.xxx passed.

[RawAlex]

Yup. 8-3 with 4 abstentions (which makes it 8-7).

Time to get out of the business.

Preparing domain list for sale, should be posting it soon.

[sunfunbill]

Actually I've heard that it still is not over yet. Because ICANN went against what GAC recommended. So now there is even more legal room that can be used against it.

Basically ICANN is suppose to vote for whatever GAC recommends, as ICANN is suppose to serve them, not the other way around.

[RawAlex]

Apparently one of the ICANN members that voted for the .XXX got a job offer to work for them as well. Can you say "conflict of interest"? If he had abstained, it would have been refused.

[softball]

What I want to know, is why this is such a huge disaster...apart from having to buy a bunch of domains. It would appear that if anyone is looking for my websites, it will be easier to find them. Its not like they stumble on to them.

[tony404]

Originally Posted by rhetorical

What I want to know, is why this is such a huge disaster...apart from having to buy a bunch of domains. It would appear that if anyone is looking for my websites, it will be easier to find them. Its not like they stumble on to them.

lets see the feds make it law adult porn must be .xxx or your state makes that law or visa /mastercard say if adult sites arent on .xxx we wont process them. Then isp's ban it unless the customers in writing ask for it.kiss daytime work traffic and college traffic goodbye.
This is easy low hanging fruit for points for any politician.

[RawAlex]

Tony, you got it. There are two possible courses of action in the next 12 - 24 months. Either politicians in various countries will start mandating that adult / porn sites must be on .XXX (which appears would be able to pass the 1st amendment, in the same manner as zoning bylaws), or Visa and Mastercard will push for all adult to be on .XXX domains only.

In the US, it is very likely that some ISPs will decline to provide DNS lookups for .xxx, and potentially even peering providers may refuse routes from .xxx domains. Outside of the US, it is very likely that goverments (example in Germany) would force ISPs to not provide .XXX access.

The net effect over time is that porn gets squeezed into a ghetto, and then the various authorities start building walls around the ghetto. The final step is when they flood the ghetto by forcing ISPs to "get adult certification" for users before allowing them access to .XXX domains.

This of course only happens if nobody sues ICANN in the next 90 days.

[sunfunbill]

What I want to know is, if things get bad and adult sites are forced to use .xxx, what about adult affiliate sites like what I have?

Say you have a porn blog with post about the newest galleries from a paysite and so on. Would those have to use.xxx?

What if you used no nude pictures on your post? Could you then say your not really an adult site? Hell, you see naked girls on facebook and youtube, so why would those not have to use .xxx?

The limits of what is and is not an adult site will be fought over for a long time. Paysites of course are pretty clear, they are porn sites.

But before they can impose laws about who has to use.xxx, they have to make it clear just what a site can and cannot have on them.

I'd say we all have a year or so. Time to get those mainstream sites going!

[softball]

It will be a litageous mess. But it might be awhile before the dust settles. We are either like the Jews in Germany in the thirties, or the sky is not falling and being in the porn "neighbourhood" might not be so bad. Like the diamond merchants on 47th st NYC...the diamond district. There may be opportunities. The traffic may become more focussed. Hell, if the CC companies wanted to fuck with porn, it would have happened years ago. Someone will always make a living out of porn. The question is...will it be you?

[RawAlex]

Bill, you could end up with a situation where either affiliate programs would dry up, or those that remain might only take traffic from .xxx domains. Again, it depends on who decides to flip the switch.

Now, the US government sort of said today they aren't thrilled with ICANN's move, suggesting that there may be a move at that level to block .xxx from getting into the DNS, or even action to reverse the ICANN decision. Even the US government can see the potential for blocking of free speech, and certainly .xxx would be a 1st amendment issue if things get pushed in that direction.

Myself, I am looking to pare down my .com collection, because I can see where things are heading. It isn't pretty, no matter what.

[LAJ]

Yeah just wait for the lawsuits... this shit aint over...

[Mediaguy]

Good news: countries like Australia are banning the domain...

[RawAlex]

India is apparently also on the banning list, and no doubt places like China and such will do it too. I wouldn't be shocked to see Germany do it as well, to "protect the children".

Sadly that is one side of the vise grips. The other side would be visa, the US government, or other forcing all of porn onto .xxx. That would be the situation that would truly suck.

[Evil Chris]

Entirely worth the watch: http://vimeo.com/22006808

[EmporerEJ]

Originally Posted by Evil Chris

Entirely worth the watch: http://vimeo.com/22006808

Thank you for that link.

[EmporerEJ]

The essence of which, and I think this hasn't changed much from the beginning,.....

.xxx=BAD.

The only variable is, How Bad.....Annoying Bad, or disastrous.
(The latter, being my opinion.)

I would just like someone...anyone....to show me one, just ONE value to the industry, beyond enriching the .xxx people by creating "new real estate" as they call it, and them owning the whole world?

Please....just one?