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.xxx TLD delayed once more
To be honest, I don't get it. Having a .xxx TLD would make life easier for everyone -- not just the guys (and girls) who like porn or make their living off of it. Clarity helps everybody. A school or workplace that wanted to block out a major chunk of all online porn would be able to do so with a single configuration change. Of course, many sites would keep running under .com as well, but it still seems like a step in the right direction for everyone.
Unfortunately, it's a step that doesn't look like it's going to be taken anytime soon.
Comments
13
Subscribe to commentsquantaMar 13th 2010 11:06AM
While I applaud the intent of the .xxx initiative, I question the implementation. How are they going to enforce the use of this TLD? As it is, domains are a free-for-all: companies own .ORGs, private individuals own .COMs and most country TLDs are open to be owned by non-citizens.
How are they going to make organizations abandon their established, lucrative .COM URLs? If compliance will be the same as using, say, the PICS rating standard, the effectiveness will be lost.
Then there's the philosophical question: who gets to define what type of content is X-rated?
ChuckJMar 13th 2010 1:05PM
You bring up some good points but I dont think the plan is to force them to use .xxx addees.
Im not a parent yet, but I can only imagine that its not easy to block out all sorts of content that most would not want their children exposed to. I would favor such an effort to someone force porn sites to use .xxx addresses but again, im not sure how youd enforce it. Its far too easy to come across some of this stuff by accident. I believe its the parents responsibility to oversee their children and monitor what they are doing, but at the same time, like I said, its easy to come across certain content by accident.
Im not for filtering and banning of content, as I believe in freedom of speech. But I do believe something should be put in place to further aid in the protection of kids or even adults, who shouldnt or dont want to see certain content. I guess there is paid software you can use, but Im not sure how well it does the job. I guess when I do have kids, Ill be looking in to it.
CraigMar 13th 2010 1:20PM
@ ChuckJ - blocking objectionable content from one's kids is dead simple as long as they aren't yet sophisticated enough to change the DNS settings on your router (or use a proxy or use the neighbor's connection) - OpenDNS pretty much takes care of it.
JoshMar 13th 2010 9:26PM
Instead of enforcing, why not reward and encourage? Talk to the big search engines (Google, Bing, Ask, etc.) and get them to add an adult search that will search only .xxx sites. Sure, it would be possible with operators, but it would make it easier to do. This gives incentive to use it, and even switch to it. You could even promote switching to the .xxx by offering deals to sites like "switch to .xxx, keep .com redirect for a year and get half off domain price" or something like that. It would obviously be a one time deal to be taken advantage of at the very beginning and then site operators could be given the option to keep the .com address as a redirect to a kid friendly site or just ICANN or something like that.
3tearMar 13th 2010 3:53PM
Sebastian must be devastated. :(
caseyandrews1981Mar 13th 2010 7:08PM
Personally, as a webmaster, and having experience in adult projects, I am very much for forcing adult sites to go to the .xxx TLD....
Truth is.... We do not want children on our sites....
EthanMar 14th 2010 12:56PM
...unless they have a credit card, amirite?
So, you're the one who stops things from going tits-up? I should thank you for the low-down times you've enabled. It's given us all red hat.
KevinMar 13th 2010 10:07PM
How long before sesamestreet.xxx , fisherprice.xxx , spongebob.xxx , etc?
war59312Mar 13th 2010 11:24PM
I agree with casey.
We need a law here in the USA that says all porn must be on .xxx by 2020 or something like that and all new sites must be registered on .xxx.
That is plenty of time for sites to make the changes.
But because its forced then all the porn sites making the change should get the domain for free, for the first year.
dosmilMar 14th 2010 1:03AM
Downloadsquad should be forced into the .xxx domain or else, it is not for kids, it has foul language.
The same goes for the FHM magazine and Cosmopolitan, full of sex tips, not for kids.
AdamMar 14th 2010 4:29PM
What's funny is that this debate mirrors one in the early 1900s about whether red light districts were in society's interest. Segregating that vice to a separate zone to protect "upstanding" people and children while allowing those who sought the activity a way to get it. They even suggested that such districts reduced crime because men would have a way to handle their urges and not resort to rape.
Crazy SerbMar 15th 2010 11:51AM
What's wrong with porn?
Do you really need to be THAT protective of your children and have them grow up in a world where they are total dumbasses when it comes to sex?
Not fun, trust me.
I've had a few run-ins with a few people who were so out of touch with reality it was daunting... just because their parents were overly protective, keeping their virgin eyes and ears from anything that might "mess them up".
Scary, scary thing, I tell you...
ChrisMay 2nd 2010 12:39PM
hi,
As an adult webmaster (been in the industry for over 9 years), I can only see disadvantages.
First of all the proposed .xxx tld will do NOTHING to keep children safe. The only effective way to control what your children get to see on the web is white-listing, not black-listing. So creating a .xxx tld in the hopes you can block it to protect your children doesn't make sense.
There are 1000s established adult sites out there using .com domains. As long as those exist, it will be impossible to block porn by blocking sites in the .xxx tld.
And no one in the adult industry has any intention to abandon their established sites. Why would we destroy out own investments?
If you really want to protect children, you might want to consider setting up a .kids tld, with nothing but sites aimed at children. That way, parents can block everything except the .kids sites.
Second, The adult industry never asked for the .xxx tld. In fact, adult webmaster have been and still are fighting AGAINST it. The .xxx tld was proposed by the ICM, a private organization with no ties to the adult industry and with only one goal: making money off of adult webmasters.