Not all Lawyers are scum...XXX TLD

[mikesouth]

JD Obenberger sent me this with permission to use it.
Its a letter he sent tp ICANN re .XXX TLD

I for one applaud JD this is the type of guy we should be using to represent us...fuck Walters and Piconelli


Regarding: .xxx TLD
Gentlemen:
We are Free Speech lawyers in Chicago with considerable experience in defending criminal
obscenity cases and in providing advice and guidance to the ongoing operations of adult-oriented,
erotic websites. We write on our own behalf rather than on behalf of any particular client, though it
is my strong impression that the large majority of our clients embrace the sentiments expressed in
this letter.
We write in opposition to the creation and implementation of the proposed .xxx Top Level
Doman.
As we all know, the Internet has now begun radically transforming the way the human race
communicates and indeed the way that mankind looks at itself. It dramatically changes the way
individuals look at this world and the people in it . It is an instrument of knowledge, persuasion, and
transformation of a dimension never seen before.
The Internet is the realm of commerce and industry, science and technology, and the arts and
humanities alike. As an information highway, it serves the mature and adult purposes of the world
and it grows to serve them better. The technical means established for this function must be designed
with that mature and adult purpose in mind.
Those who would aspire to make the Internet safe for children should better consider how
autobahns and interstate highways might be safe for children to play upon. Massive trucks,
sometimes carrying toxic substances, barrel along these thoroughfares on a constant and unremitting
basis, and that is frankly one of the chief purposes behind the construction of highways. To render
the interstate highways safe for children at play by banning such traffic would deprive society of the
adult purpose behind the road. The place for children to play is in designated and protected places
that are not in the midst of adult traffic.
As the internet grows in acceptance, penetration, utility, and effectiveness - as it becomes more
necessary in the affairs of the world - there are those parochial interests that wish to control the
content and appeal of the information content. Some wish to do so for political reasons and others
for social or moral reasons. (In the end, they will all fail, for there is no stopping ideas, arguments,
and truth.)
Some have argued for the logical segregation of erotic and/or sexually-oriented materials into a
separate top-level domain. Some of them plot and plan for the censorship of such material once it the
domain has been created and its use made mandatory by local law. The creation of such a TLD is
the necessary first step in such a plan and this is where the enterprise should be halted. The
existence of such a domain facilitates internet filtering by moralistic governments with the aim of
affecting the ideas and concepts their residents may see and the alternative moral schemes to which
they are exposed. The segregation of thought, entertainment, and ideas because of content and
appeal is a dangerous first step towards local and parochial control over the global Internet. It paves
the way for TLDs aimed at religious and political content.
Finally, I must note that an enormous amount of money and time has been spent in the promotion
of this enterprise by those who stand to profit from it. Because there is essentially no demand for
this TLD from within the adult Internet industry, it can only be surmised that their business plan
includes cross-registrations from existing adult .com TLD registrants in order to protect against
infringing use of a domain name in the .xxx TLD - and the potential goldmine of legally mandated
use the TLD. Both of these income streams are created or potentially created because of fear or
coercion arising merely because the proposed TLD will exist. My own sense of ethics suggests that
what the promoters are foisting on ICANN amounts to a disreputable business scheme of creating
profit from a thing of no legitimate value whatsoever to any person.
Very truly yours,
J. D. Obenberger
Digitally signed by J D

Obenberger

[ronaldo]

Thanks for posting that. It was a good read.

[Major (Tom)]

great letter. great post.
mike, do you have a link to all the letters? incuding dumas's? that was my favorite!

Duke

[Big Red Machine]

Great Letter exactly if it was about protecting kids, they would push a .kids

[escorpio]

Here's what my ex-attorney's been up to

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...ofiles01m.html

[Lord Nelson]

a jew lawyer trying to weasel money out of the .xxx thing

yawn...