Are Your Ready for .xxx Domains?

A major shakeup is upon us as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) has approved new web suffixes, a development a long time in coming.

The internet is set for a radical shake-up after the organisation that oversees website names gave the green light to plans for a new way of creating web addresses.

The decision means that as well as millions of existing website addresses which end in .com or .co.uk, surfers will also be able to choose from sites with suffixes such as .bank, .sport or .bet.

A marathon meeting of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), which administers the development of the internet, ended in unanimous approval for the introduction of a new set of "top level" website addresses, bringing nearly three years of debate and planning to an end.

The process, which will begin in 2009, was described by the organisation's chairman, Paul Twomey, as "the biggest change to the way people find each other on the internet since its inception".

At first it is likely that new suffixes will be limited to businesses and other major organisations such as city councils, with cities such as New York and Berlin keen to create a whole selection of .nyc and .berlin addresses.

Naturally, the most popular searches on the web (you know who you are) will be heading for .xxx sites, assuming those are approved. Oddly enough a guy named Butts quotes a guy named Peters in the story.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is discussing the possibility of creating a triple-X domain for pornography.

Bob Peters of Morality in Media believes relegating pornography to a triple-X domain will not work on two levels. First, he argues, it is not mandatory, and secondly, it requires parents to use filters -- and many parents will not. Finally, he adds, children can gain access on computers outside the home that are not filtered.

Peters stresses protection of children from pornography is a major concern, but it is not the only one. "There are other harms that pornography causes, particularly to marriage," he points out. "[A]nd certainly there are connections to sexual exploitation of children, sexually trafficking, prostitution in general -- and putting this stuff in a XXX zone is not going to protect marriage. It's not going to protect society overall," Peters argues.

If implemented, switching to a XXX domain by pornographers would be on a voluntary basis. The decency advocate finds the idea that pornographers could continue operating their .com domains troubling. "Originally as it was proposed ... people who ran the XXX domain were going to expect some somewhat ethical behavior on the part of pornographers," says Peters. "You talk about an oxymoron."