they might use icann to enforce it but how could they use a US law to enforce non-us citizens? just move your domains to foreign registars and hosts (as long as you aren't american) and i don't see how icann do much unless other countries or icann themselves decide to make this law, which im pretty sure icann doesn't have the power to do.

Mwelink is very wrong...Let someone try to take mikesouth.xxx and put up a site, or not give it to me if and when I ask for it.

trademark law is our ultimate protection.

ICANN isn't exactly immaculate
 

I must say, ICANN isn't exactly the immaculate organization you all seem to think they are. The members on their board of decision makers are controlled somewhat by lobbyists and their financial input. For instance, there was a scare earlier this year, that ICANN might come into some sweetheart arrangement with registrars to charge *premium* renewal prices on *premium* domains, based on how good they are - i.e.: Homes.com might be $10,000 a year to renew, while Abdbdshhs.com might be $7/year still.

This was prevented, but only because of domain lobbyists was this attempt squelched.

If the adult industry is seriously interested in having input, I suggest you all start a collective fund (you'll need about $75-100k to begin), and hire a lawyer to lobby for the path you want your industry to travel upon.

Other than that, senators/ICANN doesn't give a shit what individual adult program owners think.

You don't have a trademark, Mr. South
 

Do you understand the UDRP policy? Apparently, you don't.

Do you realize that a few DIFFERENT points must be proven to take a name from somebody?

1) Bad Faith in usage (if the person isn't making money using the name, you have no claim - if they have no site, you can't do anything)
2) Infringement on a trademark/confusingly similar usage (I strongly DOUBT you have a REGISTERED trademark for "Mike South", and I don't think you're famous enough to be COMMONLY known)
3) No legitimate rights or interests to the name (your name isn't exactly GENERIC, there are TONS of people with the name "Mike South" out there: Google says, Results 1 - 10 of about 40,300 for "mike south"

I'm not a lawyer, and this is NOT legal advice - but, I believe that 2 out of 3 of these points must be proven to win the UDRP, and by the way, the arbitration panel will cost you a minimum of $1500, even with a single arbitrator.

If "Dave Cummings" was approved years ago as a Trademark (which it was), then certainly "Mike South" was/could be, too!

Dave Cummings
P.S. Here's my ICANN posting from today

ICANN ICANN Email List Archives
[xxx-icm-agreement]

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<<< Chronological Index >>> <<< Thread Index >>>

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As Part of The "Sponsored Community", like the VAST majority, I ask ICANN to Permanently Kill .xxx
To: <xxx-icm-agreement@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: As Part of The "Sponsored Community", like the VAST majority, I ask ICANN to Permanently Kill .xxx
From: "Dave C." <davec@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2007 23:54:35 -0800

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My stage name is "Dave Cummings" and, besides my www.davecummings.com website,
I own many adult dot.com domains. Contrary to ICM's subjective claims, I see
almost ZERO Sponsored Community support for .xxx, but I do indeed see
CONSIDERABLE opposition to it. Please permanently deny .xxx ---it's NOT wanted
by the Sponsored Community, and it's not an appropriate potential legal mess
for ICANN to become trapped into.

Sincerely,

Dave Cummings/D. Charles Conners

how much did you get payed for starting a thread like this?

Thank you someone with a large .com adult portfolio wouldn't be pro this idea because his .com could be come worthless. Bookmark this thread .xxx happens within one year it will be law in the usa, which I figure is just what icm hopes for.

.WS domains are the ghetto for trojans worms and malware. Premium domain space my ass. It has a connotation of filth, .xxx will be no different. Yeah, lots of money for the big players, but it'll kill the reputation of the industry.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh nice punchline

doesn't ICANN have to power to take your domain if you put wrong details in your domain "WHOIS" ?
I guess the question is will the laws that force porn to on a .XXX be a global law by a global party like ICANN or a local law by a local party that *thinks* it has global power like the US government

well you wouldn't have to put fake whois info if the US passes such a law and you aren't a US citizen.

ICANN might technically have the ability to seize a domain with bad WHOIS, but in practice, they don't get involved with individual domains (hence the Registerfly debacle.)

HOWEVER, there are a ton of horror stories of GoDaddy and some other less-than-reputable registrars grabbing domain names and selling them for bad WHOIS info, so this is sometihng the individual registrar, not the registry or ICANN, would be involved in, unless the rules for .xxx are different than for other TLDs.

The rules about whether porn has to go under .xxx would be ones enacted by local or federal governments, ICANN wouldn't have any jurisdiction in this regard.

from what you are saying it is implied that foreign affiliate webmasters have very little to fear from this whole .XXX issue as they will be affected only indirectly, they can still use their .com domains

Well, that totally depends. If the US, or even certain states or localities within it start requiring the use of .xxx, which seems likely, I'm sure that governmental leaders in many other countries will follow suit. Likewise, unless your traffic is entirely non-US and going to non-US sponsors, it will have an effect on you.

This is one of those things that a lot of governmental people will just line up and do... how many legislators are going to stand up and say "I'm in favor of the rights of pornographers? Probably not many.

Forewarned is forearmed. You can put your head in the sand and say "It won't affect us" but that's a very shortsighted approach, and I doubt you'll be happy 3 years from now if you do that.