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 More >