These .xxx domains are ready to hook up

If you always fancied your very own .xxx domain name, it's not too late: plenty of real estate in the Internet's official red light district remains unclaimed, CNET has learned.

WhiteHouse.xxx and NASA.xxx are reserved, but USDOJ.xxx, Treasury.xxx, DARPA.xxx, and USEmbassy.xxx could be yours for as low as $100 a year.

Many school names remain unclaimed. Stanford.xxx, Harvard.xxx, and Princeton.xxx may be off-limits, but Brynmawr.xxx and LoyolaCollege.xxx are available. Others, including Cornell.xxx and UPenn.xxx have been earmarked for auction. (Playboy, which recently published a "Girls of the SEC" feature, take note.)

That's according to a new analysis by Elie Bursztein, a Stanford University researcher who found that of the 50,000 most popular Web sites in the world, only 24 percent have their .xxx counterpart registered.

"There's been a lot of news about people rushing to buy .xxx," Bursztein told CNET today. "But after the dust settled, it turns out that the data don't agree with the hype."

Early reports suggested that companies and schools were snapping up .xxx domains to prevent them from being used for pornographic purposes--especially, perhaps the types of hardcore parodies the adult industry is known for.

Bursztein provided CNET with the raw data from his review of more than 55,000 .xxx domains, which show that the triple-X counterparts of many popular Web sites, including Posterous.xxx and Feedburner.xxx, have not been reserved. We've placed some excerpts below (scroll down).

The list of news organizations that chose not to claim their corresponding .xxx domains includes: TheAtlantic.xxx, DenverPost.xxx, MercuryNews.xxx, NewScientist.xxx, CSMonitor.xxx, PostGazette.xxx, and FinancialPost.xxx.

Salon.xxx will be awarded after an auction, the process that .xxx creator ICM Registry has established for certain popular words. In October, ICM announced that it had sold Gay.xxx at auction for $500,000.

The reluctance of some news organizations to venture into the seamer side of the Web might be no surprise, but there are also plenty of popular adult sites that chose not to make the leap. Dot-com sites that rank among the Internet's most popular 5,000 destinations, according to Alexa, that have left their corresponding triple-X domains unclaimed include H2Porn.com, PornControl.com, and IntPorn.com. Porn star Lexi Love has left LexiLove.xxx unclaimed. (See related CNET article.)

Other domains that will be awarded after an auction: BankOfAmerica.xxx, Missouri.xxx, Toronto.xxx, SanDiego.xxx, Career.xxx, Seattle.xxx, Data.xxx, Library.xxx, Fit.xxx, Worldwide.xxx, and HowTo.xxx.

For would-be porntreprenuers, there is one catch: ICM's policies for .xxx say that only "sponsored community" domains will actually become live Web sites. To make that happen, your .xxx domain has to "provide online entertainment" or be a supporting business, such as providing legal, accounting, catering, and so on. "Manufacturers" also qualify.

ICM Registry, which operates the .xxx top-level domain, said on December 6 that triple-X domains would be available for purchase by the general public. That was preceded by a so-called sunrise period, which allowed adult and non-adult businesses and universities to claim trademark rights to certain .xxx domains.

That resulted in a list of off-limits names unavailable for registration. Jocelyn Johnson, a spokeswoman for ICM Registry, said that other additions to the list came from government agencies that "submitted names to be pulled out of the registry permanently."

Those were "culturally sensitive names, political leaders--it was a wide variety of names," Johnson told CNET. That's "the list of names that are on permanent reserve."

BarackObama.xxx, HillaryClinton.xxx, RonPaul.xxx, and MittRomney.xxx are all set aside and listed in Whois data as "ICM Registry Reserved." So is ChelseaClinton.xxx, Vatican.xxx, God.xxx, and JesusChrist.xxx. The domain ProphetMohammad.xxx is reserved, but blasphemers can purchase the common variant of ProphetMuhammet.xxx.

Ex-presidents aren't necessarily treated equally: JimmyCarter.xxx can't be bought. But GeorgeHWBush.xxx was available until it was purchased on December 13 by Chicago-based Skylark Enterprises LLC.

Santorum.xxx was bought by a fellow named Vladimir Karastoyanov in Toronto, who did not respond to an e-mail query asking him what exactly he'll do with it. And Palin.xxx was purchased on December 11 and is currently parked at GoDaddy.com without any content, not even a link to the porn parody Who's Nailin' Paylin?.

Update 11 p.m. PT: Since this article appeared, some of the domains mentioned have been purchased, including ProphetMuhammet.xxx. Skylark Enterprises, which bought GeorgeHWBush.xxx, responded with this message: "Skylark originally intended to syndicate adult content on this site as well as several others. Upon further consideration, we concluded that it would not be worth our time to do so. Thus, Skylark has decided to resell it to other interest [sic] parties instead." And we've updated the article to clarify how ICM's auction process works.

Here are some popular .gov and .mil Web sites and whether they're available under .xxx:

nasa.xxx claimed
noaa.xxx available
weather.xxx claimed
state.xxx claimed
whitehouse.xxx claimed
usajobs.xxx claimed
loc.xxx claimed
cdc.xxx claimed
usgs.xxx available
michigan.xxx claimed
uscis.xxx available
usda.xxx claimed
nyc.xxx claimed
nps.xxx claimed
usembassy.xxx available
ssa.xxx available
ohio.xxx claimed
census.xxx available
hud.xxx claimed
mass.xxx claimed
bls.xxx claimed
house.xxx claimed
opm.xxx available
epa.xxx claimed
uspto.xxx available
virginia.xxx claimed
utah.xxx claimed
usdoj.xxx available
socialsecurity.xxx available
senate.xxx claimed
sec.xxx claimed
cancer.xxx claimed
time.xxx claimed
sba.xxx claimed
uscourts.xxx available
usa.xxx claimed
nist.xxx available
dot.xxx claimed
grants.xxx claimed
ftc.xxx claimed
oregon.xxx claimed
doe.xxx claimed
energy.xxx claimed
treas.xxx available
dol.xxx available
faa.xxx claimed
wisconsin.xxx claimed
gsa.xxx claimed
financialstability.xxx available
dhs.xxx claimed
alabama.xxx available
archives.xxx claimed
kentucky.xxx claimed
usmint.xxx available
usconsulate.xxx available
tsp.xxx claimed
fcc.xxx claimed
recovery.xxx claimed
anl.xxx claimed
gpo.xxx available
lbl.xxx available
miamidade.xxx claimed
ustreas.xxx available
fema.xxx claimed
tsa.xxx claimed
medicare.xxx claimed
usasearch.xxx available
america.xxx claimed
wicourts.xxx available
cpsc.xxx available
federalreserve.xxx claimed
maricopa.xxx claimed
idaho.xxx claimed
fdic.xxx available
clinicaltrials.xxx available
energystar.xxx available
fairfaxcounty.xxx available
osha.xxx claimed
cia.xxx claimed
kingcounty.xxx available
flhsmv.xxx available
nysed.xxx available
mypyramid.xxx available
fueleconomy.xxx available
maine.xxx claimed
metrokc.xxx available
bop.xxx claimed
copyright.xxx claimed
nasa.xxx claimed
noaa.xxx available
weather.xxx claimed
state.xxx claimed
whitehouse.xxx claimed
usajobs.xxx claimed
loc.xxx claimed
cdc.xxx claimed
usgs.xxx available
michigan.xxx claimed
uscis.xxx available
usda.xxx claimed
navy.xxx reserved
marines.xxx reserved
dod.xxx reserved
darpa.xxx available
dau.xxx available
centcom.xxx available
norad.xxx available
southcom.xxx available
socom.xxx available
stratcom.xxx available

A sampling of .edu-counterpart domain names that are available to be purchased or bought at auction:

cornell.xxx available
upenn.xxx available
annauniv.xxx available
tufts.xxx available
missouri.xxx available
nodak.xxx available
academyart.xxx available
brynmawr.xxx available
toronto.xxx available
sandiego.xxx available
csufresno.xxx available
unu.xxx available
uml.xxx available
umdnj.xxx available
accd.xxx available
kdu.xxx available
umassd.xxx available
plattsburgh.xxx available
orst.xxx available
lccc.xxx available
centralmethodist.xxx available
southernchristian.xxx available

And here are 218 .xxx Web sites that have been claimed by colleges and universities (the actual total may be larger if some institutions used proxy services):

aacc.xxx Anne Arundel Community College
acad.xxx Alberta College of Art and Design
acu.xxx Australian Catholic University
alu.xxx Abraham Lincoln University
alvernia.xxx Alvernia University
andersonuniversity.xxx Anderson University
andrews.xxx Andrews University
annamaria.xxx Anna Maria College
arc.xxx Los Rios Community College District
arizonacollege.xxx Arizona College
atu.xxx Arkansas Tech University
aum.xxx Auburn University Montgomery
barnard.xxx Barnard College
bcu.xxx Briar Cliff University
bemidjistate.xxx Bemidji State University
bennett.xxx Bennett College
berklee.xxx Berklee College of Music
bethelu.xxx Bethel University
bloomu.xxx Bloomsburg University
bowiestate.xxx Bowie University
brenau.xxx Brenau University
bridgew.xxx Bridgewater State College
bristolcc.xxx Bristol Community College
bsc.xxx Birmingham-Southern College
canisius.xxx Canisius College
cccb.xxx Central Christian College of the Bible
centralcollege.xxx Central College
centre.xxx Centre College
chatham.xxx Chatham University
citycollege.xxx City College Inc
clark.xxx Clark College
cmich.xxx Central Michigan University
coe.xxx Coe College
cofo.xxx College Forward
coloradocollege.xxx Colorado College
columbiabasin.xxx Columbia Basin College
columbiasc.xxx Columbia College
columbusstate.xxx Columbus State University
conncoll.xxx Connecticut College
connecticutcollege.xxx Connecticut College
crc.xxx Los Rios Community College District
cscc.xxx Community College
cse.xxx College of Saint Elizabeth
csm.xxx College of Saint Mary
csu.xxx Chicago State University
csusm.xxx California State University San Marcos
cune.xxx Concordia University
cwru.xxx Case Western Reserve University
dademedical.xxx Dade Medical College
daemen.xxx Daemen College
davidson.xxx Davidson College
daymarcollege.xxx Daymar Colleges Group
daymarinstitute.xxx Daymar Colleges Group
delval.xxx Delaware Valley College
depauw.xxx DePauw University
desales.xxx DeSales University
dsc.xxx Dixie State College of Utah
earlham.xxx Earlham College
empcol.xxx Empire College
esu.xxx East Stroudsburg University
fairmontstate.xxx Fairmont State University
fhu.xxx Freed-Hardeman University
fitchburgstate.xxx Fitchburg State University
flcoll.xxx Florida College
fmarion.xxx Francis Marion University
gcu.xxx Grand Canyon University
georgian.xxx Georgian College
goshen.xxx Goshen College
goucher.xxx Goucher College
hccfl.xxx Hillsborough Community College
hindscc.xxx Hinds Community College
hpu.xxx Hawaii Pacific University
hsutx.xxx Hardin-Simmons University
immaculata.xxx Immaculata University
indianhills.xxx Indian Hills Community College
iowalakes.xxx Iowa Lakes Community College
iwcc.xxx Iowa Western Community College
jcsu.xxx Johnson C. Smith University
jessup.xxx William Jessup University
keene.xxx Keene State College
keuka.xxx Keuka College
kumc.xxx University of Kansas Athletics
kutztown.xxx Kutztown University
lakeforest.xxx Lake Forest College
laverne.xxx University of La Verne
letu.xxx LeTourneau University
limcollege.xxx LIM College
lmu.xxx Loyola Marymount University
losrios.xxx Los Rios Community College District
louisville.xxx University of Louisville
lumc.xxx Loyola University Chicago
lvc.xxx Lebanon Valley College
macalester.xxx Macalester College
maryville.xxx Maryville University
matcmadison.xxx Madison Area Technical College
mccneb.xxx Metro Community College
mckendree.xxx McKendree University
midland.xxx Midland College
monmouth.xxx Monmouth University
montclair.xxx Montclair State University
montgomerycollege.xxx Montgomery College - Resource managment
morainevalley.xxx Moraine Valley Community College
msstate.xxx Mississippi State University
mtsu.xxx Middle Tennessee State University
muhlenberg.xxx Muhlenberg College
mwcc.xxx Mount Wachusett Community College
ncu.xxx Northcentral University
neco.xxx New England College of Optometry
netc.xxx Northeastern Technical College
neumann.xxx Neumann University
nlc.xxx Northern Lights College
nlu.xxx National Louis University
northcentral.xxx North Central University
northgeorgia.xxx North Georgia College and State University
ntcmn.xxx Bemidji State University
nus.xxx National University of Singapore
nwacc.xxx NorthWest Arkansas Community College
ohiou.xxx Ohio University
okbu.xxx Oklahoma Baptist University
okcu.xxx Oklahoma City University
okwu.xxx Oklahoma Wesleyan University
olemiss.xxx University of Mississippi
oswego.xxx State University of New York at Oswego
panam.xxx University of Texas Pan American
pbu.xxx Philadelphia Biblical University
phcc.xxx Pasco-Hernando Community College
philau.xxx Philadelphia University
pittcc.xxx Pitt Community College
pittstate.xxx Pittsburg State University
pointloma.xxx Point Loma Nazarene University
pointpark.xxx Point Park University
potomacstatecollege.xxx Potomac State College of West Virginia University
potsdam.xxx State University of New York at Potsdam
ppu.xxx Point Park University
pstcc.xxx Pellissippi State Technical Communtity College
ptloma.xxx Point Loma Nazarene University
purduecal.xxx Purdue University Calumet
qcc.xxx Quinsigamond Community College
randolphcollege.xxx Randolph College
regent-college.xxx Regent College
roanestate.xxx Roane State Community College
roanoke.xxx Roanoke College
roberts.xxx Roberts Wesleyan College
rollins.xxx Rollins College
rsad.xxx Ringling College of Art and Design
rushu.xxx Rush University Medical Center
saintjoe.xxx College
saintmarys.xxx Saint Mary's College
salve.xxx Salve Regina University
sandburg.xxx Carl Sandburg College
sanjac.xxx San Jacinto College
sau.xxx St. Ambrose University
sbu.xxx St. Bonaventure University
shawnee.xxx Shawnee State University
shsu.xxx Sam Houston State University
siu.xxx Southern Illinois University
siuc.xxx Southern Illinois University
sjcd.xxx San Jacinto College
skidmore.xxx Skidmore College
slu.xxx Saint Louis University
snhu.xxx Southern New Hampshire University
spencerian.xxx Sullivan University System
stephens.xxx Stephens College
stlcc.xxx St. Louis Community College
stthomas.xxx University of St. Thomas
subr.xxx Southern University and A&M College
sullivan.xxx Sullivan University System
sunysb.xxx Stony Brook University
sus.xxx Sullivan University System
susqu.xxx Susquehanna University
suu.xxx Southern Utah University
sxu.xxx Saint Xavier University
tcu.xxx Texas Christian University
touro.xxx Touro College
tri-c.xxx Cuyahoga Community College
trine.xxx Trine University
ttuhsc.xxx Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
txstate.xxx Texas State University-San Marcos
uark.xxx University of Arkansas
ucop.xxx University of California
udmercy.xxx University of Detroit Mercy
uidaho.xxx University of Idaho
uindy.xxx University of Indianapolis
ukans.xxx University of Kansas Athletics
ulaverne.xxx University of La Verne
umw.xxx University of Mary Washington
universityofcalifornia.xxx University of California
unomaha.xxx University of Nebraska at Omaha
ursinus.xxx Ursinus College
usao.xxx University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma
usciences.xxx University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
usd.xxx University of San Diego
usfca.xxx University of San Francisco
usfsp.xxx University of South Florida St. Petersburg
usiouxfalls.xxx University of Sioux Falls
usu.xxx Utah State University
utampa.xxx University of Tampa
uthouston.xxx University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
uvu.xxx Utah Valley University
uwsp.xxx University of WI Stevens Point
uwstout.xxx University of Wisconsin Stout
uww.xxx University of Wisconsin - Whitewater
valenciacollege.xxx Valencia Community College
vatterott-college.xxx Vatterott College
viu.xxx Vancouver Island University
washcoll.xxx Washington College
waubonsee.xxx Waubonsee Community College
wcmo.xxx Westminster College
western.xxx Western State College
westliberty.xxx West Liberty University
westminster-mo.xxx Westminster College
wgu.xxx Western Governors University
winona.xxx Winona State University
witc.xxx Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College
wittenberg.xxx Wittenberg University
wiu.xxx Western Illinois University
wlu.xxx West Liberty University
wosc.xxx Western Oklahoma State College