Web’s red light district ‘.xxx’ opens for business

Following a concerted decade-long campaign, proponents of an online “red light district” — a specific domain for adult entertainment sites — can finally celebrate with the sale of “.xxx” websites going live this week.

With reports that the web was running out of web addresses sparking off fears that an “iPocalypse” was imminent, earlier this year, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) — a global body responsible for managing the internet’s domain name system — voted to allow for the registration of new generic top-level domains names such as “.com,” “.org,” and “.net”.

While ICANN’s decision allowed for private company’s to register domain names — for instance General Motors choosing to have the domain name “.gm” — it also opened the door for the “.xxx” lobby to finally attain its goal.

The ICM Registry which is managing the sale of “.xxx” websites, says that its www.buy.xxx website is already seeing nearly a million visits.

“We’ve put a lot of money into this, and 10 years of blood, sweat and tears,” Stuart Lawley, ICM’s chief executive says. “I feel validated,” he continued. “It has been a long struggle but we stuck to our guns and took the high road.” Lawley believes that between 10 and US$20million was spent pushing for “.xxx” in the ten years the campaign ran.

“Everything up to today has been the warm-up,” Lawley says, “the marathon is on”.

Not everyone, however, is as happy as ICM.

Along with the expected social conservatives who have objected to the domain name, the adult entertainment industry has expressed reservations. They believe they will be forced to sign up for “.xxx” domains to protect their brands, even if they don’t want to.

The industry has also sued ICM and ICANN claiming, “monopolistic conduct, price gouging, and anti-competitive and unfair practices”.

Furthermore, the adult entertainment industry believes that ICM “coerced” ICANN into granting it the sole right to sell “.xxx” sites without considering rival companies. The 44 page suit also states that unlike with other domain names, ICANN has “perpetually renewed” its contract with ICM.

Should courts find in favour of the industry, who will be able to sell “.xxx” sites will be re-opened for bidding.

ICM has replied to the lawsuit saying it will “vigorously defend their position against any merit-less claims such as this one”. — with additional reporting by AFP

Image: Alex Torres