YNOT – The internet community at large and the adult entertainment industry in particular want no part of the adults-only sponsored Top Level Domain dot-xxx, the executive director of adult industry trade association Free Speech Coalition told CNN International’s audience on Tuesday.
Free Speech Coalition Executive Director Diane Duke made her organization’s position abundantly clear during a televised live debate with Robert Corn-Revere, the Washington, DC-based legal counsel for dot-xxx registrar ICM Registry.
During the debate, “I made it clear that the only entities that would benefit from dot-xxx are ICM Registry, registrars and [the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers],” Duke said afterward. “The internet community and the sponsorship community want no part of this.”
A video of the debate — one of the first to occur in the mainstream media — is posted at CNN’s website. Although dot-xxx has generated no end of controversy within the international adult industry, the topic has received little attention from mainstream news and technology press.
FSC has spearheaded the opposition to dot-xxx, citing perceived major drawbacks including lack of support from the industry and unnecessary costs associated with intellectual property protection. According to FSC, many adult companies will feel compelled to purchase unwanted dot-xxx domains in order to protect their brands from cyber-squatters and domain resellers. In addition, the trade association’s members resent being forced to support the International Foundation for Online Responsibility, which will be funded by mandatory contributions of a percentage of each domain registration fee, because they are leery of the foundation’s as-yet-unformulated requirements for dot-xxx domain development.
Potential censorship is another pitfall for adult websites, Duke indicated. Fewer than five days after the domain’s approval by internet regulator ICANN, India’s government announced it intends to block all dot-xxx addresses at the root. Saudi Arabia soon followed suit. Dot-xxx is the first domain space to segregate potentially offensive content from the rest of the web, not only paving the way for rampant violations of online free-speech rights by conservative and authoritarian regimes, but also setting a negative precedent for fragmentation of the internet, Duke said. She compared locating adult websites in their own dedicated domain space to trapping “undesirable elements” in an online ghetto.
Ultimately — and perhaps of most concern and value to the anti-pornography camp — dot-xxx will make it easier for children to find adult content on the web, Duke said, adding that ICM Registry based many of its arguments in favor of the domain on the claim that dot-xxx will prevent children from accessing online porn.
“I pointed out that [dot-xxx] was nothing but a money grab in the name of ‘child protection,’” Duke said. “I have nothing against businesses making money. In fact, I am in favor of capitalism — just not by forcing adult businesses to purchase something they don’t want simply in the name of child protection.”
FSC continues to oppose dot-xxx and encourages online adult business owners to “just say no” to the domain.
