by Cathleen Moore

Porn finds a home on the Web

news
Jun 2, 20051 min

If the government has .gov and universities lay claim to .edu, its seems only fitting that pornography now has its own suffix on the Internet with .xxx.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) yesterday said it plans to establish a separate Internet domain for pornographic Web sites.

Soon, after technical and commercial contractual negotiations are worked out with the ICM Registry, porn Web sites will be able to sign up to use Internet addresses that end with .xxx.

Registering for the top level domain will be voluntary, but it may be in porn sites’ interest to be pro-active about establishing a regulated and visible online presence.

Adult sites that register for the .xxx domain will be required to adhere to a list industry best practices including safeguarding children from being marketed to or targeted online by adult webmasters, defending customer privacy, using accurate meta-tagging, fighting spam, phishing and spoofing, and providing accurate contact information.

The primary benefit to Net surfers is that the .xxx domain will make it easier for filtering technology to block access to porn sites.