.XXX - still a very bad idea for parents, IT managers and webmasters
It seems that the concept of a .XXX TLD will simply not die. It started out as a bad idea and remains a bad idea. The new sections of the proposal do nothing to enhance the proposal itself other than to satisfy what ICANNs pointed out their objections to. The core issues with the proposal still exist. The only thing that will correct the problems with the core issues is to either have the proposal finally rejected or for ICM to fully withdraw the proposal. The problem is that ICM has far too much money invested to withdraw the proposal and they see the potential for far to much income down the road if they can get it pushed through. Since nothing has seriously changed in the meat of the proposal, I'll simply re-submit my comments from the last time this bad idea was opened up for comments. The idea of a .XXX TLD remains a bad idea for these and many other reasons. For those of us that have the ability to see past the ends of our noses, .XXX is a flat out bad idea. I'm both a parent and an IT manager and it's easy for me to see that .XXX would do NOTHING to make either of those roles easier for me. As a parent, I will still have to work to filter out undesirable content that may appear in front of my children's eyes while they surf the net. If anybody thinks that 'adult content' is the only thing out there that is harmful to children, then I want to see how big the rock is that they are living under. There are far worse things our there that I would truly like to protect my children from while they surf the net. Even when it comes to adult content, .XXX will do nothing to help me as a parent since it would not be mandatory for anybody to actually use. I will still have to use filters to prevent my children from viewing inappropriate material on the net. And by the way... it's been shown many times that filtering is far more effective than this type of proposal. In a worst case scenario if this new TLD goes through, there will be parents out there that will think that their children will suddenly be safe on the net and it will be touted as a victory against 'adult content'. Nothing could be further from the truth. Since webmasters can simply choose what TLD they want their sites to use, it's possible that nobody will actually use .XXX if it goes through. (similar to other recent TLDs that go largely unused) Were webmasters to choose to actually use a .XXX TLD for their site, children will know exactly where to go to get adult content! As an IT manager, I am faced with trying to keep offensive material out of our network environment. For virtually all the same reasons as why this will not work for me as a parent, this will do nothing for me as an IT professional. I will still need to work with many filters to protect the networks. Let's face it, the biggest problem facing IT managers these days if SPAM and if anybody actually thinks porn SPAM is all that is hitting them, they have not been paying attention. Again, this proposal will do nothing in the way of helping me to stop these issues from impacting how my job gets done. IT managers that think this will have an positive impact are likely the same ones that still think the USA CANN-SPAM Act has reduced the level of SPAM in the world. This is a very bad proposal that seems to only be motivated by potential financial gains for a very few people. Don't allow it to go through. The world does not need another layer of garbage so a handful of people can make a little more money. Let's stop the insanity and make this the final time a .XXX TLD is proposed by rejecting the proposal rather than not approving it. |