Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["christian stalberg" <cstalberg AT web-analysts.net>]

     ICANN Approves .XXX -- Boycott Urged -- ICM Keeps Blowing Smoke

             http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000830.html


Greetings.  As expected, ICANN has approved the ".XXX" gTLD (Generic
Top-Level Domain) -- or using my preferred notation in these
postings to help avoid filter blocking:  "dot-ex-ex-ex" ...
( http://j.mp/goVKTo [PC Mag] )

Back in 2005, in "Open Letter: Why 'Dot-Ex-Ex-Ex' is for Chumps," I
urged the adult entertainment industry not to play along with any .xxx
TLD should it come to pass ( http://j.mp/bRtaFj [Lauren's Blog] ).

It appears that they agree with me.  The Free Speech Coalition, which
represents the adult entertainment industry, strongly opposes the
creation of this TLD, and is now recommending a boycott.  They feel
(quite accurately, indeed) that this TLD will be widely blocked, and
will trigger efforts to force their members to give up all other
Internet addresses and be present only in this new "red light
district" TLD, creating a terrible precedent for Internet censorship
and the crushing of free speech more generally.

Stuart Lawley, the man who has cornered ICANN into this terrible
decision, and who stands to strike it rich by operating .xxx and
associated civil liberties eviscerating services, is continuing to
spout the same misleading statements as always.

Last July, in "ICM Registry and Deceptive Dot-Ex-Ex-Ex Polls," I noted
how his ICM Registry quoted deceptive polls to claim support for .xxx,
by seeming to suggest that all adult services would be restricted only
to this TLD, and would no longer have a presence elsewhere in other
TLDs -- a completely false assertion today, and unlikely to occur in
the U.S. without extremely drawn out and problematic court battles --
and perhaps not even then ( http://j.mp/csKB7p [Lauren's Blog] ).

He's still at it, now saying that, "For the first time there will be a
clearly defined web address for adult entertainment, out of the reach
of minors ..." -- again seeming to imply that .xxx will somehow have
exclusive control over adult entertainment sites -- and that minors
will magically be blocked from accessing .xxx sites as well.  Since
Lawley has previously crowed about his ability to collect protective
registrations for .xxx (from firms who otherwise wouldn't want to have
anything to do with it or him), his "200K pre-reservations" claim can
be easily recognized as a pure form of hypocrisy in action.

It's worth mentioning that even folks who should know better have
apparently been taken in by Lawley's spiel -- or are acting that way.
Gawker's article on this issue today ended with: "For the common
Internet user, it should make randomly typing in random websites that
less exciting, knowing you'll never be startled to learn that an
innocuous URL leads to a foot fetish website." -- reinforcing the
utterly false meme that porn sites would no longer be present in .COM
and other conventional TLDs ( http://j.mp/f8ye7O [Gawker] ).

Looking at the details of ICANN's discussions about .xxx and their
plans to finalize the process for a vast new expansion (by June) of
additional gTLDs to further enrich the domain-industrial complex, it
seems clear that they're very much tired out.  The question of what's
really right or wrong -- what's best for the Internet as a whole and
for most users of the Net -- isn't in the forefront of their
deliberations.

Now it's very much a matter of extricating themselves from the
quicksand they created themselves in recent years via a series of
180-degree turns regarding process, governance, and TLDs in
particular.  They just want to be done with it all.  They just want
out.

When it comes to gTLD expansion in general, and to .xxx in particular,
I hope that the Internet community, and domestic governments around
the world, will take a firm stance not to allow ICANN's views to
dictate what's best for the global Internet -- an Internet that is
supposed to be for everyone -- not just the well-heeled masters of the
domain money machine.

In the long run, I hope that projects such a IDONS - Internet
Distributed Open Name System -- or some other new approach -- can make
a positive difference and obsolete the TLD madness entirely
( http://j.mp/hLVOUv [IDONS/GCTIP] ).

In the meantime, some shorter term approaches to deal with this
situation -- that individuals, firms, and other organizations can
implement right now without needing approval from ICANN -- appear to
be called for.  More on that soon.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren AT vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org
Founder:
 - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
 - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance:
http://www.gctip.org
 - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein 
Google Buzz: http://j.mp/laurenbuzz 
Quora: http://www.quora.com/Lauren-Weinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com

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