.XXX top level domain goes live

By Liam Tung on Apr 18, 2011 5:19 AM
Filed under Oddware

Against Government and adult industry wishes.

Global web domain authority the IANA has added the .XXX “sponsored” top level domain (sTLD) to its root nameservers on Friday, according to the organisation's records.

The names sex.xxx and porn.xxx resolved under the new TLD for the first time on Friday, DomainName News reported over the weekend.

These and the website of the newest top level domains registrar, ICL Registry, now resolve under .XXX.

ICANN had approved the .XXX adult content domain in March after seven years of debate and despite opposition from its Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). The regulator initially approved ICL Registry's application for the TLD in 2005.

The Australian Government had opposed .XXX, arguing that it would not segregate porn but duplicate it since these websites would remain on .com.

Last October, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy told ICANN that there was a “lack of identified public benefit” from the TLD.

The wholesale price for .XXX domains will be higher than other TLDs at US$60. According to ICM Registry spokesperson Greg Dumas, it could offer higher protections against malware threats than .com sites.

ICL claimed in a Twitter update to have almost 600,000 pre-registrations.

The company has established three routes to reserving a .XXX domain. Those inside the adult industry can reserve a name for fixed or indefinite period, while the third route will be for outsiders that want to block a name from being used. This type of customer would secure a “blocked name”.

A likely source of revenue for ICM Registry will occur in the event that two applicants have applied for the same name. It plans to settle such conflicts by holding a “mini-auction” between approved applicants.

1 comment in this discussion

"The contentious XXX extension will have no affect on adult Dotcom websites; adult Dotcoms will remain unchanged. Furthermore, with so much adverse publicity - including threats by Governments to ..."

By Dashworlds

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Comments: 1

Dashworlds

Apr 19, 2011 8:17 PM

The contentious XXX extension will have no affect on adult Dotcom websites; adult Dotcoms will remain unchanged. Furthermore, with so much adverse publicity - including threats by Governments to block XXX country by country - many will look to avoid the XXX webspace completely. For those compelled to reserve domains defensively, it's likely that anonymity will be required as names get set as Unresolvable and/or Unknown. The outcome? Perhaps a mass of "For Sale" signs by speculators looking to offload their XXX investments.

All ICANN has done here is to openly advance fragmentation of the Web and encourage people to find new ways of making the most of their surfing experience. The result is that Internet users are now bypassing ICANN to create their own unique, memorable and personalised range of brand new Dashcom Domains and TLDs, totally free.

Sites such as Dashworlds.com now provide brand new Dashcom (not Dotcom) domain names. Dashcoms are addresses in format "business-com", "paris-fashion", "social-network" (and of course any XXX your heart might desire). Totally outside the realm and control of ICANN, Internet users can create any domain or TLD in any language, instantly and at no cost.

With users and members in over 90 countries worldwide, resolution is via an APP; although new ISP Links are available to make this unnecessary (ISP Links that are also available to ICANN).

Having just one Internet floating in infinite cyberspace is like saying you can go anywhere in Australia as long it' only the A87. So now, just as in Australia (and everywhere else in the world) the Internet has more than one option.