By now most of you have heard news of the recent decision to create a .xxx domain for porn sites. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, otherwise known as ICANN, has begun the process to establish a separate domain for sexually explicit sites. Such sites won’t be required to sign up for special addresses, but the more transparent labeling may help keep underage users away, as well as unwanted litigation.

We’ve found a few cool one-offs to this story that you may not have considered:

From Techdirt: Since its inception 3 years ago, the “kids-only” domain .kids.us has had a grand total of 21 sites sign up. Given the roughly $400 a year registration fee (plus content review costs), no wonder the site looks so thin.

The Google Blog wants you to know that the Google Site Search feature can help you not only narrow your search to a specific web site, but also to a top level domain. It gives .gov as an example, but we’re sure you can think of something less snooze-worthy. Post author Tom Stocky speculates on a broader trend of sites self-assigning to more specific categories rather than putting the onus on the user. Something to think about.

When you’re hunting for news, sometimes it’s easy to overlook the obvious. The ICANN site has some really great, detailed information on each of the proposed new domains in this section of their site titled Public Comments for Proposed Sponsored Top-Level Domains. Here’s a snip from the .xxx page, where they make this rather confident assertion:

“Likewise, the adoption of a .porn would place the registry operator and ICANN in the difficult position of making the determination of what is and is not pornography. The proposed .xxx string clearly and unequivocally conveys to the Internet user that the site contains adult material of a sexual nature.”

As if the term “XXX” wasn’t controversial as well.

On a quasi-related note, social networking gets adults-only over on Shagster.net, a 6 Degrees of Separation style site that aims to become “the most comprehensive resource into previous sexual partners.”

Users can register and complete a profile, inputting details (including “performance ratings”) of people whom they’ve slept with and browsing profiles of friends to see how everyone is connected.

Wonder what would happen if a group like the CDC got ahold of this information? Could it be used to track the spread of sexually transmitted disease? How about paternity?

(link via Threadwatch.org)

This entry was posted on Monday, June 6th, 2005 at 11:41 am and is filed under Legal Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.