Evil Angel founder John Stagliano, Pink Visual President Allison Vivas and Wasteland.com founder Collin Rowntree, among other influential adult entertainment execs, are scheduled to attend and speak at Thursday's 2 p.m. FSC press conference, slated for the Chancellor Hotel, located at 433 Powell St, one-half block from the Westin-St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.
Stagliano said a proposed .XXX is "unfair to us all to add an additional expense to our business without competition for the services that this new business, .XXX, would provide.”
“.XXX is supposed to be approved, accepted, or whatever, by the 'community' of people already in the adult community," Stagliano said. "As the owner of Evil Angel, an adult producer and distributor, and a defender of our right to exist since 1983, I do not support this. I would support it only if there were different criteria for the creation of this entity, that would allow anyone to open a dot porn, or whatever that would compete with .XXX.
"The effect now is to create a monopoly for one company in this area. The adult community has invested in how it is structured now."
Vivas said that it's prime time for Pink Visual to sound off on the controversial issue at the ICANN meeting.
"We are unconvinced that a business model that charges roughly six times market price for the product is a fair and beneficial business model for the industry,” Vivas said. “On day-to-day business matters we don’t retain the services of vendors without having an understanding of what those vendors can actually do for our company.
"Why would we throw in behind the establishment of a top-level domain about which we have the same question?"
FSC Executive Director Diane Duke said after seven years, the trade group has had tried to communicate the adult industry’s opposition to .XXX "at every opportunity, using every means and forum available."
"We have participated in public comment periods, letter writing, conversations with stakeholders, and testimony at ICANN’s public meetings,” said Duke, adding, “All three of the world’s only existing adult-trade-associations have issued statements in opposition to .XXX.
“Although we appreciate the GAC’s responsiveness to our concerns, it is clear that the ICANN board of directors has not heard us,” Duke said. “We hope that Thursday’s rally will raise the volume, enabling ICANN to get the message, once and for all, that ICM’s .XXX application does not have the required support of the sponsored community.”
Those who wish to participate in the rally should contact FSC at (818) 348-9373, or joanne@freespeechcoalition.com. Instructions and directions will be provided.
Industry members who would like to express their opposition but cannot attend the rally in San Francisco can participate in a “We Don’t Want .XXX” Twitter campaign that FSC will stage throughout Wednesday and Thursday, March 16-17. Follow @FSCArmy.