Will the Department of Commerce OK a XXX Internet Domain?

Human Events Online ^ | June 15, 2005 | Jan LaRue

[hinterlander]

Unless the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) withholds its approval, the porn industry will have its own domain on the World Wide Web, .xxx. Proponents of the domain say that Web sites such as “Hardcore porn.xxx,” “Rape Porn.xxx,” or “XXXporn.xxx” will make it easier for parents and software filtering companies to protect kids from “adult” material. As if “Hardcore porn.com,” “Rape Porn.com,” or “XXX porn.com,” leave them clueless.

If approved, the porn industry and its allies will be free to self-regulate and operate the domain, which would be entirely voluntary. Internet porn site operators would be free to participate on the .xxx domain and be free to remain on any other Internet domain on which they are registered. Double their pleasure and double their fun while expanding their reach and making it easier for kids to find their porn.

The controversy over the .xxx domain comes in the midst of an announcement today by the Florida Family Association (FFA): “Two of the largest Internet porn companies in the world operate with alleged addresses in Miami and Orlando, Florida.” FFA’s programmed special software, dubbed “PornCrawler,” “searched the World Wide Web, identified porn sites and summarized which companies operate those sites. PornCrawler analyzed 297 million links and found that 20 companies in the United States account for over 70 percent of the pornography posted on the World Wide Web.”

[kharaku]

Unless companies are forced to use this domain, it's useless for filtering. (Such force would probably violate a lot of rights or something).

[traviskicks]

why does the DOC need to approve? I thought the internet was regulated by non profit private groups and completley out of teh hands of government?

[PittsburghAfterDark]

I think a .xxx domain is a great idea. You'd have new bidding wars on domains to go with it and an entirely new gold rush on the web. It gives one more control to distinguishing the web like .biz, .gov, .mil, .tv (I know, it's a country.) etc. Calling everything a .com or .net seems very limiting and doesn't really distinguish categories as well as the other domains may.

[PMCarey]

I'm okay with this. In fact I've been suggesting it for years. But the trick is that you need some kind of regulation to back it up so that a porn site which is not "xxx" immediately loses its site name. It sure would make filtering a whole lot easier. Think of as online zoning.

[hispanichoosier]

It gives one more control to distinguishing the web like .biz, .gov, .mil, .tv (I know, it's a country.) etc.

That's what I think. I'm sure some software company will soon produce software that blocks a browser from accessing the ".xxx" domain.

[Bluegrass Conservative]

Unless companies are forced to use this domain, it's useless for filtering.

I agree, but I'm not sure that it couldn't be forced. We pass regulations on businesses all the time, including the porn industry. Why not force them to have the .xxx domain?

[unixfox]

All you would need is for the an option in the browser setup to block xxx domains. This would be an easy fix and could also be password protected.

[montag813]

Leave the marketplace alone. The government has not basis to inject itself into this situation.

[Hank Rearden]

Screw Big Stupid Government. Do it. I thought it was an obvious great idea 10 years ago.

[prion]

Me, I've always thought there should be and "adult" tag in the metadata. I'm guessing pornographers would use it voluntarily -- why waste bandwidth on kids without credit cards? These guys are in business.

[PMCarey]

why does the DOC need to approve?

You need InterNIC to come aboard and provide it some kind of policying power so that porn sites which are not *.xxx lose their domain names.

[softwarecreator]

I agree, it's a great idea.  I don't feel the gov't should have any regulation on the 'net and if legitimate 'adult' sites (as opposed to the illegal crud) follow along with this willingly, it could only be a benefit to everyone.

[TheOtherOne]

I don't think the DOC has any say on this, ICANN already voted and approved the .xxx. It is voluntary and meaningless. Just as I can get TheOtherOne.org or whatever. All the porn sites will not stop using .com, they will add a .xxx to their listing. This is much ado about nothing...oh, except the $60 per .xxx domain name sold!

[StuLongIsland]

If they dont use the .xxx domain, and use .com instead, we can then say they are pushing this stuff on the rest of us who don't desire this, thus perhaps lead on to maybe some legal charges? No one is saying they can't publish, just where they can.

[PMCarey]

Leave the marketplace alone. The government has not basis to inject itself into this situation.

Think of this as a zoning issue - or are you opposed to zoning?

[softwarecreator]

Exactly.  Why have kids, or people not interested, wasting bandwidth ... this way, if you go there, it's not by accident and they would have a better chance at selling their site or products.

[1L]

It isn't as much a regulation problem as much as a definitional problem. How do you define "porn" or whatever material requires the xxx designation? I've stumbled across sites that have an adult content warning, which I don't know if it is required for their content or not. Perhaps if it is, there's your answer -- anything with an adult content warning = XXX. I think what some people might not like is sites that might have nude pictures (i.e. photo sites or nudist sites) being required to be a XXX.

[so_real]

Unless companies are forced to use this domain, it's useless for filtering.

No force is necessary. There's a neat trick in the geek world called DNS (domain name services). Every time you connect to the Internet, your computer is provided two Name Servers that are used to convert domain names like www.freerepublic.com into numbers the machine can understand like 209.157.64.201. Try it out, click this http://209.157.64.201/. These Name Servers are provided by your ISP. It is a completely distributed system. Now if your ISP is provided a list of porn sites and their .xxx counterparts, and the ISP voluntarily serves one but not the other ... voila ... the companies are forced to use the .xxx domain without truly being governmentally "forced". The people govern themselves; if your ISP won't enforce the .xxx standards, pick a new ISP and stop funding the old one. Eventually, they will come around. I support this 100%.

[Bluegrass Conservative]

How do you define "porn" or whatever material requires the xxx designation?

I don't know how to define it, but I know it when I see it. :-)

Seriously though, it would be no different than how it is defined for movies, magazines, etc. Obviously that has to be some definition for those.