsGuy Posted March 19, 2011 Members Posted March 19, 2011 Do you imagine "they" would be able to control off-shore sites as well? Do I smell a global conspiracy here? Most govs around the world are not all that big on free expression in the first place. They'd love a technically easy way of surpressing porn. Quote
Guest FourAces Posted March 19, 2011 Posted March 19, 2011 This is terrible news on so many levels. Aside from the control it can give governments down the road ... What husband or partner wants to visit a domain ending in .xxx? Most people hardly know how to use the address bar let alone clear history. The newer browsers can erase cookies as you visit will they now automatically block this new top domain level? If one owns many adult domain names the expense of having to buy them to protect your brand is outrageous for most, including me. The fight over the valuable domains will become costly. And maybe the most important reason why this is a bad idea, it could impact our very own OZ thats right .. after spending thousands of dollars matching his inventory on the new .xxx the man will be sooooo tired he might cut back to 2 or 3 boys per night Quote
TotallyOz Posted March 19, 2011 Posted March 19, 2011 Most govs around the world are not all that big on free expression in the first place. They'd love a technically easy way of surpressing porn. Is that why I often have to use a proxy program when I am overseas? LOL Thailand blocks any site that speaks ill of the royal family, the government or has porn. They have even blocked as many sites as they could find with the word gay in them at one time. Many say Thailand is the most censored place around. But I think China and many countries in the Middle East would take issue with that title. Quote
TotallyOz Posted March 19, 2011 Posted March 19, 2011 And maybe the most important reason why this is a bad idea, it could impact our very own OZ thats right .. after spending thousands of dollars matching his inventory on the new .xxx the man will be sooooo tired he might cut back to 2 or 3 boys per night I have already put in for over 500 names. That is at over 60 bucks a pop per year! Sucks doesn't it? Quote
Members lookin Posted March 19, 2011 Members Posted March 19, 2011 I'm as leery of the powers that be as the next guy, but I'm still not sure how this would convert from a voluntary designation to a mandatory one. Granted, I'd be cautious about signing up for it if I were a site owner, even though the guy who set it up seems to think some will pay a premium for the privilege. But no one is making anyone sign up for it. At least not yet. And that's where my question comes in: How would a government make someone sign up for the .xxx domain? Would there be some kind of Porn Czar who decided what it took for a site to be included? Would a single x-rated post by a single poster be enough to mandate the .xxx designation? What if the post were removed in an hour? What if a hacker got a nipple shot splashed across the Vatican website, or an altar boy showed the outline of a morning woody? With content changing so quickly on most websites, I'm just not sure how the process would work. It seems the problem for a website owner would arise if he actually wanted to have an x-rated site, but did not want the .xxx designation. I'm trying to think through why that would be, unless to avoid the fifty dollar premium. Of course, 500 domain names would put a crimp in the old pocketbook, and one may have to consider selling some off. But that's more of a business decision than one of censorship. I believe movie producers go through this same kind of evaluation when deciding the tradeoffs among content, film rating, and audience size. But, unlike a movie, where the content is fixed at the time of rating, a domain name doesn't necessarily have any content at the time it's registered, and who's to say www.bigdicks.com won't turn out to be a website about rude drivers? I really value the discussion here, as no doubt I'm still behind the curve on this one. Quote
Members RA1 Posted March 19, 2011 Members Posted March 19, 2011 I think the "general" answer is that government never wants to do less, they always want to do more. Which is exactly how we are giving up freedoms supposedly in exchange for security. We don't need the TSA and they are totally ineffective but do you think they will ever give up any power unless "forced" to do so? Ditto HUD, DOE, HEW,DOC, etc., etc. We really don't need any of them and certainly not at the huge bureaucracy level they are now. Best regards, RA1 Quote
Guest zipperzone Posted March 20, 2011 Posted March 20, 2011 And that's where my question comes in: How would a government make someone sign up for the .xxx domain? Would there be some kind of Porn Czar who decided what it took for a site to be included? Could you let me know where to send my resume? Great butt pic BTW Quote
BiBottomBoy Posted March 23, 2011 Posted March 23, 2011 This makes me want to buy the domain names spermfacedboys.xxx, barebackbugchasers.xxx, hornydwarffuckers.xxx, analescorts.xxx, pissingrentboys.xxx and bigblackcock.xxx and then upload nothing but LOL cat pictures to all the sites. Quote
Members TampaYankee Posted March 23, 2011 Author Members Posted March 23, 2011 And that's where my question comes in: How would a government make someone sign up for the .xxx domain? Would there be some kind of Porn Czar who decided what it took for a site to be included? I can imagine a couple of scenarios. Consider that most adult sites have age restriction notices on their splash pages. That could be taken as prima facie statement that the owner considers it an adult site. Consider also that many adult sites have nanny software links on the splash page. Consider also that almost all 'adult' sites have 2257 statements on the splash page. All of these can be cataloged by webcrawler bots. That would identify 99.44% of all sites based on the claims of the site owners. Now Uncle Sam passes a law or ICANN institutes a regulation that adult sites must be behind an xxx domain. That is not an abridgement of Freedom of Speech as no speech was obstructed, just regulated. All that needs be shown is that the government has a compelling interest to regulate as long as it doesn not deny or censor that speech. The compelling interest is to protect children. It is easy to imagine a SOTUS with new appointments from a GOP President that would uphold such a law. That is how everyone gets herded into the ghetto. Will that happen? Hard to know but the stage is being arranged such that it could happen. Every step taken that makes it easier to happen, makes it easier to happen -- the operational definition of a slippery slope. Quote
Guest zipperzone Posted March 23, 2011 Posted March 23, 2011 I think it is a very thin line between obstructed and regulated. Quote
Members TampaYankee Posted March 23, 2011 Author Members Posted March 23, 2011 I think it is a very thin line between obstructed and regulated. You may, unfortunately it doesn't matter what you or I think. It only matters what SOTUS thinks. Yelling 'fire' in a crowded theatre is regulated speech. So said SOTUS. Quote
Members MsGuy Posted March 23, 2011 Members Posted March 23, 2011 And, just to beat the point to death, let's not forget this isn't just for the USA. All kinds of folks internationally are going to be affected by this xxx.com decision. Quote
Members lookin Posted March 23, 2011 Members Posted March 23, 2011 Got it, TY. Thanks. I know vaguely what 2257 is, but had no inkling of the other corrals that are already in place. Have to agree then. Who needs it! (Well, except for the folks who must figure it will drive extra traffic to their site, and are willing to pay a premium price for it.) It felt odd being, even temporarily, odd man out on this issue as I'm probably as chary of internet control as anyone. I've long felt that there's going to be much more control of the internet as the years go by, both by government and by business. And by whoever else can figure out how to get their hands around its digital neck. I think those who are scheming for control today are a fairly weak advance guard for those who will follow. There's just too much power and money involved for the raptors not to be interested. I've always thought they would come with data mining, and analysis and control of content and communication flow, rather than something as easy as a domain extension. Ah, well, I guess .xxx is another arrow in the quiver. I've actually been feeling pretty blessed to live in a time when there's as much internet freedom as we have today. Might as well enjoy it while it's here! Quote
Members MsGuy Posted March 24, 2011 Members Posted March 24, 2011 I've actually been feeling pretty blessed to live in a time when there's as much internet freedom as we have today. Might as well enjoy it while it's here! Damn, I got here too late. All that's left of lookin's naked guy pic is the dreaded red x. And I always enjoy his pic selection. Quote
