LISBON, Portugal - A closed-door board meeting on Friday may decide the fate of the proposed dot-xxx sponsored Top-Level Domain, according to a schedule released by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers on Wednesday.
The ICAAN board's scheduled vote will follow a formal communiqué expected to be released on Thursday by ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee, according to the Associated Press. In the communiqué, the GAC is expected to outline its position regarding the controversial proposed sTLD.
The GAC met privately on Wednesday but issued no public statement. It has opposed dot-xxx in the past, but ICM Registry, the company that wants to administer the domain, addressed several of the GAC's concerns in a January contract revision. A GAC endorsement this time might sway ICANN's board, which voiced "serious concerns" about support for dot-xxx during its last meeting.
While the official GAC communiqué will not be released until Thursday, Diane Duke, executive director of the adult industry trade group Free Speech Coalition, reported Wednesday that during an open GAC/ICANN session the previous day the GAC stated its stance on the dot-xxx vote has not changed since it issued a formal statement Feb. 2.
"In that document, GAC speaks of its concern over potential lack of support from the sponsoring community and public policy ramifications of the content-based sTLD [dot-xxx]," Duke told AVNOnline.com. "Many members spoke up about not only lack of support from the sponsorship community, but also active opposition. Apparently, we are getting our message across loud and clear."
Duke and FSC Board of Directors Chairman Jeffrey Douglas have been in Lisbon since March 23, ensuring their constituency is represented at ICANN's general meeting taking place March 26-30. Duke previously told AVNOnline.com the FSC believes dot-xxx is a bad idea because, among other things, "it 'ghettoizes' the industry, making adult entertainment an easy target for anti-industry extremists and government intrusion."
The FSC's position is diametrically opposed by the opinion of Stuart Lawley, ICM's chairman and chief executive, who told The Associated Press he had spoken with several GAC members and concluded "most GAC members are tired of the dot-xxx issue, and individual countries' positions seem to be fairly fixed. Several oppose, whilst the majority appear to be neutral on the subject and seem to expect ICANN's board to make this decision itself.
"As long as ICANN sticks to its bylaws and processes, we expect ratification," he told AVNOnline.com earlier this week.
Dot-xxx originally was proposed by ICM Registry in 2000, after ICANN issued a request for proposals seeking potential new sTLDs. Dot-xxx wasn't selected at that time because of inherent controversy, but it resurfaced in March 2004, following another ICANN RFP. More than a year later, in June 2005, ICANN accepted ICM's proposal and opened the public comment period required under ICANN's charter. Initially supported by some inside the adult industry, dot-xxx later fell into disfavor with the industry, various international governing bodies, ICANN's GAC, and conservative religious factions in the U.S. On May 10, 2006, ICANN voted not to approve the ICM agreement as proposed, but declined to the reject the idea entirely. On Jan. 5, 2007, the controversy arose again when a revised contract was posted on ICANN's website for public comment, eliciting a flurry of negative comments from within and outside the adult industry (supposedly the "sponsoring group"). Since then, according to the AP, the ICANN board has engaged in three closed-door teleconferences about the subject.
