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11/04/07

.xxx domain, too hot to handle? Rejected by ICANN yet again

After ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) declared, in early January, that their 'no' to .xxx from May 2006, was not a 'no' against the proposal to introduce the .xxx domain, but a vote against the agreement that ICM sought to reach with ICANN - ICANN questioned the way the address was going to be managed - the possible introduction of .xxx was put back on the ICANN agenda.

The .xxx-domain, intended for pornographic sites, was however rejected for the second time, during the 28th international meeting in Lisbon (Portugal) last March. Nine votes against, five for and one abstention was the final result of the vote. The opponents argued that it is not ICANN's task to regulate contents on the internet, but merely to regulate the administration of domain names.

In May 2006 the .xxx-domain had already been rejected by ICANN, a decision that was met with a lot of criticism. The European Commission at the time accused the American government of interference. The rejection would have been the result of political pressure from the American Trade department that has to approve all ICANN decisions. ICM registry, the company that wants to manage the .xxx domain name, even sued the U.S. Trade Department in an attempt to reclaim, before U.S. courts, all the investments it had already made in the .xxx project. The U.S. Trade Department itself has always denied it has any significant role in the way the internet is being managed.

 

 

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