A U.S.-based anti-pornography group is opposing the registration of a number of adult-themed generic top level domain names (gTLDs).
Morality in Media (MIM) says it will “vigorously oppose” the expansion of pornography domains on the Internet proposed by ICM Registry, which runs the .xxx gTLD.
The Internet Corporation for Assign Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced last month that ICM Registry has applied to add .sex, .porn and .adult to its portfolio of gTLDs.
“People remember that the .xxx domain was supposed to solve the Internet’s porn problem,” said Patrick Trueman, president of MIM. “The .xxx domain advocates said pornography companies would leave the .com domain and relocate on .xxx, making the rest of the Internet porn-free.”
However, he claimed that this has not occurred, and the launch of .xxx has simply encouraged the registration of more adult-themed websites.
Mr. Trueman expressed concern that companies, public bodies, bloggers, and individuals will be “scammed” into buying protection on each new porn registry in order to protect their trademarks.
“Many of those that bought protection from ICM Registry paid thousands of dollars to assure that their good name would not be attached to a porn site on .xxx, but they did not know that ICM planned to roll out more and more porn-related domains,” he stated. “There is no evidence that the public wants or needs more porn domains.”
However Stuart Lawley, chief executive of ICM Registry, defended the firm’s plans to acquire new gTLDs from ICANN.
He claimed that .xxx has become “a globally accepted and responsible place for adult online entertainment to thrive in an easily recognizable self-regulated environment.”
“We are dedicated to protecting interested stakeholders by providing the latest technology and the best domains, which is why we created the .xxx TLD,” he stated. “We chose to submit applications for additional TLDs to spare .xxx participants from needless expense and to ensure the TLDs will be run in the same trustworthy and appropriate ways that .xxx is today.”