Porn Sites of a New Domain

It is now highly probable that the long-debated domain name for pornography sites will soon be put into place. ICM Registry applied to have all porn sites contain the suffix “.xxx” as part of their URL. This proposal has been rejected by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) three times since 2000. ICM Registry believed that there was no reason for their application to be rejected, as they had fit the criteria required to create new domain names. In response to the rejection, ICM Registry challenged ICANN in court through the Independent Review Process. The decision was reached just two weeks ago that ICM Registry does, in fact, have the right to have their domain name established. ICANN and ICM Registry are meeting in Nairobi, Kenya to discuss the contract and eventually begin to create the domain.

ICANN said that their initial rejection of the .xxx domain name was made because the company did not want to be forced into content regulation. This is a reasonable concern for those who want to keep obscenities to a minimum. Media regulation is known to help one party but hurt another. This is proof of that point because while the .xxx domain name will help those looking for porn to easily find it, it consequently makes it easier for youth and others to find it more easily. It is also possible that this name will become mandatory, not just optional.

There has been controversy about whether ICANN should even be controlling the domain name process. Some fear that if the .xxx name were to be put into place, it would legitimize and promote porn sites. Although this may help parents know exactly what sites to block, critics say that porn sites would keep their original .com URL in addition to their new .xxx name as a way to increase the possibility of viewers coming to their site. It will also make porn sites more accessible – an unfortunate disadvantage to those who wish to stay away from such temptation.