I just got this in my email from Marketwatch.
Porn-friendly Web domain on the way
By Frank Barnako, MarketWatch
Last Update: 10:56 AM ET Jun 2, 2005
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The group that manages the Internet has agreed to give adult Web sites their own dark corner of cyberspace.
The board of the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) said it will begin talks on a prospective contract with ICM Registry Inc. about the commercial and technical terms of establishing an ".xxx" domain. It could be operating by the end of the year.
Stuart Lawley, chairman and president of ICM, issued a statement saying, "Creation of a domain for adult Web sites will help protect children from exposure to online pornography." The voluntary .xxx will also "facilitate and protect free expression rights -- both for content providers and Internet users," Lawley said.
The number of adult Web sites has grown 18-fold over the last six years, he added. In an interview with Cnet last year, Lawley said .xxx domain names would cost $75.
ICM, a for-profit company with its principal office in Toronto, will handle the technical details of administering the domain.
The International Foundation for Online Responsibility, a nonprofit organization, will administer policies. A news release said the foundation's mission is "to participate in and support the development of programs and tools to fight child pornography, and to serve as a forum for the online adult-entertainment community to communicate with and pro-actively respond to the needs and concerns of the broader Internet community."
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