Daily Domainer

The .xxx domain extension, whose introduction is currently being discussed at ICANN, has created quite a stir.

Does the Internet really need another domain? Are there any alternative solutions? And most importantly, what exactly is the problem that .xxx is trying to solve?

Domainer George Kirikos suggest an alternative to .xxx: special port numbers.

[...] port 80 is reserved for the HTTP protocol (i.e. the World Wide Web). Port 443 is reserved for the HTTPS protocol (SSL-secure version of HTTP). Port 23 is for Telnet, port 25 is for SMTP, and so on. One can see the full list at here.

One can theoretically run protocols over any port (e.g. you can have a web server on port 25 or port 18666—http://localhost:18666/ could access a webserver running locally on port 18666). In a real sense, the IANA port assignments are just suggestions to the world as to what to expect on certain ports, whether it be a mail server, WHOIS, FTP, POP email or any other service/protocol.

Instead of using a .xxx domain, adult sites could simply run on another port. Instead of http://www.sample-adult-site.com, users would have to go to http://www.sample-adult-site.com:18666/ instead, presumably allowing concerned parents to block these ports on their childrens' computers.

Conservative opponents to .xxx will probably like this idea, which will only work if all countries in the world agree to it. This group of people has argued that if adult sites can keep their current .com, .net or country code domains, the introduction of .xxx will actually increase adult content on the Internet.

Others have complained that .xxx would effectively be an extortion racket. Every brand owner, even companies that have no interest in publishing adult content, will be required to preventively register their .xxx domain just to protect their name, thereby creating undeserved profits for the .xxx domain registry.

In response to the controversy, Brett Watson quips that while finding a solution is quite easy, identifying the problem is much more difficult:

Are we looking for a technical solution to the problem of keeping kids away from porn on the Internet? (Gloss over the globally inconsistent definitions of “kids” and “porn” for now.) Is that what “.xxx” is about? Are we saying we don’t need “.xxx” because we have other ways to label porn? Well yeah, PICS is over ten years old. Remember PICS? I’m sure some of you remember it. PICS shows that technical solutions to the kids+porn problem are easy: it’s just getting all the necessary parties to actually use them that’s hard.

But it seems to me that the “.xxx” registry idea was not proposed as a protective measure. Like most applicants with a TLD proposal, this was primarily intended to be a money-maker, and I’m pretty sure they don’t care whether the money is from real pornographers or preemptive registrations. Money is money. Is the problem that “.xxx” would mean another domain name land-rush? That didn’t stop “.eu” did it? Why do we care about a “.xxx” land-rush?

The Daily Domainer sees the introduction of new theme or usage oriented domain extensions such as .travel, .mobi, .tel and .xxx. in a positive light. Some domains will catch on while others will languish an eventually disappear.

Under the current proposal, the use of .xxx would be voluntary for adult site operators, some of whom oppose .xxx in the fear that this is only the first of many steps to gradually restrict adult content on the web and to prevent adults from gaining access to it as they see fit. These sentiments come as no surprise considering the current oppressive political climate in some countries around the world.

But as long as the use of .xxx remains voluntary, it will not restrict the freedom of adult site operators or users. On the contrary, it will actually increase operators' profits and overall type-in traffic to their sites. Many end users will try both the .com and .xxx extensions of their intended destinations, and these domains might actually be owned by different site operators.

Adults who are offended by porn sites or who want to protect their kids from viewing them will continue to have access to optional tools that prevent them from accidentally stumbling across the undesired content. A voluntary .xxx domain will neither facilitate nor hamper the operation of such filters.

In summary, it looks like there is no problem, just a number of solutions. And .xxx is certainly the most attractive among them.

Categories: Domain Extensions
Tags: .xxx, adult, icann