Please do not approve .xxx

[Brad Hanon <bradhanon@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear sir or madam,

I'm an American small businessman. I've been fighting for nearly two years
to realize a dream, a dream of high-quality, non-exploitative gay male
erotica by and for women. Along the road, I've encountered obstacles I never
knew existed, and it's cost me and my partner much more than we had guessed,
just trying to make something beautiful that people will love. Now I hear
that another obstacle may be introduced, and I greatly fear that's one more
than we can handle.

I know, the assurances are that .xxx will not be mandated, only optional,
but who really believes that? There's too many penny-ante legislatures in
small jurisdictions that want to pass big important laws the size of the
whole internet. There are too many people who have a lot to gain from a
meaningless and stupid law that can be sold as "protecting the children".
There are too many places that will mandate .xxx only for adult content, and
once the laws exist, however asinine they may be, they will spread. In your
heart, you know this is true.

They say now that .xxx will not be a ghetto, but nobody on either side of
the issue believes that to be true. All we ask is that you don't support a
policy you know isn't honest. Don't think of it as regulating a huge and
rapacious industry, think of it as regulating a cottage industry that's only
finding its feet. For every major adult company raking in the dough, there
are a hundred small, independent operators like me. We aren't part of the
debate much because we're small, subsisting on niche audiences and loyal
fans. The ghettoization that .xxx represents won't really hurt the major
companies; the ones who bear the brunt will be the ones least able to bear
another burden. If not out of human feeling, then simply out of respect for
the free market, you must oppose .xxx as a domain.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope you make the right
decision.

Yours,
Brad Hanon