My Long-Ass Letter To ICANN Concerning .XXX
I wrote all of this. The least you can do is EMAIL THEM a few grammatically correct sentences to say 'No, I'd like to stay in business.'
Dear ICANN,
The .XXX TLD is an unwelcomed burden to the adult industry. Whether you are affiliated with online pornography or stand wholeheartedly against it, .XXX is not a solution created with a child's best interest in mind. I can't see how anyone could support .XXX. For adult webmasters, it forces you to give up your previous business, frequent visitors (bookmarkers), costs much more, is regulated through a 3rd party's MORALS (not by law), and can be used to automatically block you from potential customers (college students.) As one who loathes internet porn, why would you support something that assists in legitimizing online pornography?
To all Americans, regardless of your personal opinion; consider just how fair this regulation is. It is a violation of free speech. Would you expect to have your church's website strictly designated to a .god domain? How do you think Amazon or eBay would feel if they were forced to a .shop domain, leaving their established brand-name up for grabs to whoever clicks 'register' the fastest? I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate it. Neither does the majority of the adult industry.
Many flaws exist within the proposal of ICM's .XXX TLD. For instance, parents who have failed to install parental controls on their home computers will not suddenly be urged to do so (should .XXX pass.) The implementation of this TLD will not provide a cure for a parent's irresponsibility / ignorance.
Furthermore, the implementation of .XXX as a means of decreasing / stopping the distribution of child pornography simply will not work. Sadly, child smut peddlers are much too smart to fall victim to the regulation of a .XXX domain. Why would someone doing something so illegal (and immoral) choose to be regulated through the .XXX TLD? They won't. They'll continue to register .coms (most likely through hosts located in poorly-regulated, foreign countries.) They'll also continue to distribute their material through p2p file-sharing services, which fall far beyond the reach of .XXX (as no domain registration at all is required and anonymity is basically assured.)
I assure you that no honest adult webmaster intends to offer minors access to pornographic content. Besides the fact that it is morally wrong... (Yes, we have morals. We are people, too.) ...it is not a smart business decision. We are a business like any other (for the most part.) We offer free 'sample' content in hopes that adults will enjoy it, and thus buy memberships. To purchase a membership, a credit card is necessary. Seeing as how minors cannot legally own credit cards, they are obviously ruled out as the target market. There are no benefits to providing minors with pornograpy. I, personally, am disgusted with those who do, as well as with the parents that fail to regulate what media their child views.
Unfortunately, the only ones who will feel the effects of this unwelcome burden are the honest webmasters; who want only to bring sexually explicit content to the eyes of mature adults who wish to view it. Some of you stand in favor of being allowed the privilege of viewing online pornography. Some of you believe it is corrupt, degrading to women, an exploitation of human sexuality, or perhaps all of the above. Whatever your stance, I beg you to pardon your previous bias if only for a minute, to see the ICM proposed .XXX TLD for what it really is; a way of collecting larger revenues and supressing those who hold an interest in seeing two consenting adults engage in sexual intercourse. How will .XXX succeed? By selling you false promises that .XXX is sincerely interested in protecting your children.
Did you know that the new .XXX TLD will cost webmasters $75 per domain vs $8-12 for a .com domain? Moral stance aside, isn't that a suspiciously large profit markup for something solely intended to benefit children?
I've discussed the problems and deceit lying within the .XXX proposal; but what about a truly effective solution?
I propose to you that all adult sites featuring and linking to adult content should be forced to label themselves with an RTA label. (http://www.rtalabel.org)
RTA labelling is detectable by parental software, is easy to integrate into websites, and avoids the burden and fees associated with a .XXX TLD. If sites fail to label themselves, they should be shut down immediately or subject to fines/penalties of some sort. If ICM is sincerely interested in protecting children, and not lining their pockets with cash, they should have no complaints against this proposal.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you will understand why I, and the majority of the adult industry, DO NOT SUPPORT .XXX.
Sincerely,
(my name)
I read FightThePatent's thread and learned some details about the proposal (such as that it costs $75 per domain!) I fought this the first time...and hopefully this will be the bullet that keeps it down.
So what do you think? Anything need to be revised before I send it?
Thanks,
c-lo
Arguments For & Against .XXX
Dear ICANN,
The .XXX TLD is an unwelcomed burden to the adult industry. Whether you are affiliated with online pornography or stand wholeheartedly against it, .XXX is not a solution created with a child's best interest in mind. I can't see how anyone could support .XXX. For adult webmasters, it forces you to give up your previous business, frequent visitors (bookmarkers), costs much more, is regulated through a 3rd party's MORALS (not by law), and can be used to automatically block you from potential customers (college students.) As one who loathes internet porn, why would you support something that assists in legitimizing online pornography?
To all Americans, regardless of your personal opinion; consider just how fair this regulation is. It is a violation of free speech. Would you expect to have your church's website strictly designated to a .god domain? How do you think Amazon or eBay would feel if they were forced to a .shop domain, leaving their established brand-name up for grabs to whoever clicks 'register' the fastest? I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate it. Neither does the majority of the adult industry.
Many flaws exist within the proposal of ICM's .XXX TLD. For instance, parents who have failed to install parental controls on their home computers will not suddenly be urged to do so (should .XXX pass.) The implementation of this TLD will not provide a cure for a parent's irresponsibility / ignorance.
Furthermore, the implementation of .XXX as a means of decreasing / stopping the distribution of child pornography simply will not work. Sadly, child smut peddlers are much too smart to fall victim to the regulation of a .XXX domain. Why would someone doing something so illegal (and immoral) choose to be regulated through the .XXX TLD? They won't. They'll continue to register .coms (most likely through hosts located in poorly-regulated, foreign countries.) They'll also continue to distribute their material through p2p file-sharing services, which fall far beyond the reach of .XXX (as no domain registration at all is required and anonymity is basically assured.)
I assure you that no honest adult webmaster intends to offer minors access to pornographic content. Besides the fact that it is morally wrong... (Yes, we have morals. We are people, too.) ...it is not a smart business decision. We are a business like any other (for the most part.) We offer free 'sample' content in hopes that adults will enjoy it, and thus buy memberships. To purchase a membership, a credit card is necessary. Seeing as how minors cannot legally own credit cards, they are obviously ruled out as the target market. There are no benefits to providing minors with pornograpy. I, personally, am disgusted with those who do, as well as with the parents that fail to regulate what media their child views.
Unfortunately, the only ones who will feel the effects of this unwelcome burden are the honest webmasters; who want only to bring sexually explicit content to the eyes of mature adults who wish to view it. Some of you stand in favor of being allowed the privilege of viewing online pornography. Some of you believe it is corrupt, degrading to women, an exploitation of human sexuality, or perhaps all of the above. Whatever your stance, I beg you to pardon your previous bias if only for a minute, to see the ICM proposed .XXX TLD for what it really is; a way of collecting larger revenues and supressing those who hold an interest in seeing two consenting adults engage in sexual intercourse. How will .XXX succeed? By selling you false promises that .XXX is sincerely interested in protecting your children.
Did you know that the new .XXX TLD will cost webmasters $75 per domain vs $8-12 for a .com domain? Moral stance aside, isn't that a suspiciously large profit markup for something solely intended to benefit children?
I've discussed the problems and deceit lying within the .XXX proposal; but what about a truly effective solution?
I propose to you that all adult sites featuring and linking to adult content should be forced to label themselves with an RTA label. (http://www.rtalabel.org)
RTA labelling is detectable by parental software, is easy to integrate into websites, and avoids the burden and fees associated with a .XXX TLD. If sites fail to label themselves, they should be shut down immediately or subject to fines/penalties of some sort. If ICM is sincerely interested in protecting children, and not lining their pockets with cash, they should have no complaints against this proposal.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you will understand why I, and the majority of the adult industry, DO NOT SUPPORT .XXX.
Sincerely,
(my name)
I read FightThePatent's thread and learned some details about the proposal (such as that it costs $75 per domain!) I fought this the first time...and hopefully this will be the bullet that keeps it down.
So what do you think? Anything need to be revised before I send it?
Thanks,
c-lo
Arguments For & Against .XXX
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