ICANN meets to address .xxx next week, yet less than 100 folks have voiced their opinions to ICANN's requests for input at
[email protected] .
Even a quickie "I am against approval of .xxx" email might carry considerable weight, especially since so few comments have been submitted. After you support the Adult Internet Industry's need to keep .com in existence by emailing ICANN, they will send you an email asking you to confirm that you sent it --then, and only then, will it be posted and counted, so please don't overlook the near-instantaneous auto-response ICANN will send requesting your confirmation of your email against .xxx.
If we sit idly by, .xxx might kill us off, so PLEASE take this seriously. Please email them TODAY, lest they cut off in a couple of days to tabulate/staff/etc the meager number of comments sent thus far.
PLEASE email NOW, lest we all be possibly crying in our beer soon:-(.
FYI/background, even though a simple "I'm against .xxxx" will help, here's a copy/paste off of the
www.freespeechcoalition.com site:
.XXX Top-Level Domain Info
A BRIEF HISTORY OF .XXX AND RELATED LINKS
ICM Registry Submits Revised Proposed .XXX Registry Agreement (4/06)
(click here for relevant documents and links to ICANN website.)
Click HERE to join our letter-writing campaign in opposition to .XXX
In 2004, after several membership and Board meetings, the Board of Directors of The Free Speech Coalition voted to formally oppose the creation of an adult TLD, a position it maintains to this day. The Free Speech Coalition opposes .XXX because:
.XXX Will Not Create a Framework to Protect Children ? Even its most enthusiastic supporters acknowledge that a voluntary .XXX will not provide an effective mechanism for keeping adult content away from minors.
There Is No Compelling Need For .XXX ? Other than financial benefit to ICM Registry and its investors, there is no compelling need or business model that necessitates the creation of .XXX.
.XXX Will Lead To The ?Ghettoization? of Protected Speech ? By its very existence, .XXX will segregate content-based speech and create a framework that could lead easily to government or private sector censorship, establishing an international precedent by which other content-based speech could be similarly segregated and regulated.
.XXX Will be Regulated, Not Self-Regulated ? A supporting organization, IFFOR, will set all policies that .XXX domain holders will be required to obey. A majority of IFFOR Board of Directors will come from outside the industry, thus creating a regulatory, rather than self-regulatory, framework.
.XXX Does Not Have The Support of the Adult Industry ? Contrary to statements made by ICM Registry and others, the overwhelming majority of adult entertainment companies do not support the creation of .XXX.
.KIDS Would Provide a Far More Effective Solution ? Instead of herding protected speech into a ?virtual ghetto,? a content-positive .KIDS TLD should be created where children can find child-friendly websites, making it far easier for parents to filter .KIDS in than it will be for them to filter adult content out!
Foreign Governments Oppose .XXX ? An increasing number of foreign governments have voiced their opposition to .XXX. In fact, rather than endorsing .XXX, the European Union recently proposed the creation of a .kids top-level domain.
Repressive Governments Will Engage in State-Sponsored Filtering: Many governments currently restrict the types of websites available to their citizens by utilizing filtering technologies. .XXX will provide these governments with yet another, more effective tool to control what their citizens can access, in effect, censoring speech for an entire country.
FIGHT .XXX!
Please email ICANN at
[email protected]
Dave