YNOT – The contentious .xxx domain has arrived – and with it an early ban on celebrity names.
As reported by Yahoo Digital Trends, the new domain will be open for registration by “established companies from the adult entertainment world” for the next 50 days, with it opening up for everyone else afterward.
After a ten year fight, the .xxx domain was finally approved by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) – though not without considerable controversy. In defense of the new domain, the ICM’s chief executive Stuart Lawley said that it was created to promote a responsible approach to adult content on the Internet, and offer clear signposts to its locations online.
“Porn is not going away, and doesn’t want to operate in the shadows. This will change the face of the adult industry, it will become an increasingly accepted part of the fabric of the Internet,” Lawley added.
Speculation is that a large number of non-adult companies and individuals will register their own sites as .xxx to beat cybersquatters to them. ICM, however, has made a preemptive move by banning some 4,000 celebrity names from the new domain, with an additional 15,000 also being blocked “at the request of governments and child protection agencies around the world,” according to Yahoo.
About these bans, Lawley said: “The reason we banned the celebrities’ names was because it’s very difficult for them to trademark their names. We didn’t want to have the embarrassment of AngelinaJolie.xxx coming up at the launch of the new domain.”
