After more than a decade of debate, the Internet’s governing body has begun accepting applications for .xxx websites.
The new domain system will soon be available for the adult entertainment industry. But right now, many of the .xxx domain names are being scooped up by other organizations in what is being referred to as the “sunrise phase.” This initial period is a protective measure to give organizations and companies with trademarks an opportunity to protect their names from links to porn sites.
Universities across the country have taken this up in earnest. The University of Missouri-Columbia has registered missouri.xxx and missouritigers.xxx. The St. Louis College of Pharmacy has purchased stlcop.xxx and feels that even if this is an unlikely name for a porn site, the protection is well worth the $200 it cost to register the domain name. Perhaps a university that’s most in danger is one who’s name is already somehow linked to the porn industry. Washington University for example, is often referred to as “Wash. U.” An animated female Japanese character named WashuHakubi, that has been developed in a series of cartoons full of sex and violence could pose a potential threat. By registering the domain name, Washington University is able to protect itself form any unintentional link.
The reasoning behind the .xxx is to provide a natural niece for porn sites which dominate the internet. With domains like .edu and .gov, this introduction does make sense but critics of the .xxx domain point it isn’t a perfect solution. The adult entertainment industry for one has criticized it as a way to force them to move to an easily blockable domain address. While schools will certainly block all .xxx sites, the transition into this space is in no way forced. Any move to this space would be purely voluntary. In addition, there wouldn’t be any way to force all offensive sites to move to .xxx anyway because each person has a different view of what constitutes pornographic or obscene material. While the .xxx is a natural extension of the internet and provides a place for porn sites, it will not be a way to ban all access to them. They may still operate under a .com address if they chose to. While this may irritate parents, nothing changes in the sense that this material is still out there, accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Right now, the main concern seems to be for organizations that do not want their trademark to have a corresponding .xxx porn site to snatch up all similar domains.
