14 DAY TRIAL // ICANN has delayed again approving the .xxx domain. The fate of the highly controversial .xxx Internet domain will not be decided until "a future date" a representative of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names, which oversees domain names, said Friday
Altough, ICANN's board of directors considered an agreement for the .xxx at the Thursday meeting, then decided against taking action, directing ICANN staff to negotiate 'additional contractual provisions' with ICM Registry, the Florida company that plans to operate the domain
The appearance of .XXX domains was accompanied by a tsunami of comments and opinions, not the entire pornography industry being overjoyed with the prospect. For example, a spokesman for Playboy.com declared that there's going to be no such thing as a Playboy.xxx and his opinion is also shared by others.
The fans of this domains are delighted with the fact this is an important step towards limiting the minor's access to sites they should browse only after a certain age, and consider that a cyberspace Red Light District will only help make the Internet a cleaner place.
On the other hand, many people think that the appearance of the new domains won't change a thing. It is estimated that pornographic sites generate around 25% of the Internet traffic worldwide, and it's hard to believe that sites of this type, which have invested a lot of money and effort into advertising their .COM address, will migrate towards .XXX, unless forced to.
In the same meeting, ICAAN has approved the name domain .Cat, reserved for members of the Catalan ethnic group. According to Fundacio puntCAT, the authors of the .cat bid, those identifying with the Catalan language and culture want their own domain on the Internet.
"We believe, for example, that if cooperatives, the aeronautical industry or museums have been recognized as communities with their domain on the Internet, the Catalan language and culture have a very important basis for having a .cat domain," the organization's Web site states.
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