YNOT – Two adult industry insiders spoke during a public forum Thursday, appearing to tell the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers that significant portions of the adult entertainment industry support dot-xxx and ICM Registry’s application to manage the domain space.
John Van Arnam, better known in the industry as Johnny V, is a 14-year veteran of the online adult segment and a frequent participant on educational panels at industry trade shows. He introduced himself as the owner of I-Bridge International and “the director of the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection.” After stating for the record that he does not own adult websites or produce or distribute content, Van Arnam made an impassioned plea for the approval of dot-xxx as a means to protect children.
“I’m here to offer my support for dot-xxx and for ICM in their efforts to assist the industry to increase its reach in a thoughtful and child-protective manner,” Van Arnam said, according to the forum transcript. “I began working with ASACP because of a false perception that the depiction of the sexual exploitation of children and the online adult entertainment industry are somehow linked. They’re not.
“[My work with ASACP] involved efforts within the policy, editorial and legal departments of the largest search engines in the world,” he continued. “It was clear from that effort that any effort to protect children was important and valid and worthwhile, and it was this element of dot-xxx that caused me to take a much stronger look at the offering of ICM.
“I don’t pretend that the approval of dot-xxx will immediately eradicate the exploitation of children on line, but I’m here to tell you that it will help,” Van Arnam concluded. “I’m here from the on-line adult entertainment industry to tell you that dot xxx will help kids.”
ASACP Chief Executive Officer Joan Irvine admitted she was surprised when informed about Van Arnam’s remarks. Johnny V was given the honorary title “Volunteer Corporate Outreach Director” to facilitate his interaction with large companies and search engines on behalf of ASACP, most recently in association with the Safer Adult Sites process. Irvine described Van Arnam as “very, very passionate about child protection” and said he has been an excellent ambassador for the organization, but he does not speak for ASACP.
“Mr. Van Arnam attended and spoke on a personal basis about child protection at the ICANN meeting in Cartagena, Colombia,” Irvine told YNOT.com. “However, from the transcripts it may have appeared that he represented ASACP. This is not the case.
“ASACP appreciates Mr. Van Arnam’s commitment to child protection and looks forward to working with him on future projects,” she added. “ASACP is committed to protecting children online by providing tools that parents and the adult industry can utilize. As a child protection association, ASACP can take no position about other aspects of dot-xxx.”
A second man, whose name was unclear in the audio recording of the forum and not present in the transcript, voiced even broader support for ICM and its proposed adult-content-specific domain space. The speaker said he is a 10-year veteran of the adult internet, mobile and satellite television segments and became a trade-show advocate for ICM in June.
“All the industry people that I meet are very excited, basically, for the possibilities that dot-xxx will give them,” he told the meeting. “The way that ICM and [the International Foundation for Online Responsibility] is creating a platform to promote the whole dot-xxx internationally, [webmasters] appreciate it a lot, so [ICM] can represent them as good businessmen who want to do their normal business.
“In general, I want to conclude that people I know — and I know most of the adult industry people — are quite excited for the long-overdue launch of dot-xxx.”
Several high-profile spokespeople for the American adult industry also addressed the forum, including Free Speech Association representatives Diane Duke, Jeffrey Douglas and Reed Lee.
“Opposition from the sponsorship community has been established, and judging from the board member comments at the last meeting, I think you get it,” FSC Executive Director Duke told the assembly. “Entering into a contract with ICM would be detrimental to our industry, ICANN and the internet community as a whole.
“[ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Council] has raised issues at the heart of ICANN’s mission,” she continued. “The board disregarding GAC’s advice, repeatedly restated, makes ICANN vulnerable to the problems GAC has highlighted and shows utter disregard for GAC advice and input. I urge ICANN directors to vote against the contract for ICM or … postpone the decision until GAC issues are adequately addressed.”
That is exactly the route ICANN’s board of directors resolved to pursue during Friday’s meeting. According to an audio recording and transcripts of the meeting, ICANN “intends to enter into a registry agreement with ICM Registry for the dot-xxx sponsored [Top Level Domain] subject to GAC consultation and advice.” However, ICANN’s board also noted that “entering into the proposed registry agreement with ICM may not be consistent with some of the broader-reaching communications from the GAC.”
Evidently the situation has never arisen before, because ICANN has no procedures in place to deal with an enduring conflict between the board and the GAC. Therefore, the board resolved to create “a draft process for consulting with the GAC” when “the GAC and the board could benefit from consultation.” The ICANN board expects to have an approved consultation process in place by February 2011, and apparently will not consider dot-xxx again until at least then.
Nevertheless, ICM Registry’s public relations consultancy, M&C Saatchi PR, circulated a press release late Thursday claiming the birth of dot-xxx is imminent.
“Given that ICANN has approved dot-xxx and now intends to enter into a contract with ICM, ICM will offer current intellectual property owners the opportunity to reserve relevant domain names before going to the open market, enabling them to protect their brand names and intellectual property rights within the dot-xxx space,” the statement noted.
It also revealed the identity of an IFFOR director. According to ICANNwiki.org, Clyde Beattie is a serial entrepreneur, investor and mentor who in the past 25 years has been involved with start-ups in the retail, wholesale, industrial and internet technology sectors. The London, Ontario, resident also has held senior management and corporate governance positions in the public, private and non-for-profit sectors, and he is an active collaborator on governance policy development for the international Domain Name System.
“[ICANN’s] landmark decision [to approve dot-xxx] is a great step forward for the online entertainment industry,” Beattie said in the ICM statement. “Providing a place where consumers can enjoy adult entertainment within a secure and protected framework will, in our opinion, allow the industry to flourish. ICM has for a long time championed an enlightened approach to the online adult entertainment industry, in which stakeholders can finally have full confidence in responsibly delivered adult entertainment, and it’s fantastic that this approach has finally been recognized by ICANN.”
ICM Registry Chief Executive Officer Stuart Lawley added, “The introduction of dot-xxx will offer the online adult entertainment industry a whole host of new opportunities to further develop their business. Since 2003, we have been campaigning for this moment, and it is testament to the commitment of the team at ICM and IFFOR.”
[Ed. note: If anyone knows the identity of the unidentified speaker who addressed the ICANN public forum, please email the editor so we may credit him with his remarks.]
