YNOT – Adult industry trade association Free Speech Coalition has issued a call to action requesting industry members voice their opposition to the proposed dot-xxx adult-specific domain.Comments will be accepted until Sept. 23 by the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which is expected to vote on the proposed sponsored Top-Level Domain during a board of directors teleconference scheduled to take place in late October or during the organization’s next open meeting in Cartegena, Colombia, Dec. 5-10.

Stakeholders are offered two options for commenting: via direct submission to ICANN or by completing a short, two-question survey in order to endorse opposition statements prepared by the FSC. FSC will compile and submit the collected data en masse.

The call to action may be read in its entirety at the FSC’s website, but in essense, the trade group urges all adult industry insiders to address some or all of the six core issues FSC staff have defined as of vital interest to the community:

• “ICM is pushing unnecessarily for a ‘responsible’ global online community when the adult entertainment community already has an entity through which internet publishers and others can self-identify as responsible … through the Free Speech Coalition and its Code of Ethics.”

• “Companies have pre-registered [dot-xxx] domain names but are in opposition to a [dot-xxx] sTLD. By [registrar-hopeful ICM Registry’s] own definition, those companies do not qualify for a [dot-xxx] sTLD because they do not voluntarily agree to the [dot-xxx] sTLD and thus believe that ICM’s proposed [dot-xxx] sTLD would be detrimental to their business.”

• “The lack of trans¬par¬en¬cy surroun¬ding ICM’s submissions in the omission of the names of [International Foundation for Online Responsibility] board members and Policy Council members who will develop regulations for the [dot-xxx] online industry” is problematic and may lead to misunderstandings.

• Should the dot-xxx sTLD be approved, “adult businesses would be required to agree to comply with ‘IFFOR Policies and Best Practices Guidelines’ that have yet to be created by boards and councils which have yet to be revealed.” In other words, adult industry stakeholders are being asked to accept something without sufficient knowledge about how the system will work and what its requirements will be.

• “Information provided for public comment is insufficient. Members of the adult entertainment community require more information about the application in order to provide the appropriate level of feedback to the ICANN board for it to make an informed decision.”

• “If additional information is provided, the community most impacted by [dot-xxx], the adult online community, will not have sufficient time to respond and therefore requests that the public comment period be extended 30 days after additional information that has been requested has been supplied.

On Sept. 9, FSC sent to ICANN a letter requesting increased transparency for the process as a whole. The group also filed a Documentary Information Disclosure Policy request asking for additional information from ICM Registry LLC, the Florida-based company seeking approval to administer dot-xxx. ICANN’s operating procedures obligate the organization to respond to the DIDP within 30 days, either providing the additional information or giving reasons why the request will not be honored.

“It is imperative that you speak up now” in order to both forestall the ICANN board’s vote about dot-xxx and to support the FSC’s request for more information, FSC Executive Director Diane Duke said. “Let the board know that you are concerned. Make sure you mention that you are a professional member of the adult online community, the party most impacted by the ICANN board’s decision.”

Duke also said FSC staff stands ready to assist stakeholders as they contemplate their responses. Interested parties may contact her via email.