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Extra
The Web gets a red-light district: .xxx
New addresses intended for consenting adults are costly, and some critics say they'll make censorship of other topics easier.
By MSN Money news services
The Internet's primary oversight body has approved a plan to create a virtual red-light district, setting the stage for pornographic Web sites to use new addresses ending in "xxx."
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers said Wednesday it would begin negotiations with ICM Registry, run by British businessman Stuart Lawley, to iron out technical issues and prices for the new Web addresses.
Adult-oriented sites, a $12 billion industry, probably could begin buying "xxx" addresses as early as fall or winter depending on ICM's plans, ICANN spokesman Kieran Baker said. The new pornography suffix was among 10 under consideration by the regulatory group, which also recently approved addresses ending in "jobs" and "travel."
Price 10 times higher
ICM contends the "xxx" Web addresses, which it plans to sell for $60 a year, will protect children from online smut if adult sites voluntarily adopt the suffix so filtering software used by families can more effectively block access to those sites. The $60 price is several times higher than prices other companies charge for dot-com names.
"It will further help to protect kids," said John Morris, staff counsel at the Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology. Morris predicted some adult sites will choose to buy "xxx" Web addresses but others will continue to use dot-com.
Web sites that register to use the domain will be expected to prevent marketing to children, protect users' privacy, block any attempt to use malicious code for spoofing and phishing, avoid the use of misleading site names and provide accurate meta tagging. However there will be nothing to stop less-scrupulous sites from continuing to use .com and other addresses, and there is nothing that forces pornography sites to purchase one of the new addresses.
The Internet's ghetto?
ICANN's vote represents an abrupt turnaround; a porn-only top-level domain was first proposed and rejected five years ago.
The introduction of new domains is not entirely popular. Web creator Tim Berners-Lee told PC Pro magazine that the new domains are merely a way for registrars to cash in as companies seek to buy up their newly created online brands.
'We have alternatives to a domain like .xxx,' he said. 'You can label porn as metadata, and there are products you can buy that set up filtering for your kid. We shouldn't try to centralize the concept of what is good and what is bad.'
The American Civil Liberties Union has expressed similar concerns. One worry is that some nations may force sites dealing with sensitive topics such as homosexuality or birth control into the .xxx zone, where they can be easily blocked.
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