.XXX, a new domain name extension created for the adult entertainment industry, is facing increasing opposition from governments around the world. ICANN has delayed its final vote on the domain. There are two sides of the debate, and both are opposed to the domain extension for different reasons:
1. Governments, such as President Bush’s office. They think it will just proliferate porn on the internet as site operators keep their .com domains and just add more .xxx sites. They are correct that site owners will keep the .coms, although I don’t think this will increase the amount of porn on the internet.
2. ACLU and other free speech advocates. They’re worried the government will try to mandate all adult sites to use .xxx extensions. This was the conservative’s hope in the first place. This is a real concern, as it could be expanded–what if all religious sites had to use .rel and all political sites had to use .pol?
Look for more heated discussion in the coming weeks…
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