Wired Magazine just released an article “Worst Tech Moments 2005”, and a domain name issue is in the top 10.
Wired claims the US Commerce Department blocked passage of the .xxx domain name. (Although it is a bold claim that this was the reason for the delay, it is no doubt that pressure from interest groups helped table the domain).
Wired author Kevin Poulson writes:
“when ICANN decided to carve out a new [domain] for adult content, a Christian group called the Family Research Council saw red, predicting the move would double the amount of smut available online, and, in the words of council attorney Patrick Trueman, ‘the porn industry would become twice the menace it is today’…
“Prompted by a flood of mail from the Republican base, Michael Gallagher, assistant secretary at the U.S. Commerce Department, drafted a letter to ICANN chairman Vint Cerf asking for the new domain to be delayed. It was; and in that moment any illusion that the internet’s critical domain-name system was immune from U.S. political whims evaporated.”
Should .xxx move forward in 2006? This is just one of the questions in Domain Name Wire’s 2006 Domain Name Survey. Over 300 people have participated in the survey. So far, those surveyed are in favor of .xxx becoming a new domain extension, but not by an overwhelming margin. You can participate in the survey here.
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