.XXX Domain Purchases Begin, Calling It a Landrush

John Vinson — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:35:39 +0000

There has been a long running debate, and legal battle over whether or not .xxx domains should be allowed to exist. ICM, presented their idea of .xxx and .kids domains to ICANN back in 2000. Various proposals would be submitted throughout the years, none of which would be accepted until March 31st this year.

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?

Legal P2P Might Be Coming To The UK

Bruce Houghton — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:25:51 +0000

The UK may have legal music via P2P licensed at the broadband ISP level by the end of the year, according to the Register. The British government apparently pushed for talks between ISP’s and the music industry as a preferred solution to legislation. South Korea is close to a similar solution.

It is a radical shift and many hurdles remain to be overcome including wholesale agreement from fractured recording and publishing industries. But all sides seem to agree that something must be done to re-monetize music and no other plan seems to offer similar upside.

COMMENTARY: It could take much longer for a broad experiment…

to be hammered out – perhaps until the end of 2009 – but licensed P2P is coming and the UK will lead the way. Watch for similar moves along with a so called "iPod tax" on devices that copy and share music to come to the US in the next 2-3 years as well.

And think about how legal P2P would force a shift in many business models. Music 3.0 is right around the corner.

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.XXX Domain Purchases Begin, Calling It a Landrush

Legal P2P Might Be Coming To The UK