ICM Registry's messaging around the new .xxx TLD has to do with responsibility
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — According to reports released Monday, the Indian government has said it intends to block the .xxx domain, following the news last week that ICANN had announced its own intentions to work with the ICM Registry to enable the creation of a top-level domain specifically for adult content.
At the news of the domain’s approval, and during the many-years-long buildup to that point, companies operating in the online adult industry had expressed concerns that they would be “ghettoized” by being forced onto the new domain (though no plans exist to push content off the .com domain), and that it would make it easy for governments to arbitrarily block content.
While one of the stated objectives of the .xxx domain was to make it easier for parents (or people who want to for whatever other reason) to block pornographic content, India’s move goes a little more toward validating the concern, among those in the business, that .xxx is a move against adult content.
An article in the Economic Times quoted a senior Indian official at the ministry of IT.
“India along with many other countries from the Middle East and Indonesia opposed the grant of the domain in the first place, and we would proceed to block the whole domain, as it goes against the IT Act and Indian laws,” said the official. “Some people have said that segregation is better, and some countries allow it. But for other nations, transmission and direct distribution of such content goes against their moral and culture.”
Experts say the Indian government, and others, have a harder time blocking content (adult or otherwise) on the .com domain, or on their local country-code TLD, without laws in place to govern that sort of thing.
About Liam Eagle
Liam Eagle has worked as a contributor to the Web Host Industry Review since its inception in 2000, and as editor since 2003. He has been editor of the WHIR's print magazine since its launch. His daily involvement in the gathering and reporting of Web hosting news and his regular interaction with Web hosting leaders gives him an uncommonly broad appreciation of the issues and tends facing the business. Through his WHIR blog, Liam spots Web hosting trends and offers opinions on the industry-wide impacts of major developments and the motivation behind big announcements. Follow him on Twitter @liameagle
No related posts.
