XXX Goes Live In the Root Servers 163
An anonymous reader writes that yesterday "IANA added the .XXX Top Level Domain to the root nameservers. While the registry operator Afilias is still in their setup process for ICM registry, the zone is currently propagating. While a number of registrars have already been taking pre-registrations, the actual timeline for the launch has not yet been published."
Actually work in the adult industry (Score:5, Informative)
As an industry insider I can tell you that this new domain is NOT going over terribly well. The only ones in favour are ICM (the ones taking the money for the new domains) and advertising agencies. The adult industry? Not so much.
At it most basic, it is seen as a money grab. This is clear from how they are going to handle trademark disputes. For a fee, you can remove your trademark from EVER being registered as a .xxx domain. So Disney need not be worried about disney.xxx. As long they pay the fee. How much? They ain't saying (really, I asked at a live forum and the guys in charge refused to answer). But Disney will pay it because it won't be a lot of money (to them) and there are plenty of others who will also pay the fee to keep their name blacklisted (forever for now but of course it is only going to be a matter of time before that comes a yearly fee). That means ICM coffers will get a HUGE boost straight from the start AND they will want to keep that money flowing because money is a drug. The more you get, the more you need.
But there are other issues at work:
As a .xxx domain owner you agree to have your site monitored... for what? Well, child porn is trotted out predictably BUT you have to remember that this is ICM policing the site owners, NOT the police as on ALL other domains. But HOW are they going to monitor?
http://domainincite.com/icm-faces-porn-anger-over-xxx/
I attended this myself and the following is true:
At one point, Liley flatly denied that ICM plans to “spider” .xxx domains to enforce compliance with IFFOR policies, such as the prohibition on meta tags that suggest the presence of child pornography.
Minutes later, a .xxx opponent read aloud from the IFFOR policy (pdf) that says all registrants must consent to “automated monitoring”.
Vaughn refused to answer many questions and weasled his way around others. The porn industry is CLEARLY not in favor of this.
One thing unanswered is how they are going to monitor CLOSED sites. Remember, most porn sites are membership sites and there content is NOT meant to be available to just anyone out there. Is every .xxx site owner going to have to provide ICM with a username and password that allows full access to the site? Who is going to be responsible for breaches where these accounts are lost? Does any other site have to give full access to a private company by default to be allowed on the net?
But should I care
A lot of people, even on slashdot don't like porn and want it to be hidden. Fair enough? No. Not really. If you like freedom of speech and believe me, many do not, then the .XXX domain is the registration of jews.
Godwin? Maybe but its parallels must be found in method rather then is shock effect. How did the nazi's know where to find Jews? Contrary to nazi propoganda they ain't all that easy to spot. It is not like they had it as easy as the US and its prosecuted minorities like blacks and asians. You can just tell a black person just by looking at him/her. Jew? Not so much, unless you believe nazi propoganda.
What allowed the mass murder to happen is the "harmless" registration of religion done long before the true horror of the nazi's became clear.
Yeah yeah, you know. So how does it apply to porn?
Obscenity
What is obscene? The US courts can't tell you AND this has been VERY important in ensuring free speech survives DESPITE being against the law. As long as the courts can't agree on what is obscene, the law cannot be used to ban your material. This is what allowed the porn mags such as Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler to survive countless court battles. Is obscenity forbidden? Yes. Are the mags obscene? Not proven, case dismissed. Why do you think these mags have higher grade journalism then many rags that can be bought from any store? Because it stopped them from being simply labelled as obsene AND banned.
Re:http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/ (Score:3, Informative)
That is what this is for:
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2606.html [faqs.org]
2. TLDs for Testing, & Documentation Examples
".example" is recommended for use in documentation or as examples.
3. Reserved Example Second Level Domain Names
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) also currently has the
following second level domain names reserved which can be used as
examples.
example.com
example.net
example.org
Somebody should have read the official documentation before creating their own ~