WASHINGTON — Now that the policy council for the International Foundation for Online Responsibility, the policymaking board for .XXX, has been established, policy council members are now getting down to the business at hand.
The nine policy board members, made up of professionals from various backgrounds, are responsible for initiating a series of policies for responsible business practices and conduct within the .XXX online adult entertainment community using IFFOR policies.
One of its primary duties is to balance First Amendment and privacy rights of users with legal regulations in keeping children away from online porn.
“The 1st Amendment is U.S.-centric,” IFFOR executive director Joan Irvine told XBIZ.
“Free expression is worldwide and the privacy regulations in the U.S. are nothing compared to Canada and in Europe. I had meetings this week in Ireland and it was an eye-opener. This is why the IFFOR policy council includes people from various countries and industries. The policy council and their stakeholder groups are there to help IFFOR address these.”
One of the council members is law professor Fred Cate who specialized in privacy and security. He says that the council also is faced with the task of making sure .XXX sites are safe to visit.
"What's the thing that stops people from paying for adult content online now? The fear that they or their computer will be compromised," he said.
He adds that the foundation will require companies to keep their sites free of malware and viruses by installing programs to protect sensitive user information. All these security features are just one of the reasons why registering for .a XXX site is in the companies’ best interest, Cate said.
The policy council will also be heading into uncharted territory and dealing with challenges that impact an international online market.
“I went to the Aspen Forum and then to the Nxt Conference last month and was told that the world is watching what ICM Registry and IFFOR does,” Irvine said. “This is the most responsibility I’ve ever dealt with. We need to address issues on an international basis that no one has ever done before.”
But despite how well intentioned the council is, many adult professionals strongly oppose .XXX and the potential consequences that sTLD may have on the industry.
“I believe once they understand how the TLD and domain world work, they will be ‘in awe’ of what ICM Registry did,” Irvine said.
“I speak with a number of mainstream companies who say ‘only $200’ (approx.) to block our company name. This is cheap. In addition to the $1,500 to go through the ICANN Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), it would cost thousands for our lawyers.”