WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a move that puts them in rare agreement with much of the adult internet industry, the Bush administration has voiced concerns with the creation of the new .xxx sponsored top level domain.Commerce Department assistant secretary Michael Gallagher has asked for a hold to be placed on the contract to operate the new TLD until the new extension can be subjected to further scrutiny. The new TLD had been scheduled to receive final approval today.
Gallagher cited negative feedback and a large volume of letters the Department of Commerce has received expressing reservations about the new .xxx as the reason for requesting the delay.
“The Department of Commerce has received nearly 6,000 letters and e-mails from individuals expressing concern about the impact of pornography on families and children,” Gallagher said in a statement made public Monday.
In addition to the Bush administration request, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has been receiving pressure from other governments in an attempt to derail approval of .xxx. ICANN approved of the concept of .xxx in June, and final approval of ICM Registry’s contract to operate the TLD was expected this week.
A letter from ICANN’s government advisory committee sent out Friday asked for a delay to “allow time for additional governmental and public policy concerns to be expressed before reaching a final decision.”
ICM Registry has told ICANN it would agree to a month’s delay in the approval process to permit it to “address the concerns” raised by the Bush administration and other governments.
“We’re focusing our attention on the Department of Commerce and ensuring that we’re building this as a voluntary (top-level domain) for responsible companies,” ICM Vice President Jason Hendeles said in a News.com interview on Monday.
Hendeles added that even though the .xxx application is “already approved,” his company is willing to try to allay fears about legitimizing pornography. “The industry has existed for a long time and is growing internationally and is doing what it can to fight child porn and to be a responsible industry. This is an opportunity for all the different voices to come together.”
“The volume of correspondence opposed to creation of a .xxx (domain) is unprecedented,” according to Gallagher. “Given the extent of the negative reaction, I request that the board (provide) adequate additional time for these concerns to be voiced and addressed before any additional action takes place.”
After ICANN’s initial vote to approve the .xxx concept, some conservative groups rallied their supporters to ask the Commerce Department to block the new TLD. The Family Research Council asserted that “pornographers will be given even more opportunities to flood our homes, libraries and society with pornography through the .xxx domain.”
While the Bush administration appears skeptical about .xxx, many others in Washington have strongly supported the .xxx measure, although some of them seem to be under the impression that .xxx will be a mandatory measure for adult sites. Senator Joseph Lieberman (D – Conn.) told a federal commission that .xxx was necessary to force adult webmasters to “abide by the same standard as the proprietor of an X-rated movie theater.”
Support of .xxx from congressional members is nothing new, either. When ICANN rejected ICM’s first application for .xxx back in November of 2000, Representative Fred Upton (R – Mich.) ripped ICANN for failing to approve .xxx “as a means of protecting our kids from the awful, awful filth, which is sometimes widespread on the Internet.”
