Following pressure from the Bush administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and a committee within the Internet Corporation for assigned Names and Numbers, ICM Registry, the company planning to implement the dot-xxx sponsored Top-Level Domain, is asking to delay the approval process for 30 days after questions from the U.S. and foreign governments arose in the 11th hour.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers board is scheduled to meet today and reportedly was considering giving dot-xxx the final stamp of approval. However, on Monday ICANN received a letter from Michael Gallagher, assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce, expressing concern about the implementation of dot-xxx. This followed a letter from Mohd Sharil Tarmizi, the chairman of ICANN’s Government Advisory Committee, who submitted a letter to ICANN on Friday expressing concern about the implementation.
“The Department of Commerce has received nearly 6,000 letters and e-mails from individuals expressing concern about the impact of pornography on families and children and opposing the creation of a new top-level domain devoted to adult content,” Gallagher wrote. “We also understand that other countries have significant reservations regarding the creation of a .xxx TLD… The volume of correspondence opposed to creation of a .xxx TLD is unprecedented.”
Gallagher’s letter asks ICANN to provide additional time and a proper process for concerns to be addressed.
ICM reacted by asking ICANN to delay final approval by 30 days and expressing a willingness to listen to all concerns.
“What we’re trying to do now is push forward with this,” ICM founder Jason Hendeles told AVNOnline.com. “The [negotiation] process is complete. At this stage we’re just going to be talking to people and making sure everyone is comfortable. Saying that, there are concerns about the way the adult industry is perceived.”
Although ICANN reportedly was ready to table final approval, Hendeles said he didn’t believe the Department of Commerce’s intervention would derail the sTLD. ICM still expects dot-xxx to go live by March 2006.
In his response letter to ICANN president Paul Twomey, ICM president Stuart Lawley questioned the timing of the latest speed bump for dot-xxx.
“We are, to say the very least, disappointed that concerns that should have been raised and addressed weeks and months ago are being raised in the final days before the board is scheduled to approve the agreement negotiated with staff,” Lawley wrote.
On Monday, Lawley told AVNOnline.com he felt the 11th hour concerns brought up by the GAC were a reaction to concerns that were raised vociferously by representatives from countries such as Brazil and Denmark.
“There’s this whole battle at the moment for who’s trying to control the Internet. The United Nations is trying to wrest control of the Internet from ICANN. People use various things to beat up on ICANN, and that was my understanding – that they were using the process to beat up on ICANN rather than to attack the TLD itself,” Lawley said.
ICM has offered to present its case to the GAC on several occasions, Lawley said, only to be turned down.
While the United Nations has been clamoring for control of the Internet since early 2004, the Bush administration announced in late June that the Department of Commerce would retain control of the Internet’s root – the master file that lists what TLDs are authorized – rather than turning it over to ICANN, or any other organization, as planned. Analysts viewed the move as a way to keep ICANN, whose budget rose from $7 million in 2003 to around $16 million this year, under control.
Thus, in addition to pressure from the United Nations, there is now more pressure on ICANN coming from inside the U.S.
The Family Research Council, a conservative religious organization, has taken a lead roll in opposing dot-xxx. FRC president Tony Perkins urged supporters to mobilize against dot-xxx by contacting the Department of Commerce after ICANN announced it had entered into technical negotiations with ICM.
At the time, Perkins was spouting rhetoric such as, “Some naively suggest that passing a new law to force pornographers to move to [dot-xxx] will solve the problem, but that will not work either. Law means nothing to hardcore pornographers. There already is a law prohibiting them from selling hardcore porn on the Internet – anywhere on the Internet – yet they have been doing if for years.”
“There are always conservative, right-wing groups who are going to have a concern,” Hendeles said. "Our opportunity, if anything, is to dispel misconceptions about the industry."
