Just say no to .XXX

[Brent Martin <brentmartin05@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It's amazing to me that the .XXX proposal continues to plague not only the 
adult industry, but also ICANN and the rest of the Internet.  I cannot see 
where the proposed TLD serves any purpose at all.  It will do nothing to 
protect anybody who does not want to see adult content from bumping into it on 
occasion.  How many existing adult domains exist that will never choose to even 
attempt to fit into .XXX?  MILLIONS...

If the intent is to "protect the children", then a far more effective solution 
would be to promote something that could be filtered to allow into a browser 
versus hoping to filter out the few who adopt .XXX.  Try backing a .KIDS TLD 
that would be private to kid friendly companies and organizations.  That would 
stand a far better chance of "protecting the children".

Who are the adult industry supporters I keep hearing about?  If there actually 
are any, they are not active members of any of the industry boards.  Check the 
adult B2B forums - you'll be hard pressed to find one comment in favor of 
.XXX.  What does that say about industry support?  It really does NOT exist.

So why is there a push for a .XXX TLD?  Simple... it's about money - money to 
go into the pockets of the proposal backers at IMC.  They have invested a HUGE 
amount of money over the years trying to push this through.  So much money, 
that it's nearly impossible for them to simply walk away.  They also don't want 
to walk away because of the money they can make if somehow this lunacy does go 
through.  When a .COM costs $10/yr, what on Earth would make a .XXX worth 
$100/yr or more?!  There can't be that much more cost to administer the TLD... 
that makes the entire plan a money grab by a few individuals who are trying to 
capitalize on any system that will allow them to spread enough confusion and 
fear to profit from it.

What's the fear and confusion they are spreading? The confusion is that all 
reports are making it 'appear' .XXX is already a done deal!  IT'S NOT!  Or at 
least it shouldn't be, not until it's either rejected or accepted by ICANN.  
What's the fear they are spreading?  Buy into .XXX or lose your valuable 
branding you've been building up for possibly years on your .COMs.  They seem 
to be hoping that people will be so scared about protecting their brands, they 
will immediately buy up domains.

Well, there are supposedly 100,000 or so pre-orders for .XXX domains.  I'm 
guessing there are actually some people in the scared category, trying to 
protect their brands. My other guess is that there are a LOT of cyber squatters 
trying to grab the prime terms with the intent of selling them for a profit.  
Doesn't that break one of the intended rules of ICANN?

While thinking about branding, trademark is a key concept.  What if the owner 
of a key .COM, who owns the trademark to a valuable .COM domain ends up not 
being able to buy the .XXX because of somebody else?  That will likely be tied 
up in court for a good long time.  There are already comments to this proposal 
about creating jobs thanks to more domains being available.  The only jobs I 
see being created are likely in ICM and lawyers who get employment on cases of 
trademark related issues.  More domains may be created, but that won't mean new 
jobs will be created within the industry.

The reality is that this proposal has zero merit as something that is good for 
the adult industry or any part of the Internet.  

If ICANN for some reason doesn't see this proposal for the money grab that it 
is and that it has no support from the industry it claims to be serving, then 
my only hope is that NOBODY in the industry supports it and NOBODY actually 
purchases a .XXX domain should it be approved.  That way, not only will ICM 
take the financial hit they deserve, but the cyber squatters will be stuck with 
worthless .XXX domains.

Just say NO to .XXX.
Student4Ever
AdultForums247.com