As the final day of Internext wound down the intensity heated up with the dot-xxx battle royale, featuring the first appearance in a public forum by the ICM Registry’s Stuart Lawley and Jason Hendeles at the .XXX Mania seminar.
Both Hendeles and Lawley, whose company will be responsible for implementing the dot-xxx sponsored Top-Level Domain (sTLD), have taken quite a bit of flack in the adult community particularly from fellow panelists Connor Young, editor of YNOT, and Tom Hymes, communications director for the Free Speech Coalition. As they had been all weekend, Hymes and Young were gunning for a fight.
Meanwhile, Hendeles, who has been pushing for dot-xxx for several years, came equipped, in the form of his prepared and perhaps contrived opening remarks.
“Our goal is to address the concerns of the online adult industry,” he said.
Concerns, there are many, including the possibility of government involvement or Visa regulation. Meanwhile, domains will likely be selling for $75 apiece, and even though that is comparable or less than how other sTLDs have been priced, much of the industry doesn’t like the fact that most of that money will be lining ICM’s pockets.
“We can’t allow a system where they make a lot of money at the expense of our business,” Young told the crowd.
However, what Young and others may not understand is that the fight that has been brewing is likely already over.
“ICANN has never approved a TLD and not implemented it,” said panelist and CEO of domain registrar Moniker, Monte Kahn. “In my mind this extension is coming and there’s nothing anyone in this room can do to stop it.”
Lawley said he expects the domains to be live by February 2006 and that there will be anywhere from 100,000 to 500,000 registered.
In light of that, attorney Greg Piccionelli suggested ICM implement a poison pill clause to address the industry’s concerns—most notably that the dot-xxx TLD become subject to government or other regulation.
“If some country tries to sequester this, [or] if Visa tries to take control or if it just isn’t representing the interests of the industry, then the whole thing just folds up and goes away,” Piccionelli said.
Neither Hendeles nor Lawley made a commitment to do so, but Lawley did admit that he has received no assurances from any government that they will not try to regulate dot-xxx or make it mandatory for the industry.
The centerpiece of the discussion, which spilled over into the lunch hour, was trust. Many in the online adult industry feel that Hendeles and Lawley have been less than forthcoming with information such as which groups and individuals have or are supporting dot-xxx.
“The very fact that they’re asking us to trust them should be of concern,” Hymes said.
Hendeles acknowledged the issue, “We appreciate that we have to be open and transparent and we will do that going forward.”
ICM will eventually turn over decisions on dot-xxx domains to IFFOR, a nonprofit they created and that is designed to show the mainstream that adult is policing itself through best practices. IFFOR will also have a seven-person board that will include one individual from the adult industry and one from a free speech organization. Hendeles said an announcement on the board should come next month and the industry will have input into who is on it. Lawley commented beforehand that he was open to having a levelheaded member of the opposition on the board.
Of course, there wasn’t a lot of levelheadedness going around at the seminar.
Several individuals tried to get Hendeles and Lawley to name the people who they have worked with to demonstrate the support of the adult industry, which essentially made it impossible for ICANN to deny ICM’s application for dot-xxx. Both Lawley and Hendeles declined to do so.
Hendeles even went so far to say they have never given money to anyone in the industry, even though that was established as untrue when former Cybererotica president and current owner of The Content Store Jonathon Silverstein admitted he worked for ICM as a consultant for a brief period.
After receiving Hendeles’ response to his request to name names, New Destiny CEO Spike Goldberg expressed a bit of outrage.
“You haven’t supported this industry,” he said. “Have you done anything to fight Acacia? Have you donated any money to help fight 2257?”
Lawley, who tried to expose some of the brighter points about dot-xxx, including the public relations boost it will provide for the industry and the fact that brands and trademarks will be protected, wasn’t surprised by any of it.
“Very few people have switched on to the opportunity this is,” he said.
