Dot-XXX: ICANN Board Approves Porn Domain

.xxx Top-Level Domain Approved for Porn Sites

Creators of online porn, rejoice: .xxx has been approved by ICANN. The dot-xxx domain was promoted by ICM Registry, whose chariman, Stewart Lawley, said that he was "excited" by the move, which was "a long time coming"; double-entendres may or may not have been intentional. Money shots, sex tapes, and adult webcams are basically getting their own neighborhood, a Web red-light district.

Photos

I am not watching

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uploaded by Jordan Yerman

.xxx is a voluntary gTLD (top-level domain) that site creators will be able to reserve as they would a .com, .org, or .net. Upon the initial pitch, ICM suggested a $60 annual fee for the domain, but that may change. There would be no real advantage in non-porn site creators reserving a .xxx for destination use, as it's only a matter of time before browser updates include a built-in blocker. Think of the children.

.xxx will be made mandatory for adult-oriented sites, as it runs up against the age-old conundrum of defining morality, which varies per person, never mind across countries. On the other hand, sites whose marketing plan hinges on users misspelling other domain names will have no compelling reason to switch, other than buying the .xxx version of their existing name for use as a redirect.

Another Domain-Name Gold Rush

This is a boon for anyone selling domain names, and ICANN itself, since every non-porn web entity will feel compelled to buy the .xxx of their name for the same redirect purpose, and so porn-squatters don't exploit the opportunity.

cnn.xxx, anyone?

A few questions:

• How does one qualify for a .xxx domain? Government sites and education sites are straightforward, but how do you prove that your porn site is a porn site?
  
• Related to the above, who is in charge of verification?
• Is it pronounced "dot ecks ecks ecks", or "dot triple-ecks"?
  

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