XXX domain being considered again

The idea was shelved in 2000 after a couple of hundred complaints to the US government who were concerned that it would distract their children from their bible studies.

However the idea of a .xxx domain is still popular amongst those who want to protect people from porn because it would be easy for browsers and firewalls to block.

According to AP, Janis Karklins, chairman of ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee, said ICANN plans to vote whether to create the online back alley tomorrow.

Stuart Lawley, the chief executive of IMC Registry LLC, which has sponsored the ".xxx" measure, told AP he was confident too that a vote would come when ICANN's board meets and was optimistic that the domain would be approved.

There are still some technical problems with the idea. The domain name's use by porn sites would be voluntary, but there are fears that governments might use it to censor the net. Some governments would automatically block .xxx to anyone other than senior party officials and the president's own laptop for example.

More here. µ