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ICANN on Friday voted 9-5 to deny an application from ICM Registry, which for the past several years has sought to be the registry for adult-content Web sites.
At first I thought, why not? If pr0n sites all end in xxx wouldn’t it be easier for parental filters and schools to block them? It would also make it easier for people to erase their tracks when visiting adult sites. Why blow away your entire cookie list and recently browsed list when all you need to remove is the sites ending in xxx?
ICANN, which oversees domain names and Internet addresses, decided that ICM’s proposal raised too many public-policy concerns and ultimately could change the role of the nonprofit organization.
ICM’s response does not address (the ICANN Government Advisory Committee’s) concern for offensive content and similarly avoids the GAC’s concern for the protection of vulnerable members of the community,” ICANN stated in the meeting. “The board does not believe these public-policy concerns can be credibly resolved with the mechanisms proposed by the applicant.”
ICANN also noted that ICM’s proposal could raise significant compliance issues with law enforcement agencies around the globe, many of which have different laws governing pornography.
How does making it easier to identify, manage and filter adult content sites raise significant compliance issues?
Meeting Transcript.