Porn lovers get .xxx domain
June 2005
The non-profit organisation responsible for
internet addresses has approved dot-xxx domains, a
move that reverses the group's earlier position
and heads off a potential political spat with
conservative US politicians.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (Icann) said it's working with the ICM
Registry to finalise remaining details, meaning
the porn-friendly set of dot-xxx domains should be
available by the end of the year. Other top-level
domains still awaiting a decision from Icann are
dot-asia, dot-mail, and dot-tel.
Stuart Lawley, chairman of the ICM Registry, could
not be immediately reached for comment. In an
interview last year, Lawley said that dot-xxx
domain names would cost around $75 and come with
no restrictions except that any sexually explicit
content feature only adults. "Apart from child
pornography, which is completely illegal, we're
really not in the content-monitoring business,"
Lawley said.
ICM Registry plans to handle the technical aspects
of running the master database of dot-xxx sex
sites. A second, non-profit organisation called
the International Foundation For Online
Responsibility will be in charge of setting the
rules for dot-xxx. It's intended to have a
seven-person board of directors, including a child
advocacy advocate, a free-expression aficionado
and someone from the adult entertainment industry.
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