xxx on its way

26 June 2010

Porn news xxx on its way and the porn barons are not happy.

ICANN the body that controls the .com and top level domains announced this week that it will begin the process of registering .xxx by making checks on ICM Registry, the company that wants to run the domain and sell registrations. It now means that the ICM Registry run by UK entrepreneur Stuart Lawley will offer the xxx domains through its registry under one single grouping.

But many in the industry are worried that this is the first step to isolating the .coms to .xxxx domains. As the guardian reported today " that would mean that sex sites could be more easily filtered out from web searches, and lower their revenues. Free speech advocates also worry that sites about topics seen by US conservatives as controversial, such as homosexuality, might also be forced to use the .xxx suffix".

Lawley, looks like he is to cash in and make millions each year.

Michael Coyle is a Solicitor Advocate and can be contacted at michael.coyle@lawdit.co.uk. Lawdit Solicitors is a commercial law firm with offices in London and Southampton.