Objections To .XXX TLD

[Mark Kernes <markkernes@xxxxxxx>]

To Whom It May Concern:

I am opposed to the establishment of a .xxx top-level domain for the
following reasons:

1) Although ICANN may not be aware of it, and I'm sure is not complicit in
any such plan, the establishment of such a domain is clearly the first step
in several pro-censorship groups' plans to remove sexual and sex-related
material from the Web. Establishing the domain may seem harmless, but there
is already a move in the U.S. Congress to call for such establishment, and
then make it mandatory for all sites dealing in sexual and sex-related
materials to give up their .com, .net, etc. sites and relocate in .xxx. (Of
course, such a law by the U.S. Congress would have no effect on any
webmaster located outside the U.S.) Once the U.S.-based sites have been
forced into .xxx, it would be a simple matter for the Congress to require
all U.S.-based ISPs to filter out .xxx sites, thereby denying access to the
material to millions of adults who would wish to see it -- all in violation
of their rights under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.

2) Leaving sexually explicit material aside, the above-planned ruling by the
U.S. Congress would undoubtedly sweep in many sites whose purpose is wholly
educational, scientific and even political, such as advice on
self-administered breast examinations, information on homosexuality, various
artistic works, etc. Sites containing photos of Michelangelo's David, for
instance, could easily be considered sexual and therefore blocked.

3) Attempting to exclude sexual material from the bulk of the Web is a bad
idea, especially since the proposed mandatory move to .xxx would affect only
U.S.-based sites. The more effective approach would be to establish a .kids
TLD, where webmasters who can certify that their material is completely safe
for minors can locate (or link to), and where parents can set their filters
to allow access only to .kids and .kids-approved sites, leaving the rest of
the Web free for adults to use as adults see fit.

4) It has been rumored that ICM Registry has already used its projected
ownership of .xxx to approach the owners of popular sexually-oriented .com
and .net URLs to offer them the same URL in .xxx at a premium price, with
the implication that if the .com URL owner refuses the deal, ICM will offer
that same URL to the .com's competitor. I'm sure ICANN would not want to be
party to such attempted extortion, if in fact such has occurred or is
planned to occur.

These are only some of the objections to the establishment of .xxx, and I
hope ICANN will take them seriously and refuse to authorize a .xxx TLD.


Mark Kernes, Sr. Ed., Adult Video News/AVN.com
9414 Eton Ave.
Chatsworth, CA
USA
818.718.5788.150
818.718.5799 (fax)