Porn sites get their own domain.xxx name.

Country Search Engines are already cencoring them.

6/25/10 ICANN, the not-for-profit corporation that coordinates the internet's naming system, voted to allow the application of the controversial ".xxx" top-level domain name for sites that display adult content. ICM Registry has already taken 110,000 pre-reservations for the domain, which could be available in early 2011, if not sooner, its news release states.The domain, which would need further approval before going live on the internet, would be applied to adult entertainment sites just as ".com" is now. The .xxx internet suffix, which was first proposed six years ago by ICM Registry, a group that sells domain names, "will provide a place online for adult entertainment providers and their service providers who want to be part of our voluntary self regulatory community," according to that company's news release Adopting .xxx will be optional. However, some tech blogs speculate a push to make the domain mandatory for adult-only sites.

.XXX History

ICANN Announces ".polinc" TLD for politically incorrect and dangerous-opinion sites and has now entered into commercial and technical negotiations with an additional candidate registry, ICM Registry, Inc, (.POLINC). http://joi.ito.com/archives/2005/06/03/
Yesterday the ICANN board discussed and approved ICANN staff to enter into negotiations with ICM Registry, Inc. for the .XXX Top Level Domain (TLD). As an individual board member I thought I'd post a quick note before people got carried away with speculation based on a lack of information. It is actually a balanced and well thought out structure that provides a balanced approach to an issue with many stake holders. ~Joichi

Warning: far from constituting a safe haven, the proposed TLD is the cyber equivalent of a bull's-eye. Most adult webmasters are in agreement that this is a bad idea andpotentially dangerous to First Amendment rights. At most, owners of particularly valuable adult brandnames will spend the $75 to protect their trademark rights and business interests.

ICANN's "ex-ex-ex" domains This topic has been under discussion for almost 5 years, and there's been opportunity for the public to provide comment for over a year. Most of the comments, some from respected organizations and individuals, were positive. In order to get a good idea of what's behind this "domain pornography",read the ICANN application text

".xxx CHARTER
The .xxx TLD is intended primarily to serve the needs of the global online adult-entertainment community. ..."

And here's the "money quote" (pun intended):

"In terms of possible domain name related litigation, ICM and IFFOR believe that registrants may be better positioned to use an affirmative statutory defense in connection with prosecution under newly enacted US law. Under Section 108 of the Protect Act, entitled Misleading Domain Names on the Internet (aka Truth in Domain Names), it is now a crime in the US to knowingly use a domain name to deceive a person into viewing obscenity or to knowingly using a domain name to deceive a minor into viewing material that is harmful to minors.
However, Section 108 further provides that for the purposes of this section, a domain name that includes a word or words to indicate the sexual material on the site, such as `sex' or `porn', is not misleading."
In short, it's apparently a way to extract rents from bona-fide pornographers in return for a weak certification against legislation. Not a bad business plan, since they managed to get ICANN on-board. ~ Seth Finkelstein

Karl Auerbach 2 Jun 2005
I find ICANN's approval of .xxx to be, to put it bluntly, obscene.
ICANN has created a system in which top level domain allocations are few and far between - ICANN has created an artificial (and unwarranted) scarcity.
In light of this contrived scarcity, ICANN should be giving
preference to TLD uses that are socially positive. Instead ICANN has created a system in which priority is given to those who wish to profit from pornograpy.
Had ICANN created a system in which there was no artifical scarcity then it would, in my view, be appropriate to allow the pimps to establish a red-light district on the net, but *only* after those those who have socially constructive ideas had had their chance to obtain top level domains.
Way back in year 2000 ICANN accepted $2,400,000 from nearly 50 applicants, many of whom had socially constructive and innovative ideas for new TLDs. ICANN chose a mere 7, most of which were among the least useful and innovative of the 50. ICANN refused at least one application simply because one of the board members had trouble pronouncing the letters of the TLD! ICANN has since told the remaining 40 applicants that their applications are still pending, neither approved nor disapproved. In practical effect, given the many years that have elapsed, ICANN has expropriated those application fees and relegated the technically-still-pending applications to the rubbish heap. Even Enron was not nearly so bold as ICANN in they way they took money.
That year 2000 action by ICANN, coupled with ICANN's overt preference for "sponsored" top level domains, particularly those from which ICANN can extract large fees, has made it clear that those who want establish innovative or socially beneficial, but financially thin, top level domains need not waste their time and money making a futile application.
Thus we have ICANN receiving applications only from those who have a well oiled pathway towards approval - one only has to look at the progress of the travel industry's .travel TLD to see how well lubricated a path ICANN can create for an application virtually no social value that comes from the right kind of applicant.
The net effect is that .xxx was the beneficiary of ICANN's policy of artifical scarcity coupled to ICANN's policy of preferences for the those applications from which ICANN can coerce revenue.
ICANN has gone so far off the rails that they can't even see the tracks with a telescope.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

FRC is the Family Research Council, a traditional values
advocacy group.

FRC Voices Opposition to '.xxx' Domain Name
June 3, 2005

"Pornographers will go to the '.xxx' domain, but they won't leave the '.com' domain," says FRC's senior legal counsel Patrick Trueman

Washington DC, - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) recently announced a plan to create a ".xxx" domain address to house pornographic websites. Patrick Trueman, FRC's senior legal counsel and former chief of the U.S. Department of Justice's
Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, released the following statement expressing strong opposition to ICANN's plan:

"The new domain would do more harm than good. The '.com' domain has been a cash cow for the porn industry and pornographers will not give it up and remove themselves to the '.xxx' domain. Instead, they will
populate the '.xxx' domain and perhaps double the number of porn sites available on the Web.

"The '.xxx' domain also cloaks the porn industry with legitimacy. The industry will have a place at the table in developing and maintaining their new property.

"Creating a virtual red light district may also discourage law enforcement from bringing obscenity cases on the notion that the problem is solved."

Patrick Trueman is the author of a newly released FRC pamphlet - "Dealing with Pornography: A Practical Guide For Protecting Your Family and Your Community." The pamphlet explains actions that the average citizen can take to fight porn in stores, on the internet, and on television. A download of the pamphlet can be found at http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=BC05C01

Contact FRC's press office at 202-393- 2100 to schedule an interview with Patrick Trueman.
June 3, 2005 CONTACT: J.P. Duffy or Bethanie Swendsen 202-393-2100

Daniel J. Weitzner +1.617.253.8036 (MIT)
World Wide Web Consortium +1.202.364.4750 (DC)
Technology & Society Domain Leader <djweitzner@w3.org>
http://www.w3.org/People/Weitzner.html