The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (thankfully and creatively abbreviated as “ICANN”) recently approved the domain suffix of .XXX – to replace the commonplace .com, .co.uk, .org etc. – and you can imagine the type of publisher who would want use such a web domain. Some would obviously take offence, and a number of countries have stood up against use of .XXX name.
India has become the first country to announce it will in fact go so far as to ban and block any use of .XXX sites, with a statement from the country’s Senior Official for the Ministry of IT that reads “India along with many other countries from the Middle East and Indonesia opposed the grant of the domain in the first place, and we would proceed to block the whole domain, as it goes against the IT Act and Indian laws.”
Surprisingly on the other hand, a number of publishers of pornographic and adult materials online have also petitioned against the use of .XXX, fearing their content will also be blocked if a more widespread ban comes into effect.
This isn’t to say that .XXX would be used entirely for explicit websites, XXX is also symbolic of the straight edge lifestyle and a number of bands, and represents the number 30 in Roman numerals. Useful for some maybe, who wouldn’t want to be tagged with the stigma of being a “dodgy” website. But let’s face it – that is the main reason for the suffix coming into use! More bans are likely on the way..
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