May 16, 2006 – (HOSTSERCH.COM) – Plans to introduce the “.xxx” domain extension for adult content and pornography sites have been scrapped. Internet domain name regulator ICANN came to the decision after years of controversy with many objectors to the extension (including the US Bush Administration) who predicted the development of a ‘red light district’ in Cyberspace.
The proposal to create the “.xxx” was first heard in 2001 and a decision on its introduction was delayed a number of times, the last time being December 2005. Many in the domain name industry are skeptical about the wisdom of the decision. Discussing the move, Jonathan Robinson, Chief Operating Officer of leading domain name registrar NetNames (http://www.netnames.co.uk) suggested, “ICANN is possibly hiding away from the truth and further political controversy – it is widely known that there is plenty of adult content on the Internet and one way to make a step in the right direction of ring fencing that content could have been with the .xxx domain name. The .xxx domain name may well have made it easier for web users to avoid, or locate online adult content.”
“.xxx could have been an elegant partial solution to the problem of people unintentionally stumbling across adult content,” he added. “It would also make it easier for parents and businesses to filter out potentially indecent content and prevent their children or employees from stumbling across it. There is nothing wrong with introducing additional suffixes that make it easier to segregate content.”
