Apparently unaware that there is a proposal for a .xxx top-level Internet domain under consideration by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a Maryland state lawmaker wants to mandate a .sex domain to segregate Adult Internet materials and e-mails.
"As a parent," I have this wonderful research tool available that has so many land mines that are out there that I don't want to have to explain to my children," said state House of Representatives Deputy Minority Whip Michael Smigiel, Sr., announcing his proposed bill. "This bill would requre that any sexually-explicit materials sent over the Internet [will] have a suffix of dot-sex."
Supporters of an Adult-oriented Internet domain say that, among its other advantages, such material would be met at the Internet service provider level and flagged accordingly, helping keep material not intended for children from reaching them.
Smigiel is presenting the idea as a commercial and not a criminal law, with non-compliant Internet service providers facing a $1,000 fine per violation but nothing more.
Canadian company ICM Registry – which has pushed for a .xxx top-level domain for about two years – filed a formal application with ICANN earlier this month for .xxx consideration. Just over a year before that, Free Speech Coalition voted not to endorse the proposal.
