ICM Registry Hopes to Offer .XXX Domains This Year
Monday, February 22nd, 2010
Registry wants to offer name.xxx later this year.
After winning an independent review against ICANN for denying ICM Registry’s application for a .xxx top level domain name, the registry says it hopes to begin offering .xxx domain names later this year. It has already opened up a process on its web site to pre-reserve names.
Whether or not this time line is feasible depends in part on how ICANN’s board acts upon the independent review. In a strange version of accountability, ICANN’s board gets to review the outside arbitrator’s decision on the matter and decide if it should accept it. But it’s ICANN’s board that voted down .xxx to begin with.
The history here is long. But essentially, ICM registry applied to operate a .xxx top level domain name. By all accounts and a board vote, it met all of ICANN’s requirements and should have been awarded the TLD. The board authorized entering into negotiations with ICM for the registry. But the board then reconsidered it and voted it down because of pressure from outside groups including the U.S. Government.
The best case scenario for .xxx is that the ICANN board approves entering into a registry agreement with ICM registry during its Nairobi meeting next month.
Related posts:
- ICANN Delays .XXX (Again)
- .XXX Registry to ICANN: “We Must Protect Our Rights”
- Domain Registries Clarify Stance on Registry-Registrar Separation
Tags: .xxx, icm registry
[...] off an independent review victory over ICANN, .XXX top level domain name applicant ICM Registry is asking ICANN to get the show on the [...]
I don’t think type-ins to IDNs will explode when this goes live. I think they’ll grow over time, but not in the short run. After all, right now people have to type-in .com/net/org etc in the roman alphabet to get to these and other domains. Just because they can type in the full thing in their language/script doesn’t mean they’ll suddenly start visiting the sites in droves. If it gets type-ins now, it will continue to get them. If it doesn’t get type-ins now, then it’s a long time before they get type-ins. Like anything, people will have to become educated about the availability of these new TLDs.
That said, there’s a lot more to it than type-in. Consider search engines. Before IDNs you couldn’t have ‘exact match’ for some of these terms. Now you do. Perhaps in the future search engines will take into consideration if the TLD is in the language and script of the searcher.
As far as timing is concerned, the introduction of IDN gTLDs will be along with other gTLDs, unless the general gTLD process is completely shelved. So we’re talking about two years before you see any of these .com-equivalent-IDNs on the web.
[...] ICANN board originally authorized entering into a contract with ICM registry to launch .xxx in the last sTLD round. After getting pressure from a number of groups including [...]