Interestingly enough, when we were debating about internet porn, I looked to see if their was a .sex TLD (top level domain, like .com). Well, their isn't a .sex but it turns out the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved the concept of a .xxx domain for pornography only websites back in June. Story here. The Bush Administration as well as the Family Research Council are opposed to the domain. FRC states:



The real crux of the matter is that the US Commerce Department maintains that it reserves final policy control over the authoritative root server. Meaning, if they don't want a .xxx TDL, they can block it, thus effecting all internet users. This power is based on the fact that the servers are in the US, and the Commerce Department provided significant funding to get the internet going.

One would think that by making a .xxx domain, then it would be easy to filter out the porn sites from children, however, if I'm a 15 year old boy, now I know exactly where to go.



So....


Will creating a .xxx domain help or hinder the efforts of concerned parents trying to keep kids away from online porn?

Should the Bush administration try and prevent the creation of the .xxx domain? What are the political ramifications if they allow it?

If .xxx is approved by ICANN and the US Commerce Department blocks the creation of the domain, will they be overstepping their bounds?

Should the US Commerce Department even be allowed to veto the rulings of ICANN?

Will creating a .xxx domain help or hinder the efforts of concerned parents trying to keep kids away from online porn?
I think the creation of the .xxx domain could go both ways (no pun intended ) in terms of helping or hurting the efforts. In one obvious way, it helps the efforts of these concerned parents in the .xxx names making for simple classification of porn. This would in turn make it a lot easier to set up worthwhile parental controls. I think the obvious negative is the simplicity of finding porn...I am sure one could Google ".xxx" and get a wide variety of porn to show up, but come on, who can't type "porn" in Google and not get the same material...

Should the Bush administration try and prevent the creation of the .xxx domain? What are the political ramifications if they allow it?
Whether or not they should prevent the creation all comes down to one's philosophy. Personally, I think there should be a tax on .xxx domain names that goes to a childrens' charity. This way, people are actually gaining from these names and internet porn. I personally support the idea of .xxx names simply because I think they will make parental controls easier to manage. I don't really see too many political ramifications if he does prevent .xxx names, maybe a few freedom of expression activists.

If .xxx is approved by ICANN and the US Commerce Department blocks the creation of the domain, will they be overstepping their bounds?
It all depends on their basis for doing so.

Should the US Commerce Department even be allowed to veto the rulings of ICANN?
I don't know enough to comment.

Mods-Please delete my post if I am overstepping the bounds in terms of the porn content...I fully understand

Edited per question edit

Sorry for the confusion, I re-worded my question above. Hopefully it is more clear now.

Will creating a .xxx domain help or hinder the efforts of concerned parents trying to keep kids away from online porn?
Possibly. I have found several websites that if one .com,.gov.biz is spelled in correctly it will send you to a porn website.

Should the Bush administration try and prevent the creation of the .xxx domain? What are the political ramifications if they allow it?
He shouldn't try and prevent this .xxx domain. If something was .xxx it would halt the confusion with other .com.gov and .biz sites that might redirect to actual porn sites. ( I have found that a political site, if you do not write .gov it sends to a porn site)

Should the US Commerce Department even be allowed to veto the rulings of ICANN?
No they shouldn't the internet is everyones to share. They shouldnt be allowed to Veto ANything

Will creating a .xxx domain help or hinder the efforts of concerned parents trying to keep kids away from online porn?

It would help the efforts of parents because it would be much easier to write software to block porn from your computer. Heck if you knew what you were doing you really wouldn't even need software.

Let's not kid ourselves with the "now kids will know where to find it" argument. If you type any porn related word into google you are going to get plenty of results within the first few pages that can get you started on your journey of discovering porn. Your average 1st grader knows how to use google. If we didn't have sophisticated search technology then maybe this would be a valid statement. Because we do it proves the people that are making it really don't know too much about the internet.

However, as I have advocated before it requires a free market solution to the problem and it requires parents to be responsible for their children.

Should the Bush administration try and prevent the creation of the .xxx domain? What are the political ramifications if they allow it?
No they shouldn't, it is a good idea as far as classifying online porn. The political ramifications are interesting because so much of republican policy states that people need to take personal responsibility. However with topics like this they seem to take the complete opposite stance and suggest that the government needs to protect us from ourselves because we can't be counted on to be personally responsible. So which is it?

If .xxx is approved by ICANN and the US Commerce Department blocks the creation of the domain, will they be overstepping their bounds?

Yes it would be. As I stated in the other thread we would essentially be behaving the same way as China at that point. It would also be a first amendment violation and I expect you would see the much feared ACLU stepping in to the matter.

Should the US Commerce Department even be allowed to veto the rulings of ICANN?
ICANN should be able to take whatever actions they desire to better classify content on the internet. That is the reason they were created. I don't see how the President should have any sort of say in their operation any more than he has a say in how any other corporation in America operates. The Internet is international, it may have been created in America but it isn't "owned" by America.

Will creating a .xxx domain help or hinder the efforts of concerned parents trying to keep kids away from online porn?
Last time I heard about this topic the porn industry was opposed to the domain, probably because it would potentially shrink their market as it would become easier to filter them out. But the article above says that usage of the xxx domain would only be voluntary.

Should the Bush administration try and prevent the creation of the .xxx domain? What are the political ramifications if they allow it?

I can't seem to get a clear reason why the Bush administration opposes it other than they just oppose it. As of right now the only logical reason I could think of is because its usage would be voluntary and they want it to be mandatory. Otherwise I would disagree with the administration on this one. You wouldn't even need special filtering software as web browsers could easily filter out such websites automatically.

This is a bit off topic, but can the government make a law that prohibits porn sites on .com .net .biz etc.? If the government could pass such a law and these sites had to use .xxx it would be MUCH easier to filter the sites out. I think most people would be in favor of this, but I am not sure it can be done.

Will creating a .xxx domain help or hinder the efforts of concerned parents trying to keep kids away from online porn?
Without question it would help. Filtering software would have a MUCH easier time managing porn access if it were able to exclude a single TLD instead of managing a massive site list that can change hourly. It also removes the "I didn't know it was a porn site" defense from kids caught doing so.

If properly managed, this could be the silver bullet to appease those who fear child access to pornography. Anytime the government is involved, however, that if is certainly tricky.

Should the Bush administration try and prevent the creation of the .xxx domain? What are the political ramifications if they allow it?
No, they shouldn't, but they will follow their own agenda likely blind to the opportunity this creates. As for political ramifications, the only risk is if they don't block it. Undefended it looks like you're supporting the pornographers, which I would argue isn't the case.

If .xxx is approved by ICANN and the US Commerce Department blocks the creation of the domain, will they be overstepping their bounds?
This is almost a separate topic unto itself regarding US control of the internet. The short answer is no because Commerce ultimately controls TLD's at the moment.

Should the US Commerce Department even be allowed to veto the rulings of ICANN?See above.


That is sort of where I was headed as well, Nemov. Regulating the internet is tough, due to much of its international nature. Conceptually I would be in favor of this. This would be no different than requiring black wrappers on sex mags or a specific restricted area of the store for such media. While the industry would cry foul due to a perceived loss of income, I think it would satisfy the folks wishing to restrict access while keeping more draconian measures at bay.