The Many Reasons I Oppose .XXX

[webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Dear ICANN,

The .XXX TLD is an unwelcomed burden to the adult industry. Whether you
are affiliated with online pornography or stand wholeheartedly against it,
.XXX is not a solution created with a child's best interest in mind. I
fail to see how anyone could support .XXX. For adult webmasters, it forces
you to give up your previous business, frequent visitors (bookmarkers),
costs much more, is regulated through a 3rd party's MORALS (not by law),
and can be used to automatically block you from potential customers
(college students.) And as someone who loathes internet porn, why would
you support something that assists in legitimizing online pornography?

To all Americans, regardless of your personal opinion; consider just how
fair this regulation is. It is a violation of free speech. Would you
expect to have your church's website strictly designated to a .god domain?
How do you think Amazon or eBay would feel if they were forced to a .shop
domain, leaving their established brand-name up for grabs to whoever
clicks 'register' the fastest? I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate it.
Neither does the majority of the adult industry.

Many flaws exist within the proposal of ICM's .XXX TLD. For instance,
parents who have failed to install parental controls on their home
computers will not suddenly be urged to do so (should .XXX pass.) The
implementation of this TLD will not provide a cure for a parent's
irresponsibility / ignorance.

Furthermore, the implementation of .XXX as a means of decreasing /
stopping the distribution of child pornography simply will not work.
Sadly, child smut peddlers are much too smart to fall victim to the
regulation of a .XXX domain. Why would someone doing something so illegal
(and immoral) choose to be regulated through the .XXX TLD? They won't.
They'll continue to register .coms (most likely through hosts located in
poorly-regulated, foreign countries.) They'll also continue to distribute
their material through p2p file-sharing services, which fall far beyond
the reach of .XXX (as no domain registration at all is required and
anonymity is basically assured.)

I assure you that no honest adult webmaster intends to offer minors access
to pornographic content. Besides the fact that it is morally wrong...
(Yes, we have morals. We are people, too.) ...it is not a smart business
decision. We are a business like any other (for the most part.) We offer
free 'sample' content in hopes that adults will enjoy it, and thus buy
memberships. To purchase a membership, a credit card is necessary. Seeing
as how minors cannot legally own credit cards, they are obviously ruled
out as the target market. There are no benefits to providing minors with
pornograpy. I, personally, am disgusted with those who do, as well as with
the parents that fail to regulate what media their child views.

Unfortunately, the only ones who will feel the effects of this unwelcome
burden are the honest webmasters; who want only to bring sexually explicit
content to the eyes of mature adults who wish to view it. Some of you
stand in favor of being allowed the privilege of viewing online
pornography. Some of you believe it is corrupt, degrading to women, an
exploitation of human sexuality, or perhaps all of the above. Whatever
your stance, I beg you to pardon your previous bias if only for a minute,
to see the ICM proposed .XXX TLD for what it really is; a way of
collecting larger revenues and supressing those who hold an interest in
seeing two consenting adults engage in sexual intercourse. How will .XXX
succeed? By selling you false promises that .XXX holds an interest in
protecting your children.

Did you know that the new .XXX TLD will cost webmasters $75 per domain vs
$8-12 for a .com domain? Moral stance aside, isn't that a suspiciously
large profit markup for something solely intended to benefit children?

I've discussed the problems and deceit lying within the .XXX proposal; but
what about a truly effective solution?

I propose to you that all adult sites featuring and linking to adult
content should be forced to label themselves with an RTA label.
(http://www.rtalabel.org)
RTA labeling is detectable by parental software, is easy to integrate into
websites, and avoids the burden and fees associated with a .XXX TLD. If
sites fail to label themselves, they should be shut down immediately or
subject to fines/penalties of some sort. If ICM is sincerely interested in
protecting children, and not lining their pockets with cash, they should
have no complaints against this proposal.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you will understand why
I, and the majority of the adult industry, DO NOT SUPPORT .XXX.

Sincerely,
C. Ward