Now, you can put a claim into a .xxx domain, so long as you’re a member of the adult sponsored community. ICM is handling the process in various phases. Their “Sunrise A” and “Sunrise B” phases allowed trademarked companies to apply for the domains; reversely, companies were allowed to prevent their company from appearing on .xxx addresses as well.

As of November 8th, we’re now in the “Landrush” phase. Meaning, there are no trademark or pre-ownership rights requirements. Beyond being a member of the adult entertainment community, all bets are off. The Landrush phase will last until November 25th. Afterwards, on December 6th, the domain will be available to the general public.

The argument over the domain generally concerns the reasons behind its need. Many believe providing pornographic sites the option to have a .xxx domain, will provide internet users a distinct signal that there is adult material on the site. Others believe the domain won’t act as that great of a filter, specifically within search engines.

The real question is whether or not .xxx is a top-level domain which can actually take off and make a dent. Most top-level domains never gain the traction to necessitate use. Why use .me when .com has better credence?

According to a recent press release, over 80,000 applications for .xxx domain names were received. That’s just during the Sunrise phases, so the number is expected to exponentially increase going into Landrush.

Stuart Lawley, CEO of ICM Registry, said this of the numbers, “We couldn’t be happier about the success of the Sunrise period. There is always a risk with a new TLD that you may build it and nobody will come. We are thrilled that over 80,000 applications came! In fact, the .XXX Sunrise period results far exceeds those of any other new sTLD, including .mobi, .asia and even that of .co that re-launched last year with a significant marketing campaign. We look forward with great anticipation to Landrush, opening next week and General Availability on December 6, which is when the fun really starts.”

All of the domain registration companies are accepting .xxx domains at this time: GoDaddy, name.com, register.com, and more.

It will be interesting to see what impact .XXX will have in the world of top-level domains. Will pornographic sites start to shift to the domain, simply for the prospect of having the “xxx” on the end? Will search engines tweak their results to compensate for the domain inclusion?

In a split vote, the ICANN voted to give porn sites a new home on the web. .XXX saw a long and hard battle to become a reality. It was first proposed in 2000, resubmitted in 2004, approved and then rejected in 2006, looked over in 2007 and finally approved in 2010. With each proposal, .XXX was met with opposition from conservative groups like the Family Research Council. Initially, the porn industry opposed the new domain as well, saying that it would put their industry at risk for regulation and censorship.

The initial proposition for the .XXX domain was made by ICM Registry, a registry operator sponsored by the International Foundation for Online Responsibility. When the .XXX domain was finally approved this year, ICM won the opportunity to manage it.

The new domain will be available starting on September 7th. They will cost roughly $75 a year, a rate much higher than most .com domains. It has been reported that during the initial registering period, the .XXX domains will cost much more, however, possibly even $650.

Now, according to the Register, .XXX sites will be getting their own search engine.

They talked to ICM Registry President Stuart Lawley who confirmed that the new destination, search.XXX, will index all of the porn found at .XXX addresses. Initially, the search engine will draw from about a dozen “premium” .XXX sites. It will be aided by ads and sponsorship, according to Lawley.

Of course, major search engines like Google and Bing will also index the new .xxx sites, but history has shown us that porn and Google isn’t always a match made in heaven.

Here’s what ICM has to say about the benefits of the .XXX domains –

As a trusted brand, customer confidence will be very high resulting in more traffic, greater repeat traffic, and, perhaps most importantly, greater conversion into paying customers. Holders of .XXX domains will also benefit from global marketing campaigns and greater awareness in the mainstream world. Additionally ICM is developing a traffic generation search portal for .XXX sites that will be promoted internationally leading to immediate new traffic to .XXX domains for new registrants.

The adult industry isn’t convinced. According to the Register –

Existing porn companies with large portfolios of domains in other extensions are concerned that they will be forced to spend thousands on defensive registrations or risk being cybersquatted.

Some porn publishers are also worried that .xxx domains carry the risk that ICM’s policy-setting body, IFFOR (International Foundation for Online Responsibility) may create draconian new rules that will damage their businesses in future.

ICM Registry is now in the process of finding “technology partners” for its upcoming search engine.

The idea of a virtual seedy neighborhood has had its ups and downs over the years. ICM Registry proposed its creation to ICANN back in 2000. Five years later, just as ICANN was about to vote it through, two unlikely allies, The Free Speech Coalition (i.e., porn peddlers) and concerned Christian organizations set up a series of blocks.

Focus on the Family and Family Research Council, with concerns echoed by President George W. Bush, opposed the .XXX domain creation for fear that a virtual red light district would legitimize and propagate pornography online. Approval of the domain would be, in their estimations, indirectly condoning it. After thousands of letters poured into Michael Gallagher’s Commerce Department office, he asked ICANN to delay the approval.

Around the same time, Senators Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) tried to create the domain via a bill in the Senate, which also required dotcom pornographers to relocate to the .XXX domain to make it easier to filter the content. The Free Speech Coalition, arguing that such a requirement would carry unfair costs for the multi-billion dollar industry, came out against it immediately.

Protests, logic, and unlikely partnerships aside, ICM Registry’s proposed porn district is on ICANN’s plate again this year, with some newly added concessions. ICANN published the required changes to the proposal on Saturday for public discussion.

The new Registry Agreement:

Gives ICANN the right to disapprove any change of control of ICM.

Prohibits launch of .xxx until agreements with third parties are in place to monitor registrant compliance with the labeling requirements and prohibition on child pornography;

Gives ICANN the right to disapprove ICM’s choice of monitoring service providers, and prohibits launch of .xxx until those agreements are in place

In addition, ICM is obligated to:

1. Provide financial support for child safety organizations, child pornography reporting services, and user empowerment technology development.

2. Develop and promulgate best practices to promote child safety and prevent child pornography.

3. Prohibit child pornography, including practices that appeal to pedophiles or suggest the presence of child pornography on the site.

4. Require registrants to label their sites, and any site to which a user entering the registrant’s xxx URL into a browser is automatically redirected.

5. Authenticate prospective registrants, and maintain confirmed authentication information.

6. Develop, and create automated tools to proactively monitor registrant compliance with registry policies related to labeling and the prohibition of child pornography.

7. Enter into monitoring and oversight arrangements with independent associations, acceptable to ICANN, who will be responsible for oversight of Registry Operator’s compliance with its obligation to prohibit child pornography and require labeling.

8. Create easy to use mechanisms for user reporting of non compliance with registry policies, and designate a compliance manager to receive and respond to such reports and administer procedures for curing non-compliance and penalties, including cancellation of registration, for failure to cure.

9. Designate an Ombuds-person to address concerns about enforcement of registry policies and handling of complaints related to registrant non-compliance.

10. Publish a modified UDRP applicable to abusive registrations of third party names.

11. Develop and post prior to launch a Country and Geographic Designators Reserved List, based on industry best practices and provide a mechanism for the GAC and/or an individual government to reserve (at no cost) names that match words of cultural
and/or religious significance.

The agreement also permits ICANN to seek punitive, exemplary, and other damages for repeated/willful breach.

ICANN says the public comment period on the amended proposal will last until February 5th.

Tag:

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Bookmark WebProNews:

Yesterday, The Guardian provided some answers with news of Britons’ activities with blogs as published by the ICM research firm for Microsoft’s MSN Spaces.

Selected highlights:

• The ICM report suggests that, with 27 million internet users across the UK, the country now holds nearly 7 million bloggers – equivalent to nearly one in nine of the population. [That's almost 11 percent, according to the latest population numbers.]
• One in five people were blogging to express their views, while 6 percent said they did it to campaign for political issues.
• The most popular subjects for blog readers were technology, music, news, film news and sport.
• Four out of five of those surveyed still trusted mainstream media more than they trusted bloggers. Two-thirds said they took what they read on blogs with a pinch of salt.

One interesting parallel from this research and the US study shows that 60 percent of bloggers in the UK say their writings are to express themselves and are not a form of journalism. The figure for the US is 65 percent.

The next research I’d like to see would be on other European countries, notably France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Anyone?

Tag:

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Yahoo! My Web | Furl

Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.

As relayed at NewScientist.com, Googlers Maryan Kamvar and Shumeet Baluja found in batch of 1 million searches queries that adult material made up one in five mobile searches.

A figure like 20 percent is far above that of desktop computers, where only 8.5 percent of searches navigate through the herds of two-backed beasts.

There’s not a lot of PDA (public displays of affection) on PDAs, either. A relative few mix business and pleasure as just 5 percent of searches on PDA devices were for porn.

The Googlers speculated that people see their mobile phones as more personal and private, and therefore were more comfortable making adult queries. A cell phone can be a more favorable device than a home or work PC because phones are typically only used by one person.

Google’s numbers don’t jive with the ICM Registry, the agency selected by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to oversee the proposed .xxx domain recently stricken down by the US Government.

ICM says that more than 10% of all online traffic and 25% of all global Internet searching is adult-content oriented. In June, ICM said there were over 100,000 adult webmasters worldwide operating well over one million adult domains.

Drag this to your Bookmarks.

Add to DiggThis Yahoo My Web