Internet bosses set to approve .xxx for porn sites
The company that oversees Web addresses is expected to give the goahead
on Friday for the creation of a .xxx suffix for websites with pornographic content, company
officials indicated on Thursday.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which oversees the Internet
on behalf of the U.S. government, has in the past resisted creating a .xxx generic domain name
system akin to those for .com and .net.
It has in recent years repeatedly rejected a request by U.S. company ICM Registry Inc. to sign off
on the .xxx domain.
But members of ICANN's board have argued that in order to maintain neutrality in dealing with
domain name assignations, it should create .xxx and allow websites with sexually explicit content to
start using the suffix on a voluntary basis.
"If expedited due diligence results are successful, then staff will proceed into contract negotiations
with ICM (over .xxx)," ICANN's general counsel John Jeffrey told delegates at a week-long ICANN
meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
Online pornography is a vast industry. Figures collated by Internet Pornography Statistics suggest
more than $3,000 is spent on Internet pornography every second, with "sex" the number one
search term in the world, accounting for 25 percent of all Internet searches.
With an estimated 370 million pornographic websites on the Internet, .xxx could become one of the
largest domain name repositories, as big if not bigger than .com.
But some members of the adult entertainment industry oppose .xxx, saying it will invite censorship
and harm their business. Members of the American religious right also oppose its creation on
moral grounds.
ICANN is expected to make a formal announcement on its decision on Friday.
