On Friday the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved a new ‘.xxx’ top level domain (TLD) that will be operated by the ICM Registry. The ‘.xxx’ TLD will join the ranks of other TLDs like ‘.com’, ‘.co.uk’, ‘.org’ and so on. The intended use for the ‘.xxx’ will be adult websites, but it will not be compulsory for sites containing pornographic content to use that TLD. At the time of writing over 284,000 domains have been pre-reserved.

The introduction of the new TLD has met a lot of opposition from a wide range of factions. Conservative groups have opposed the introduction of ‘.xxx’ as they believe it legitimises the production and publication of pornographic material, whilst figures in the adult industry have opposed the TLD as they believe it could lead to legislation enforcing ‘.xxx’ on pornographic websites, effectively ‘ghettoising’ adult websites on the internet and leading to censorship of all websites under that domain. They are also frustrated that they will have to pay out to protect their brand by reserving their website domain again under the new TLD.

Proponents of the new TLD have been keen to point out its advantages, namely the protection of minors from access to adult material online. It will be much more simple to block all ‘.xxx’ domains rather than relying on ‘block lists’ provided by parental control software vendors.

Despite the controversy surrounding the new TLD, it is expected that ICANN will soon make it possible to set up any TLD that you wish, although the price tag will be in the six-figure range. This could lead to the introduction of regional TLDs like ‘.london’ and ‘.manchester’ or corporate brands like ‘.yahoo’ and ‘.areatrade’. This is part of the reason that ICANN approved this new domain – it is almost definite that it will appear again when the organisation opens itself up to more TLD applications, although these guidelines may not be approved until June 2011.

What are you thoughts on the new TLD? Is it an attack on free speech, or an effective way to identify pornographic content and protect minors? Let us know in the comments section.

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