Comment Against the .XXX Domain

["Dee" <deefcaht@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Members of the Board of ICANN:

 

I formerly worked in the porn industry from November 2007 to July 2009. I now 
speak out against it
because I saw firsthand the abuse and degradation of the young women who worked 
there at the hands
of the producers and agents.  For the past year, I have been working to inform 
the public about the
widespread devastation that pornography is causing to our children and adults 
and to warn young
women that working in the porn industry is dangerous, abusive and degrading. 
The establishment of a
.XXX domain would increase, not decrease the spread of pornography on the 
Internet and thus cause
even more harm to everyone and make ICANN complicit in that harm.  I urge you 
to kill the .XXX
proposal once and for all.  I, too, thought the .XXX domain might be a solution 
at one time but
through more research, I now understand it would only help the porn industry 
solidify their illegal
activities against people all around the world. My website at www.DesiDivine.com
<http://www.desidivine.com/>  includes articles, videos and blogs that all 
document what I and
others have gone through due to the total lack of concern by the porn industry 
for their workers,
the public and most of all, our children, who are most negatively affected by 
their criminal actions
against humanity.

 

There is no real evidence that this domain would change pornography's negative 
affect on our world.
Each time this idea has been proposed, it has been overwhelmingly opposed by 
the public and
governments throughout the world.  It appears that the company proposing the 
.XXX be created is
merely seeking enrichment at the expense of the public.  Pornography addiction 
is skyrocketing among
adult males and is even affecting many women and children in the same way.  
Countless marriages are
breaking up because of pornography use and sexual promiscuity is more 
widespread than ever before
because of pornography. Our daughters are being trafficked into the porn 
industry so they can then
be groomed for prostitution. Pornography is destroying respect and equality for 
women by grooming
the men in our world to hate and degrade women everywhere. Pornography is 
destroying more lives and
relationships everyday and ICANN should not use its authority to promote more 
devastation.  Here are
some specific arguments against the .XXX proposal:

 

1.)   Neither ICANN nor the company urging the establishment of this new domain 
are arguing that the
.XXX domain would clean up the .COM domain and require all pornographers to 
move to .XXX.  The .COM
domain is a cash cow for pornographers and they are not leaving it.  ICANN has 
no enforcement powers
to make them leave and thus clean up .COM.  Pornographers would simply expand 
to .XXX and maintain
their current .COM sites, perhaps doubling the number of porn sites and 
doubling their menace to
society.  

2.)   The .XXX domain will NOT make it easier to filter porn, even if all 
pornographers would
voluntarily move there (and that will NOT happen). Even if most parents would 
be able to use filters
on home computers, kids have access to the Internet outside the home.  And it 
isn't just the kids
that need filtering.  Addiction to pornography by adults is rampant so everyone 
needs filtering but,
sadly, few bother.  The new website Pornography Harms,  <http://pornharms.com/>
http://pornharms.com, provides overwhelming evidence of harm from pornography 
and thus the need for
protection from it.

3.)   Since most families do not use effective filtering services, the .XXX 
domain would merely make
hardcore pornography even easier to find for children seeking such material.  
Thus the argument that
.XXX would benefit children by "cleaning up the Internet" is without any basis 
in fact. 

4.)   U.S. citizens should not believe claims by some that the U.S. Congress 
could merely pass a law
requiring all porn companies to leave the .Com for the .XXX.  Any law 
attempting to force
pornographers to relocate to .XXX would likely be declared unconstitutional 
because under the First
Amendment, all pornography is "presumptively protected" by the U.S. 
Constitution until it has been
determined to be "obscene" or "child pornography."  Just as the Department of 
Justice cannot force
porn stores to move or go out of business because it believes that such stores 
are operating
illegally, the Department cannot force pornographers on the .COM domain to move 
or go out of
business without first charging them with a crime and having a court make a 
determination of
illegality.  

5.)   Hardcore pornography (or "obscene material" as it is called in U.S. law) 
on the Internet is
ALREADY a violation of U.S law.  It is just not being prosecuted by the U.S. 
Department of Justice
because those in charge are letting the public down.  So for those who argue 
that by establishing a
new .XXX domain AND then passing by a new law requiring porn companies to move 
(IF such a law was
upheld after years of litigation) we can solve our Internet porn problem, we 
must ask why these two
events will suddenly compel the Department to begin prosecuting porn companies. 
 If the Department
of Justice is not prosecuting Internet porn companies now for violating U.S. 
obscenity laws, it is
not going to prosecute such companies for merely locating in the wrong address.

6.)   If somehow all porn sites providing obscene material would actually leave 
the .COM Domain for
the .XXX Domain, they would STILL be violating U.S. obscenity law which 
prohibits such material on
the Internet regardless of location. We don't want the Department of Justice to 
say to illegal porn
companies, in effect, that it is okay to violate U.S. law as long as you do it 
on .XXX.  Men, women,
and children are becoming addicted to pornography and I believe the rates of 
addiction are
skyrocketing - this is a virtually untreated pandemic.  Many who begin by 
viewing adult pornography
deviate down to harder and harder material as they continue a steady 
consumption of material and
many of these will deviate down to the point that they only become excited by 
child pornography.
This is a significant factor in the growth of child pornography on the 
Internet.  Countless
marriages are breaking up because of pornography use.  Violence against women, 
which is depicted in
most porn films, is changing male attitudes toward girls and women in a very 
negative way.  A more
appropriate goal should be to STOP the distribution of this destructive 
material by prosecuting
those responsible for it, NOT protect pornography on the .XXX domain.  

 

Sincerely,

 

Dee Grandmaison

Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking

Domestic Outreach

(727) 442-3064 Office

(727) 442-3531 Fax

 <mailto:deefcaht@xxxxxxxxx> deefcaht@xxxxxxxxx

 <http://www.stophumantrafficking.org> www.stophumantrafficking.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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