The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), has tabled discussion of the proposed sponsored Top Level Domain, .xxx, until next year.
A sponsored TLD is different from, say, a .com in that bearers need to comply with requirements for owning that name. Detractors of the proposed .xxx version say that it will ghettoize the adult industry by forcing adult content into a particular corner of the web where it then can be squashed by the U.S. Department of Commerce-controlled organization. .xxx also doesn’t address which content is to be considered “adult”: art school nudes? Text-based erotica? GramPonante.com?
Here is an excellent article by Connor Young of YNot.com breaking down much of the issue. Here is a GFY thread mentioning those who stand to benefit, one way or the other, if .xxx goes through. Caution: the thread contains much of the entertaining hand-wringing hyperbole that makes the adult business so beloved, as well as an educational discourse on “Follow the Money” and some finger-pointing behavior that was made ironic considering attendance at a certain adult industry awards function earlier this season.
Anyway, ICANN has trumped by a factor of 11 months the Free Speech Coalition‘s tactic of extending 2257 restraining orders. Kudos, ICANN!
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