Sunday, August 3, 2008

Journal 10, August 3, 2008

Dennis Whitfield
August 3, 2008
Journal 10


Agency Rejects .xxx Suffixes for Sex Related Sites on Internet
By. Thomas Crampton

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/31/technology/31domain.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin

The agency that governs the Internet address system rejected a proposal to create a specialized suffix for sex related web sites. This proposal was introduced seven years ago by the ICM Registry, and was turned down by a vote of 9 to 5 by the ICANN, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. The board members stated that if they passed the proposal that it would be regulating the content of the sites. But the ICM said that the .xxx Web sites would only be issued to entertainment providers identifying themselves as complying with a set of business practices that included a ban on child pornography and warnings about content. ICM also has argued that the creation of the domain would enhance safety for young users by clearly defining .xxx sites as a no-go zone. Some of the major proponents of the .xxx suffix were some sex-related entertainment companies as well as religious groups. The religious groups stated that the .xxx suffix would only encourage the creation of more sex-related content.

To me, I think the proposal should have been passed. There needs to be a way to filter the content on the internet, and by using domain names like .xxx would be helpful. We all have typed in a web address made a mistake in the spelling or made a type and there was and adult site looking at you. That is especially harmful when you are in a public computer lab or at work when this happens. By having the .xxx domain with all the adult sites would prevent that from happening. Then it would also be easier to prevent children from gaining access to those sites.

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