InternetSafety.com Says New .xxx Domain Will Create Twice the Porn
Contrary to ICANN's Statements, New Domains Will Not Help Filter Adult Content
ATLANTA, June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 25 the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) decided to allow the sale of domains ending in .xxx beginning in 2011 in an effort to create "a voluntary self-regulating community" of adult sites and simplify the filtering of online adult content. An evaluation of the announcement by InternetSafety.com, however, concluded that ICANN's implementation of the new domain policy will actually double the avenues available to access adult content online and fail to provide the claimed filtering benefits.
Under the ICANN guidelines, sites with adult content are not required to purchase a domain ending in .xxx or to abandon their existing .com addresses. Therefore, existing adult sites will be able to purchase .xxx versions of their domains and simply use the new address to point traffic to their existing .com site, effectively doubling their presence on the Internet.
For that reason, simply blocking the .xxx domain will not prevent access to porn sites. In addition, since non-porn sites will also be permitted to register the .xxx domain, the whole-domain blocking strategy will likely lead to unnecessary filtering.
Advocacy groups such as Enough is Enough are already attacking the measure because of its potential for increasing access to adult content. The .xxx domain idea has also long been opposed by groups on both sides of the political spectrum, with conservative organizations protesting that it will further legitimize the pornography industry and liberal groups arguing that it is a step toward censorship because of the ability to block the entire .xxx domain instead of individual sites.
"The way in which ICANN has chosen to implement the .xxx domain will have no effect whatsoever in terms of filtering adult content on the Internet," said Aaron Kenny, CTO and co-founder of InternetSafety.com. "As long as there are still porn sites with .com extensions, you will still need to filter them one by one. Instead of solving the problem, ICANN has exacerbated it by paving the way for the porn industry to double their online footprint."
According to Internet Filter Review, there are 4.2 million pornography websites containing 420 million pages of material, drawing 75 million unique visitors every month, and accounting for 12% of all online destinations. A full 25% of all search engine requests are pornography-related, nearly 43% of all Internet users view porn, and 10% of adults admit to an Internet porn addiction.
About InternetSafety.com
InternetSafety.com™ has been a leading provider of web filtering solutions for consumers and businesses since 1999. The company's flagship software, Safe Eyes®, is the two-time recipient of the PC Magazine Editors' Choice Award, earned a separate Editor's Choice Award from LAPTOP Magazine, and was rated as the #1 parental control solution by America's leading consumer advocacy publication. Other products include Safe Eyes Mobile, the first family-safe browser for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad; EtherShield, a network-level solution offering plug-and-play Internet filtering for business environments; and Safe Eyes Business, an end-point filtering service for businesses of any size. The company's products are used by customers in more than 150 countries. The company also supplies the technology for McAfee® Family Protection online safety software.
SOURCE InternetSafety.com
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