Trueman says decision was “foolish and unnecessary”.
Pat Trueman, former Chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, called ICANN’s decision on .xxx today “foolish and unnecessary” in an interview with Domain Name Wire. Trueman served in the Justice Department starting with Ronald Reagan in 1988 to the end of the administration of George H. W. Bush.
Trueman said ICANN’s board appears to be caught up with process in making its decision.
“They seem to be caught up in process rather than need,” he explained. “They had a non-binding ruling against them saying they didn’t follow their process. It was not binding that they change their position [on .xxx].”
He said the .xxx domain name will make pornography even more available to children than it is now. Although he admitted that pornography is easy to find now, this will make it even easier: children will just have to type .xxx after a domain name to be guaranteed of finding adult content. Furthermore, he said no existing .com porn site would switch to a .xxx and leave the .com behind.
Using internet filters to block .xxx won’t be much of a help, claimed Trueman. “Filtering companies will all tell you filtering isn’t the problem, it’s that so few families use filters,” said Trueman. He said only about 20% of families use an internet filter.
Trueman thinks the only group that wanted .xxx approved was ICM Registry, which will operate .xxx.
“So what is the point?” he asked. “The pornographers didn’t want it. The people who want to protected children and others from internet porn didn’t want it. The only people who want it is ICM Registry, who will make money.”
Porn sites will feel compelled to register their .xxx equivalent to prevent competition. But ICM registry will make money from more than just adult entertainment sites, Trueman explained.
“There will be a britneyspears.xxx,” he gave as an example. “People have to buy up the .xxx domain to protect their own good name, and they will pay a higher price than .com”.
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