The high-stakes, dot-xxx sponsored Top-Level Domain guessing game continues, as a conclusion regarding the contentious domain will not be reached until "a future date," a representative of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the nonprofit international body that oversees the domain name system, said Friday.
ICANN’S board considered approving the proposed dot-xxx sTLD during a Thursday meeting as planned, but members expressed concerns in relation to draft compliance and process terms and opted to forgo any immediate action on the matter, the ICANN representative said.
The board directed ICANN staff to negotiate additional contractual provisions requiring development and implementation of policies consistent with Jupiter, Fla.-based ICM Registry's application to oversee the sTLD.
Although ICANN has set no date for its next vote on dot-xxx, ICM president Stuart Lawley said he expects the board to consider the matter at its next regular meeting, scheduled for Oct. 18, and he firmly believes the domain will be approved at that time.
“We’re quite pleased with [ICANN’s] decision,” Lawley said. “It wasn’t unexpected, especially since this is such a politically sensitive matter. They don’t want there to be any causes for embarrassment.”
Lawley explained that in two previous instances, ICANN was left with “egg on its face” when the dot-travel and dot-pro sTLD approvals were met almost immediately with unforeseen, controversial developments. Within a week of ICANN’s approval of a contract with the registry for dot-travel, the registry was sold to another entity, and dot-pro proved to be a hotbed of “illegitimate” registration activity, Lawley noted.
ICANN has communicated to ICM that it wants to “clarify ownership on ICM Registry” and “clarify eligibility requirements” to make sure nothing similar happens with dot-xxx, “although I can’t imagine there are people out there who are not affiliated with the adult industry who can’t wait to register dot-xxx domains,” he said.
“We’re really quite pleased with ICANN’s response [to dot-xxx] so far,” Lawley continued. “They’re following their carefully laid-out procedures diligently. They don’t seem to be bending to outside forces.”
Dot-xxx detractors worry that’s not the case.
“I’m pleased that ICANN is taking their time, and that hopefully the letters from the adult industry are making a difference, but I am worried that possibly any changes being made or proposed might be to please the religious right—but it remains to be seen,” said Connor Young, editor-in-chief of YNOT.com and an outspoken critic of dot-xxx. “I want to see the final decision from ICANN before I decide if this delay is good news or bad news.”
The adult entertainment industry’s trade organization, the Free Speech Coalition, initiated a letter-writing campaign within the adult community last month in hopes of swaying ICANN’s decision. According to FSC communications director Tom Hymes, the organization delivered between 160 and 180 anti-dot-xxx letters written by adult industry insiders – the “sponsoring” group the sTLD is supposed to represent – to ICANN’s offices. “And I have more,” Hymes revealed.
“We anticipated that [ICANN] would postpone the decision again, which is why we continue our letter-writing campaign,” he continued. “We don’t think [dot-xxx] is a good idea, and we do oppose it, strongly. There’s a level of misrepresentation [about support within the adult industry] in [ICM’s] application itself that should be considered by the board.”
Lawley, on the other hand, said ICM has received “thousands of emails of support [for dot-xxx] from webmasters around the world.”
Thursday’s tabling represents the second delay in approving the dot-xxx extension. ICANN’s board was scheduled to finalize a domain-registry contract with ICM Registry on Aug. 16 after granting preliminary approval in June. However, ICANN’s board decided to take another 30 days to assess public input after its own Government Advisory Committee, the U.S. Department of Commerce, members of the adult industry, and religio-conservative groups expressed reservations about the domain.
Criticism of dot-xxx includes that anointing a special sTLD for the adult industry is inappropriate and would lead to an explosion of pornographic websites and that approval of dot-xxx would legitimize the adult entertainment industry. Ironically, it also includes that dot-xxx represents an attempt to “ghetto-ize” the adult industry, and that it would pave the way for governments and anti-porn groups to censor or even completely obliterate adult content from at least parts of the Web.
Of course, it may simply be that ICANN has delayed the vote again while it figures out how to extricate itself from what it may consider a no-win situation. If it approves dot-xxx, ICANN could face disapproval from social conservatives and governmental bodies that oppose the domain. Worse, the U.S. Department of Commerce, which retains veto power over the board’s actions, could reverse the decision. If ICANN denies dot-xxx, some may see the action as capitulating to those same forces. ICANN and the U.S. administration have faced sharp criticism recently because of close historical ties that won’t seem to break, despite repeated assurances from the U.S. that ICANN is independent and not subject to undue governmental influence.
As Hymes noted, “The issue that truly defines ICANN’s independence right now, in more ways than one, is dot-xxx. They’re between a rock and a hard place.”
