XXX Domain One Step Closer to Reality

Silence and squirming. Both were in abundance in Brussels on Friday when the Board of Directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) resolved to let the application for a top-level domain name just for pornography, .xxx, move ahead. 

ICANN, in case you didn't know, is the California non-profit in charge of giving approval for the administration of such things: .com, .org and the like.

Over the past few years, .xxx has aroused particularly strong views. The application was originally submitted back in 2005 by a group called ICM Registry. (Tagline: "It's time for adult websites to self-label.") ICANN has done a lot of back and forth on the application, at one time rejecting it, only to have an Independent Review Panel say that it shouldn't have. 

The decision in Brussels essentially confirms that the ICANN board now agrees with the review panel, and that the application process can and should move forward.

ICM Chairman Stuart Lawley said of the decision: "It's been a long time coming, but I'm excited about the fact that .xxx will soon become a reality. This is great news." ICM says it already has more than 100,000 pre-applications for .xxx addresses, and it hopes to start rolling them out by the start of 2011, "if not sooner." Excellent! Just in time for the holidays!

ICM says .xxx will be good for business, promising adult entertainment providers "[m]ore predictable revenue streams, greater customer retention and fewer complaints for adult entertainment suppliers." And for those who are, well, a bit troubled by the fact that the Internet seems to be one big adult film playground? Good news here, too, says ICM. The .xxx domain will provide for "The effective labeling of content, so that individuals and search engines know that .xxx websites likely contain adult content, which will allow for simple and effective filtering for those who wish to do so." 

Three things should be noted:

1. Should .xxx be finally approved, it would be voluntary. Adult sites will have the option of using .xxx. They won't be forced to use it. And that probably means quite a few popular porn sites operating with .com are going to stay right where they are, or will just duplicate their .com sites with .xxx sites. (Double your pleasure!). You can see why anti-pornography campaigners might think this decision does nothing but legitimize the industry.
2. Not everyone in the adult content industry likes the idea. Some don't want to see smut shunted aside into its own web ghetto. Larry Flynt, of Hustler and free-speech fame, has said that ".xxx is an inherently dangerous idea with no real purpose."
3. It's wrong to see this as a done deal. There have been a lot of headlines essentially saying that .xxx has been approved. It hasn't. ICANN has said the application process can go ahead, but there is obviously discomfort over the decision, and there are more official hurdles. In ICANN's bureaucracy-speak: "The Board approved a detailed set of next steps for the application, including expedited due diligence, negotiations on a draft registry agreement, and consultation with ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee."

Here's the video from the final press conference addressing this issue, and others: