.xxx approval delayed by ICANN

By Steve Malone

Posted on 5 Dec 2005 at 10:54

The introduction of the controversial .xxx domain has been delayed again. The new top-level domain (tld) name that is supposed to be a home for 'adult' content on the Internet was finally expected to be approved at the latest meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). However, the item has been strangely dropped from the agenda.

No reason has been given for the latest delay in the final approval of the .xxx domain although ICANN says it wants more time to review a report before giving the final go ahead. Likewise, no date has been set for when the review process is likely to be completed.

Originally mooted in 2001, it is seen as a way of giving the pornographers their own domain while at the same time making it clearer to everyone else what the content on the site was likely to be.

The progress of the .xxx domain, however, has been rocky. The migration of porn sites to the new tld is voluntary and so while there will undoubtedly be a rush to sign up new domains, it is unlikely that the organisations behind the porn sites are going to give up their existing names. Furthermore, ICANN has been under pressure from 'family values' lobby groups in the US to drop the idea completely.

While the Bush administration claims not to interfere in the decisions of ICANN, the US Department of Commerce has recently said it was unhappy with the proposed .xxx domain.

This puts the US Department of Commerce in line with conservative countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia who wanted some say in the decisions of ICANN. Ironically, it was these and other countries that the US faced down when it refused to relinquish control of ICANN at a recent meeting in Tunisia.