Opposition to the .XXX Domain

["Dave Clark" <dave.clark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I am writing to you today to let you know of my opposition to the 
concept of the .XXX top level domain.  I am both an adult webmaster 
and a broker of adult content produced by photographers to other 
adult webmasters, and as such, I have a lot of contact within the 
adult industry.  I cannot see how such a TLD would be of benefit to 
anyone inside the adult industry at all, period.

The very best case scenario for this would entail an added business 
expense (for me alone, at $60 per domain per year, I would have to 
pay about $2500 in additon registration fees per year, compared to 
the $325 that I'm currently paying) while getting back absolutely 
nothing in return.  At the very worst, I risk being forced by 
governmental entities who have an aversion to free speech into what 
would amount to a cybernetic ghetto that could be cut off by "well-
meaning" government types (or even ISP's) by simply filtering out 
access to the .xxx domain.

The old adage is that when all you have is a hammer, everything looks 
like a nail.  If you create a specific TLD for the segregation of a 
type of speech, those opposed to others engaging in that type of 
speech will pounce upon it as a tool to use against it.  We have 
already seen this start to happen, even before the TLD became reality 
before.  Why on earth would you think that it won't happen once it 
does become a reality?

There is simply no need for such a TLD.  "Protecting the children" 
from accidental exposure to adult material can be handled quite 
readily by having webmasters insert an ICRA label into their content 
(I make sure that all of my sites have this).  It's free for all to 
use and very easy to implement, and it doesn't give the government 
and moralists control over our business lives.  

The bottom line is that the .XXX TLD is unwanted by the adult 
industry, welcomed by the censors, and will serve only the line the 
pockets of the single business entity that will be issuing names at a 
cost nearly 5x the amount of the free market domains currently being 
sold.  How anyone could take a cold, rational look at this and see it 
as anything but a bald-faced monopoly scheme is beyond comprehension.

Please register my opposition to this ill-conceived plan.  Thank you 
for your time.

                                                                        Dave 
Clark

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