The .”XXX” Domain Seems to Be a Go

For six years now, ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, has been trying to get the “.xxx” domain name signed off on and made available for… well, you can figure out who. The problem is that nobody is a fan of the “.xxx” domain. Pornographers have argued that it would marginalize their impact on the Internet and they would see their traffic numbers (and therefore their revenue) dry up. On the flipside, religious and “family values” organizations argue that giving porn sites their own URL registry would “legitimize” their businesses.

Suffice to say, everybody is some kind of pissy.

So, they may be distraught to hear that ICANN is trying to make the “.xxx” domain a reality once again. Of course, as porn tends to do, this issue has seen a record amount of interest in ICANN:

The Icann community has engaged in extensive debate as well, with this single issue generating higher volumes of community comment than nearly any other issue ever faced within Icann.

Figures.

It’s not as though the “.xxx” domain would be approved and then devoid of applicants. According to the ICM Registry, 110,000 websites have applied for .xxx domains. Frankly, I don’t give a damn if companies like this or not — it’s an essential tool needed to keep the Internet expanding. After all, we’re still running out of names.

Link [via]