Icann votes against .xxx domain

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12 May 2006 11:51 GMT / By Stuart Miles

It was supposed to give web users a greater understanding of what was and what wasn't suitable content, however it appears that the .xxx domain tag that was to be used by the porn industry has been put on hold, indefinitely.

The board of ICANN, the international body that oversees the assignment of domain suffixes voted this week to reject a proposal to create a new domain, which would have carried the suffix .xxx.

Originally proposed in June last year some commentators believe that it would legitimise porn on the Internet, while pornographers themselves have been reported to say that they were uphappy about having to give up popular domain names.

The decision from Icann, reverses its preliminary approval in June to create a ".xxx" domain name for voluntary use by the adult entertainment industry.

At its first formal vote on the issue this week, board members of the agency voted by nine to five to reject the plan for the .xxx domain, which had been put forward by ICM Registry, a US internet registry.

Supporters believed that a .xxx domain would have made it easier to confine sex sites or filter them out altogether.

Full tags

Software, Online, Websites, ICANN, -xxx