.xxx Marks the Spot

The efforts of ICM Registry to create an .xxx top-level Internet domain (TLD) appear to be coming to fruition. After seven long years of protracted struggle, the finish line is in sight for ICM. Just last year, the domain was shot down yet again by an unlikely combination of conservative social groups and Internet pornographers using other TLDs. Anti-porn critics pointed out that these online "adult entertainment" providers could still use other domains such as .com and .net; hence, ICM's contention that the use of .xxx would enable better policing would not be valid and would merely serve to increase outlets for online porn. On the other hand, Internet pornographers using other existing TLDs feared that they would be forced to use the .xxx TLD, enabling overzealous censors to curtail free-speech rights more easily. While these groups are difficult to appease, the Internet Governance Project (IGP) believes that ICM's most recent proposal has a good chance of passing because the registry has gone a long way towards mitigating objections by governments and ICANN board members. Some stipulations include:

1. Prohibition of child pornography;
2. The registry is required to allow third-parties like the Internet Watch Foundation to monitor compliance with registry policies;
3. The registry must develop industry best practices designed to protect children online and empower parents and other users to avoid content they do not wish to see;
4. The registry must create and support an "International Forum for Online Responsibility";
5. The registry must reserve geographies and names with religious or cultural sensitivity;
6. The registry must pay $10 for each name registered to support child safety and support development of users' abilities to control their Web experience.

IGP is right on the money with its criticisms of this scheme. Critics of ICANN say that is a victory for the public to control the "unaccountable" ICANN. But, it transforms the ICANN into a netminder--a role it was never intended to fulfill. Worse yet, officials are empowering the ICANN to take on more roles--expanding it instead of shrinking it. That the US government is abusing its unique authority over ICANN to please a strong interest group (religious conservatives) also sets an unwelcome precedent. I agree with IGP: just let them use the domain without turning it into a political circus.