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Porn Gets Its Own Domain: .XXX
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 19, 2011
Modified Mar 19, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 19, 2011
Modified Mar 19, 2011
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And on the first day, Al Gore created the internet, and lo, people rejoiced throughout the lands. Then his creation spread and flourished, spawning such domains as .com, .edu, .gov, .org, .net, and more. And today, a new sister domain has been given final approval to join those illustrious dots: "dot triple x." Or as you'll soon be typing it into your browser, .XXX.
Internet overseer Icann, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, voted 9-3 yesterday to approve the new domain name, which will be used solely for pornographic websites and the adult entertainment industry, creating a unique red light district on the internet. Icann noted how much controversy the issue has caused since it was initially approved, then soon after rescinded, in 2005: "The Icann community has engaged in extensive debate as well, with this single issue generating higher volumes of community comment than nearly any other issue ever faced within Icann."
Supporters say the domain will make it easier to filter out inappropriate content, which some board members viewed as a dangerous step toward censorship. Interestingly, the two groups most against the new domain are religious groups, who argue that the domain legitimizes pornography, and the porn industry, which argued that the new domain would result in discriminatory financial burdens to register new domains. Nevertheless, ICM Registry said last year that it had more than 110,000 pre-reservations for .XXX domains. Our own informal survey of the internet found that more than a bajillion users have made pre-reservations to visit those .XXX domains.
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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