Let's block some porno!
So, in a twist of utter moral bankruptcy it appears that a company called ICM Registry has finally succeeded at strong-arming ICANN (the international body responsible for seeing to it that the DNS system that makes the internet work doesn't get torn to shreds by greedy lunatics) into giving it licence to run it's very own virtual land-grab, under threat of lawsuits.
In short, this means that the .XXX top-level domain will soon appear, and the company that will be collecting money for every name in that namespace is ICM Registry.
There's no sensible need for this type of top-level domain. It will merely accomplish two things: 1. The press and general public will have another opportunity to act generally shocked about the sheer volume of porn on the internet before going back to downloading as much of it as they can. 2. Conservative groups will demand that it be banned from everywhere.
I'd like to say it will accomplish three things, oh wait, I can...
3. It will force companies whose legal departments are terrified someone might tread on their trademark to purchase YET ANOTHER needlessly redundant domain name.
...and that's what ICM Registry is counting on to make a buck. It was willing to force the internet at lawyer-point to be needlessly more complex to do it. It's willing to create a new problem (or extend an old problem) for everyone else to do it. It is "damage" to the internet, which we should now route things around until someone fixes it.
THAT is a good reason to block the .XXX domain. Not because there's going to be porno on it--if you have a problem with that you should go ahead and block .com lookups. Not because they're sloshing around in an already cloudy list of near-useless TLDs. ...but because the company responsible was willing to degrade the internet further just to make a buck.
I will so be making a longer rant on this subject later.
In short, this means that the .XXX top-level domain will soon appear, and the company that will be collecting money for every name in that namespace is ICM Registry.
There's no sensible need for this type of top-level domain. It will merely accomplish two things: 1. The press and general public will have another opportunity to act generally shocked about the sheer volume of porn on the internet before going back to downloading as much of it as they can. 2. Conservative groups will demand that it be banned from everywhere.
I'd like to say it will accomplish three things, oh wait, I can...
3. It will force companies whose legal departments are terrified someone might tread on their trademark to purchase YET ANOTHER needlessly redundant domain name.
...and that's what ICM Registry is counting on to make a buck. It was willing to force the internet at lawyer-point to be needlessly more complex to do it. It's willing to create a new problem (or extend an old problem) for everyone else to do it. It is "damage" to the internet, which we should now route things around until someone fixes it.
THAT is a good reason to block the .XXX domain. Not because there's going to be porno on it--if you have a problem with that you should go ahead and block .com lookups. Not because they're sloshing around in an already cloudy list of near-useless TLDs. ...but because the company responsible was willing to degrade the internet further just to make a buck.
I will so be making a longer rant on this subject later.