Morality in Media (MIM) has called for Congress to make it a crime for anyone to register a domain name on the .xxx site that is registered on another domain without the consent of the owner of the other domain name.
In a statement, MIM President Patrick Trueman said, “Nearly every company in the world, every blogger, and the holders of any domain name must fear that the ICM Registry will allow their good name to be trashed on the .XXX domain unless they pay this ‘protection money’ to ICM Registry and its affiliated registrars.”
“Congress must address this outrage.”
“It should be against federal criminal law for anyone to register a name on this porn domain that is registered on another domain without authorization of the owner of the other domain name,”
“Both the person registering the name and the registrar, ICM Registry and its affiliate registrars, should be subject to this law. ”
I’m not sure if MIM knows there are more than just .com domain names.
In a world with hundreds of ccTLD’s and TLD i think there is a pretty good chance of more than one person owning the same domain in some extension.
Morality in Media wants Congress to determine which domain names can be registered and wants to put you in Jail, seemly federal prison if you register a .XXX domain that matches a domain owned by someone in the world under some extension.
I think Congress should jump on it as soon as the solve the jobs, banking, mortgage, real estate, war, taxes, homeless people & spending issues not to mention the 100’s of more problems we have in the good old USA.
Meantime before worrying about which .XXX domain names should be allowed or not allowed to be registered by Congress, or which you should go to jail for registering, our friends at Morality In Media might want to take out their credit card and spend $100 to register MoralityInMedia.xxx which is as of the time of publication still available to be registered.
Alan says
@I’m not sure if MIM knows there are more than just .com domain names.
Yes, but .XXX has a universal meaning………….Porn, which makes it a unique extension.
lols says
there’s so many knives out for .xxx it’s hilarious
R.I.P .xxx
the drops next year and year after will be historic. the worst ever for any new extension
Brad says
While MIM’s response is over the top, you can blame the ICM Registry itself.
.XXX has been marketed to TM/brand owners around “protecting your brand”.
These owners are forced to pay 100’s to 1000’s of dollars for domains that don’t even resolve just to protect their brand from abuse.
Brad
lols says
@Brad
exactly
I visited http://www.uk2.net earlier. prob 2nd biggest registrar in uk
take a look yourself how it is being marketed
its a disgrace
blackmail
owen frager says
I agree with this because I now have a $5K legal expense to get rid of a guy who took one of mine.
But I don’t agree with lola. We are preparing a BIG story right now for the year end conclusion to our Domaining’s Most Fascinating People 2011.
It will talk about the true opportunity for Xxx with eye-popping factual support. Such as:
total of 4.2 million websites contain pornography.
US porn revenue exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC
globally consumers spend over $3000 on porn of every second of every day
Every second 28,258 internet users are viewing pornography. In that same second 372 internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines. Every 39 minutes a new pornographic video is being created in the U.S.
It’s big business. The pornography industry has larger revenues than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple and Netflix combined. 2006 Worldwide Pornography Revenues ballooned to $97.06 billion
But much is outside there US and .XXX transcends all cultures and languages- it the fore oct recognized brand in the world.
Buying XXX to put up a parking page is dumb idea.
My article will show everyone where the money is. Stay tuned,
lols says
lot of good points there Owen in regards to adult
however mobile ecommerce will exceed everything and has porn added into pot
however it doesnt mean .mobi is suddenly worth a fortune even though a lot of adoption by big names, just because its called mobi
same is true of .xxx
and .xxx has no big sales or big names behind it yet. many against it in fact
.com has always been the adult choice
i honestly think .xxx is a bigger turkey than .co
mark my words. come and see where they both are in 2013
owen frager says
lola you’ve inspired me- wait until you read this and see what I saw- .XXX already knows its best prospects are the hypocrites who trash them:
http://fragerfactor.blogspot.com/2011/12/congress-has-porn-problem-rick-perry.html
yo says
mim’s suggestions seem crazy. but that’s only because they do not understand how dns works so they cannot propose a more workable solution.
their complaint is valid. icm is doing major advertising. they are pushing .xxx on the public in a big way. everyone has to see the .xxx ads when they’re in mainstream publications.
so is it protection money? you bet it is.
if people are looking for porn, they do not need .xxx to find it. there are very effective ways to search for porn besides typing in searchword.xxx
there is no dire need for a .xxx tld. nor any new gtld. these registries need defensive registrations to survive.
nor does anyone need a .xxx tld to block porn. in fact, blocking content by tld is futile. but that’s not what icm would tell you.
these are not necessarily things a non-technical internet user might understand. but you do not need to be a technical user to understand what icm is trying to pull. and other new gtld’s if that program goes forward will try the very same thing.
defensive registrations only benefit the registries. they do not benefit defensive registrants. nor do they benefit internet users. and if you’re average joe domainer you’re not going to make money buying .xxx and new gtld domains in the open market. the registries are not going to sell you the best keywords for anything less than millions.
so unless you are running a registry, planning to run one or being paid by one (icann, consultants, etc.), you have no reason to support .xxx or any more new gtlds.
but by all means, feel free to do so.
adam says
@Owen
I do not think you have any chance to get ShoeDepartment.xxx unless he sells you.
Name is generic and you even do not have website on your domain.
If I were he I would build site and try takes yours… 🙂
Austindude says
Silly Morality in Media. Lucky for me, when I went hunting I picked up sites that had terms that were adult-only oriented because after all that is what .XXX is for, correct? I never understood why somebody would want tables.xxx or speakers.xxx, paper.xxx, etc which are generic, but too generic to really be considered adult-oriented, which is in fact what all of .XXX is supposed to be. When people search for those terms they aren’t looking for porn sites with those terms in them.
Owen, I’m looking forward to your year end article. I am just getting into domaining and it’s an exciting time, reading and investigating all sides of the .XXX TLD.
I was lucky (or unlucky – not sure yet) enough to grab handcuffed.xxx, sleazy.xxx, and shameful.xxx.
Ben Elza says
Sorry Mr.Trueman, you got that WRONG…man!
1. I bought .xxx to protect our society and provide a safer, cleaner and legal internet environment for all of us and for generations to come.
2. I bought .xxx to help open the doors for legal, clean and equal business opportunities for all entrepreneurs ,and to support the global economy.
lightstore says
then following their logic they should make a crime to contain the term that is registered in .com , i.e. .net, .org, .info unless .org is used by non-profit and .net by a telco
James says
So go register the name in .net.bz then give yourself permission to get the .xxx
Why do such groups embarass themselves by showing how little they know their subject?
Ann Kuch says
It’s great that Owen is discussing the opportunities available in this robust industry. But it is absolutely irresponsible not to discuss the dangers–dangers that are all too real to those in the industry. I’ll share one anecdote as an example. Yesterday, a .xxx speculator, someone who has never worked in the industry, posted a question on one of the adult industry forums. He wanted to know what people thought about the market for “used knickers,” because he had just purchased the .xxx domain. Of course, his question was met with resounding laughter. One kind industry veteran interupted the barrage of ridicule to explain that there is an ENORMOUS market for used underwear. However, in the US, selling used underwear is illegal in all 50 states. Depending on the state, the fine can range from $300 to $5000. In 24 states, you can be put into prison for up to 3 years. It is illegal in Japan. And in England, it is illegal unless the underwear has been washed in water that is at least 135 degrees (for which underwear-fetish-people will not pay). This guy clearly drank the domain kool-aid. He bought the notion that you can simply choose an adult-related keyword or phrase, put it in front of a .xxx, and own a valuable domain. Unless you know the industry, unless you know the laws that govern the industry, you really can’t know the value of any key word or domain name.
Alan says
Big article at CNN today, “Opinion: .XXX domains a obvious failure” on front page. Worth
Reading!
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/12/tech/web/xxx-domains-failure-mashable/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
Michael H. Berkens says
Alan
The CNN story is a reprint of a Mashable story from last week.
Alan says
@MB
Well, it was featured on the front page of CNN this morning ( 12-13 ) and has since been
removed.
Louise says
Here is the article:
Opinion: XXX domains an obvious failure
By Lance Ulanoff, Mashable
updated 7:45 AM EST, Mon December 12, 2011 | Filed under: Web
(Mashable) — Is it just me or is the ICANN plan to corral online porn going terribly wrong? We already have reports that universities are snapping up XXX domains in an effort to get ahead of porn pranksters who want to besmirch a few good online names with smut.
I guess this turn of events was obvious to anyone with half a brain.
Legitimate porn sites have little interest in the triple X domains, which went on sale earlier this week, for their businesses because they see them as potential censorship and, more importantly, they thrive on people accidentally stumbling on their URLs.
In the early days of the web this was common because porn purveyors snapped up known names and brands — none of which had to feature an obvious porn domain label. That’s how “Whitehouse.com” ended up, for a time, as a porn site.
.XXX was designed to improve the situation. No more accidentally typing in, well, something you didn’t intend. With a designated porn domain, it’s unlikely anyone would end up in the wrong place.
Better yet, corporations and homes could easily block all .XXX domains. That’s the plan, but if pornographers stay away and legitimate people, companies, businesses and universities race to snap up any and all XXX domain names that could be construed as theirs, then this triple XXX domain could be an embarrassing failure for the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).
Think I’m exaggerating? The AP reports that 80,000 XXX domains were sold in presale and many companies like Pepsi and Nike lined up to purchase adult domains. The University of Kansas reportedly just paid $3,000 for a variety of XXX URLs.
It’s unlikely anyone will ever type in http://www.KUgirls.xxx, but that’s not the point. The university just wanted to be safe. I understand the impulse. Even as I’m writing this, I’m wondering if I, too, should try to protect my good name by buying the LanceUlanoff.xxx domain.
I know where to go. GoDaddy.com is registering them for $99 a year, making these domains considerably more expensive than standard domains (which you can buy at various sites at anywhere from $1.99 or $9.99 — yearly maintenance fees are then more expensive).
According to the website, if I wanted to launch an adult website under that URL, I actually have to become an “Internet Community Member” and then confirm my status of “the sponsored adult entertainment community”. My guess is that this is how the ICANN polices the URLs, to ensure that someone isn’t registering someone else’s brand as a porn site.
I have no plans to do so, which conveniently means I do not have to become a part of the “Community.” GoDaddy tells me this too, and is — fortunately, I guess — only too happy to help me park my URL for the same exorbitant fee.
Atop GoDaddy’s XXX domain registration page is this: “Let’s be adult about it. Create an adult Web presence or protect your brand.” This is followed by an explanation of why you’d want to register an XXX domain. Note what it starts with:
“Secure your brand. Protect your reputation.”
“Perhaps you’d like to create an adult entertainment website. Or maybe you’re here to keep your brand from being registered as a .XXX by someone else. Whatever your reasons for wanting a .XXX domain, you’ve come to the right place. To check the availability of your domain, type the name you want into the search box above. ”
GoDaddy has built its brand with coy references to sex (check out any of its Super Bowl ads), but it’s not being coy here. The message is clear: If you don’t want someone launching a porn XXX domain with your name or brand, you’d better let GoDaddy take your money and register it for you.
While I see the parallels with the early days of the web, this situation is different in one fundamental way: Those snapping up the domains for protection will never use them. No one outside the porn industry wants to run a live XXX domain website. These businesses and universities are simply buying them in what GoDaddy actually calls “Defensive Registrations” to hide them from view forever (and they’ll pay GoDaddy yearly fees to do so).
Instead of creating a solution, the ICANN’s apparently misguided efforts have spawned a new anxiety: “Your Brand Name in Porn.” The fear is so strong that it’s got all these people buying up domains just so the wrong people can’t get them. As I see it, this could be quite a windfall for GoDaddy. The company should send the ICANN a thank-you note.
Kate says
@Austindude Why would someone want tables.xxx? Because you should never underestimate the way the adult industry could use it! I can remember in the very early days of the Internet, my friends and I would visit the college library and pick random domain names and guess what the content on the site would be. I can remember how most of us had bet that shower.com would be a plumbing supply site or bathroom design place. Nope. It was porn. I can only imagine what someone would do with tables.xxx!
Michael H. Berkens says
Louise
Well I think the Mashable article has a couple of fundamental flaws.
For one .XXX was NEVER going to be a mandatory extension for adult nor was it ever going to prevent or stop someone from operating an adult site on other extensions.
Where Mashable came up with the idea it was going to somehow accomplish that, well i think that was there assumption or there idea of how it “should” work.
However if the naming system worked that way there couldn’t be commercial sites operating on a .Org.
Outside of that, I have stated my opinion that ICM and the registrars have overused the brand protection to sell the extension, however just because there is lot of brand protection doesn’t make the extension a failure as Mashable wants to call it.
The extension is one week out since go live, lets see what the next year brings from ICM, their micropayment system and some of their planned feeder sites.
Lets give webmasters and other who acquired the domains to put up content some time to do so and get the sites ranked in Google which as we know takes months not days.
The extension is a week old way to early to call it a success or a failure.
Ben Elza says
@MHB
“Lets give webmasters and other who acquired the domains to put up content some time to do so and get the sites ranked in Google which as we know takes months not days”
.xxx will NEVER depend on Google or any other search engine 🙂 .xxx has its own search engine, thats the beauty of it, it is a whole country with its own rules and regulations, thats what makes it great. Customers who will go to search.xxx or find.xxx will only be looking for the elites and the best of all products and services (in R rated sites) Maybe Google.xxx should enter the market quickly too.