An article posted on The Register.co.uk this week is titled “PrOn Stars to demo .XXX.” It was written by Kevin Murphy and, at first, we assumed that Mr. Murphy was just a bad speller. Turns out that he seems to have used a common trick and purposely misspelled “porn,” in order to prevent his article from being filtered out by computers using anti-porn security software.
Or maybe his editors decided to do it – in any case, it proves how easily the word “porn” can be filtered to block out any adult-related material.
Now, imagine what might happen if you were required to have a .XXX domain address. How much easier would it be to block every online adult business?
That’s just one example of the potential harm .XXX will do to the adult industry. FSC and industry representatives are traveling to the ICANN Conference in San Francisco this week to voice opposition to the proposed .XXX “sponsored” Top Level Domain.
In fact, Mr. Murphy’s article announces the protest rally that FSC will stage at the ICANN Conference
The rally will be held on Thursday, March 17, in front of the Westin-St. Francis Hotel located in Union Square, in San Francisco. The rally will begin at 12:30 pm; industry members are encourage to join us in our effort to send ICANN a message – that adult online business owners do not want to pay millions in fees; find their websites easier to block; and have one company – Internet registrar ICM and its CEO Stuart Lawley – regulating more than 25 percent of websites on the Internet.
If you are an industry member and cannot join us in San Francisco, FSC will be launching a Twitter campaign, which will go on throughout Wednesday and Thursday. Please, follow us @FSCArmy and RT our tweets on those days.
The posts that have appeared here on the blog since March 1, feature the five-part series, “What’s Wrong with .XXX?” Written by FSC Executive Director Diane Duke; they outline the issues behind .XXX, which FSC has opposed for more than seven years.
.XXX is scheduled to be discussed at the ICANN Conference, and it is possible that ICANN will hand down its final decision. We need YOU to help make sure that adult online businesses are not forced into the .XXX ghetto.
For more information on events in San Francisco, or .XXX, please contact FSC at (818) 348-9373, or joanne@freespeechcoalition.com.
(Drawing: Courtesy of Pearson Scott Foresman)
