My Reasons Against .XXX

["John G." <johngmodelsworld@xxxxxxxxx>]

I have several teen and preteen nephews.  I have
brought the issue of internet porn up with my brother
as well as my sister.  I asked them if their kids look
at porn on the computer.  Neither one knew with any
certainty.  So I went and checked the history on their
kids computers.  Not only was there a big list of
adult sites visited, but there were links to
discussion boards where kids talked about porn.  I
found that free friend meeting sites are conduits for
kids to discuss porn and exchange links and pictures. 
I had also noted on another occasion that my oldest
nephew also discusses porn in some of his instant
messages with friends.  Some of these sites are not
considered adult oriented, however they facilitate the
dissemination of adult content to kids.

One of the reasons why I am opposed to the .XXX top
level domain is because I think it will actually make
it easier for kids to find porn.  They will learn very
quickly that all they need to do is type in a certain
word and add a .XXX after it to see some hot pictures.


It has been my observation that responsible webmasters
have done an outstanding job to tag their content so
that search and parental filters can do their jobs. 
Creating a .XXX TLD will create a burden for many law
abiding, tax paying legitimate adult business of which
I also am party to.  Granted that many adult
businesses will survive, but at a cost that will serve
no one except a few individuals who stand to gain
financially by this.  I suppose that if I was an
investor in a company that stood to make a lot of
money from .XXX registration, I would push for it to
be mandatory also.  

Adult web sites have no incentive to market their
products to kids.  Kids don't buy porn.  Kids don't
have credit cards.  The argument that having a .XXX
TLD will make it easier for parents to control what
their kids watch on the computer is not valid.  The
reality is that there are plenty of parental controls
available now.  However many parents (Including my
siblings) are less computer literate than their kids
and have no clue how to activate child protection
controls.  

Another reality that I have observed is that in modern
society many kids are home alone or are poorly
supervised as both parents are working, or as a result
of living in a single parent home where the lone
parent is the breadwinner.  Having a .XXX TLD will not
change that.  

The argument that .XXX will help fight child
pornography is also not valid.  Child pornography web
sites are not part of mainstream adult entertainment.
They are a very small clandestine part of the internet
whose identities change frequently to prevent
discovery.  A mandatory .XXX will do nothing to
prevent these sites from appearing and disappearing. 
It may actually help their cause as authorities shift
their attention to .XXX and ignore other TLD?s.  Child
pornographers and their distributors are law breakers
and no amount of new regulations will force them out
of business.  Child pornography will continue to be a
scourge upon society as long as the sick individuals
who crave it walk undetected along side everyone else
in shopping malls, office buildings, schools, and
churches.

I hope that when deciding the fate of .XXX all of the
FACTS are taken into consideration and not hysteria,
speculation, and questionable motives.  I personally
see no good coming from .XXX top level domains.

I am a webmaster with three active adult web sites
none of which are considered hardcore or graphically
offensive.


Johnny G.