The international board that oversees Internet top-level domain names is expected to vote Friday on an all-porn dot-xxx area.
This marks the third time since 2000 the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has voted on the idea. Supporters say adult-only content would be easier to regulate if it had its own domain. But family advocates say this proposal that won’t die would give parents and law enforcement agencies a false sense of security – and could double the number of porn sites.
The Bush administration has objected to a dot-xxx domain, saying it has concerns about a virtual red-light district reserved for Internet pornography.
Patrick Trueman, special counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund and a former U.S. prosecutor, said there’s virtually no support for dot-xxx.
“Why does this keep coming up before ICANN?" he asked. "I think the answer lies in the money dot-xxx will generate."
Trueman said he believes pornographers, who would not be required to move their sites to the new domain, would just make dot-xxx copies of their sites. With more than a million porn sites, the $60 annual fee would bring in more than $60 million a year.
It also would cost groups, corporations and individuals outside the pornography industry, Trueman said. For example, Microsoft would likely license Microsoft.xxx to protect itself.
“We’re not convinced this is actually going to protect kids the way it says it is,” said Daniel Weiss, senior analyst for media and sexuality at Focus on the Family Action. “How does proliferating pornography protect kids from it?
“Some parents think filters will be the end-all, be-all for their kids. That’s not going to be the case, by any means. Some parents will be less vigilant.”
Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values in Ohio, agrees.
“The whole idea behind dot-xxx is to have the hard-core pornographers move to their own domain. Anyone who thinks the pornographers are going to cooperate… that’s not the case,” he said.
“Would we even consider a 'dot-drugs' where people could sell illegal drugs? It’s giving an air of acceptance to an industry that is violating federal law.”
