.xxx porn Web address approved for online red-light district
ICANN has approved the dedicated Web address for porn, and more than quarter of a million porn providers have already signed up for a triple-X money shot.
.xxx websites are coming. ICANN has approved the dedicated Web address for porn, and more than quarter of a million porn providers have already signed up for a triple-X money shot.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has granted the domain name to the adult-entertainment industry, regulated by a non-profit organisation that will protect both the porn industry's interests and the delicate sensibilities of those who don't want smut besmirching their browsing.
The .xxx top-level domain will be run by registry company ICM. Independent non-profit organisation the International Foundation for Online Responsibility (IFFOR) will regulate the blue domains, funded by $10 from every site registered. IFFOR is run by a policy council consisting of representatives from the porn industry, and advocates for free speech, privacy, security and child protection -- IFFOR's mandate includes actively combating child pornography.
A dedicated URL for grot-peddlers has been in the works for years: ICM originally knocked on ICANN's door in 2004, probably wearing a toolbelt and asking if any pipes need a seeing-to. Family campaigners and conservative groups attempted to block the porno domain until 2010, although other family groups support the definitive separation of pornography into an online red-light district that can be easily filtered. That protects kids from feasting their eyes on filth, and also avoids contact with sites that may be infected with viruses.
ICANN is also expected to launch other domain suffixes. The familiar .co.uk, .com, .net and others could be replaced by customised Web addresses, with companies able to register their own names. ICANN will have to work out some way of verifying applicants to avoid cyber-squatting, which involves unscrupulous ne'er-do-wells snapping up names like .google or .facebook so as to sell them to the real companies for oodles of boodle.
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