Another Look At Dot XXX

Cyberspace – As the battle over indecency heats up across America, with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) handing out record fines to broadcast organizations, many on Capitol Hill are asking what can be done to clean up the Internet – and wondering if the FCC could or should play a role in it.

Attempting to take a proactive stance towards mitigating some of the lawmaker's election year concerns, proponents of the "dot XXX" Top Level Domain (TLD) are continuing their efforts to obtain clearance from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to officially adopt their proposed domain name extension.

One of the most vocal advocates in this effort is the International Foundation for Online Responsibility (IFFOR), a non-profit organization working to formulate the policy governing the proposed .XXX TLD. According to the IFFOR Website, "The .XXX TLD is intended to primarily serve the needs of the global responsible online adult-entertainment community [which is] primarily defined as those individuals, businesses, and entities that provide sexually-oriented information, services, or products intended for consenting adults."

Supporting a vision of a beneficial, self-identifying system rather than a basis for a legislatively regulatory environment, IFFOR hopes that adoption of the .XXX TLD will "promote the development of responsible business practices and conduct within the online adult-entertainment community... protect the privacy and security of consenting adult consumers of online adult-entertainment goods and services...and promote the development of business practices to safeguard children online and combat child pornography" – among other worthy and ambitious goals.

IFFOR is not alone in its attempt to make dot XXX a reality however. ICM Registry hopes to become the actual operator of the .XXX registry. According to ICM, "The .XXX top-level domain will create a clearly identifiable area of the Internet that will both help protect children and families, as well as enable responsible adult-entertainment website operators to self-organize and self-regulate on a voluntary basis."

While current proposals for an official .XXX TLD include self-regulatory "best practices" such as "Safeguarding children from being marketed or targeted online, defending customer privacy, promoting accurate meta-tagging, ensuring clear and accurate disclosures, security of transactions and contact information, protecting intellectual property rights, combating the use of unlawful malicious codes and technologies (like spoofing), opposing fraudulent, anonymous and unsolicited bulk SPAM advertising of pornography, and blocking domain names intended to attract child pornography consumers," opponents of the proposed TLD fear the creation of a virtual "Red Light District" – and the increased ease of isolation and legislative regulation that such a TLD could enable.

Another concern is over the transfer of existing adult brands to the new TLD and the negative impact that cyber-squatters as well as legitimate, competing brands, could have on the process, as well as whether or not migration would be somehow "mandatory."

As ICANN considers the inclusion of the .XXX TLD into a future round of new TLDs, the voices on both sides of the debate will continue to be heard, and only time will tell which side will finally prevail.

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Texas Resumes AV Lawsuit Against Aylo Following SCOTUS Decision

A district court judge in Texas has unfrozen the state’s $1.6 million lawsuit against Aylo for allegedly failing to comply with age verification requirements, Bloomberg Law is reporting.

JuicyAds Wins Trademark Infringement Case Against Fraudulent Domain

JuicyAds has won its World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) case against a website using a similar domain to impersonate the company's site and defraud customers.

Anissa Kate, Jordan Starr Top AEBN for Q2 of 2025

AEBN has published its top-selling stars for the second quarter of 2025, with Anissa Kate landing atop the leaderboard for straight theaters and Jordan Starr heading up the gay rankings.

AEBN Reveals Eva Maxim as Top Trans Star for Q2 of 2025

AEBN has published its top trans stars list for the second quarter of 2025, with Eva Maxim landing atop the leaderboard.

France Reinstates Age Verification Rule for EU Sites

France’s highest court, the Council of State, on Tuesday reinstated age verification rules for EU-based sites under the country’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law, ruling in favor of the French government and against Hammy Media.

Whisper Fans Joins Pineapple Support as Supporter-Level Sponsor

Whisper Fans has joined the ranks of over 70 adult businesses and organizations committing funds and resources to Pineapple Support.

Utherverse Launches 'Red Light Center' Virtual World

Virtual reality and metaverse technology company Utherverse has launched its new virtual world, RedLightCenter.io.

European Commission Approves AV Guidelines, Unveils Prototype App

The European Commission on Monday released its final, approved guidelines for protecting minors online under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and made public a “white label” age verification app intended to help sites and platforms comply with age verification rules under the DSA.

Show More