The organizer of a failed bid to create an ".xxx" domain for porn websites is pursuing legal action, saying the government lobbied against the application after pressure from the Religious Right.
fromk SPLOID.com
ICM Registry is suing the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Department of State, for access to uncensored documents which it says will show how they lobbied for the .xxx address to be rejected. In early May the Internet organizing body ICANN put the kibosh on ICM’s plans for a porn-only domain with a 9-5 vote.
ICM says the documents should "shed light on what role the United States government played" in the rejection. It claims that the government bowed to pressure from the religious right to get the .xxx plans scrapped.
"Members of the board voted against the ICM agreement based on inaccurate information about the written statements of various governments concerning .xxx," said ICM in a letter to ICANN.
However, the head of ICANN said that while members were aware of the government’s disapproval of .xxx, "the heart of the decision today was not driven by a political consideration."
Last year it looked as if the new porn domain was simply a formality. In June 2005 ICANN gave provisional approval for the plan, saying it was working with ICM to finalize the remaining details.
Then, in August 2005, Dubya and his boys jumped into the fray. The Department of Commerce suddenly announced that it had been inundated with e-mails and letters opposing the creation of the domain, calling the level of communication "unprecedented." The Bush administration said it was extremely concerned about the future of America stumbling into an online "red-light district".
ICANN’s government advisory group then asked it to freeze the decision-making process, to "allow time for additional governmental and public policy concerns to be expressed before reaching a final decision." The Family Research Council, a conservative group, warned that the .xxx address would give pornographers "even more opportunities to flood our homes, libraries and society with pornography."
In response to the government PR drive, and the pressure from conservative groups, ICANN took the unprecedented step of delaying its final vote on ICM’s .xxx domain.
If the .xxx idea had been approved, it would have been used only by websites which offered explicit sexual material. Existing porn sites would not have been forced to move new domain classification, with the new address being voluntary. However, representatives of the porn industry were opposed to the classification, fearing it wouldn’t be long before the government made it mandatory for adult-content websites.
ICM claimed the .xxx address would have made it easier for parents to shield their children from porn sites via Internet filters. However, opponents said this was precisely the problem with the application, as it would have aided in censorship of the net. In particular, the American Civil Liberties Union was concerned about the question of what exactly constitutes porn. They believed it could open the door to government-imposed censorship, such as a website explaining homosexuality being forced into an .xxx domain name.