Bush, Pornographers Bash .XXX

Criticism of the proposed .xxx top-level domain is coming from the top, but it's individual voices that will determine the future of sex on the internet.

Amazon is selling sex toys. KY has expanded beyond its pharmaceutical niche to launch a line of massage oils that double as lube. And Bush and the porn industry are united against the proposed .xxx top-level domain.

Have I entered an alternate sex-tech reality?

I don't know whether to be amazed or scared that the adult industry and the Bush administration agree about something. When the extremes come together, where's the middle ground for the rest of us to stand on?

I used to think a .xxx domain was a no-brainer. I envisioned it as an indicator that a site contained sexually explicit material intended for adults. That way we could put all the porn in one convenient place for fans while making it easier for others to block it out.

In my world, porn companies could keep their .com addresses for branding and trademark purposes. But the .com URL would redirect to the .xxx homepage.

And that page would not have any pornographic content on it. Not even a pert bottom in lacy hot pants, even though you might come across such a picture in an ad in any mainstream fashion magazine.

This splash page is important in preventing accidental exposure to boobies. It would contain a standard text warning that you're about to enter a site containing erotic, indelicate or downright salacious content.

(Text, because you want browsers to be able to interpret the message for people with visual impairments. But you could also include an MP3 of a nice lady reading it aloud, using Very Simple Words and in multiple languages, to make sure users really understand what they're on the verge of getting into.)

Anyone who made a typo when entering a .com URL into the address bar, or who clicked a .xxx link by mistake, would immediately realize his or her error when faced with this ADULTS ONLY notice.

And when you do click Enter, you can't blame anyone but yourself for your exposure to the full monty.

Naturally, all interior .xxx pages would redirect to the platonic homepage until you click Enter and accept the cookie. After that, it's smut galore.

Maybe someone would develop a special adult browser with porn-specific features: sexy skins, a media player that looks more like a peep show and less like Windows, embedded chat and webcam support, open-source teledildonics code, a boss button.

Perhaps the browser itself could act as a declaration that you're of age and willing to peruse the prurient -- the old "gold key" method -- and let you skip the warning pages.

But from a mainstream browser, you wouldn't get to porn unless you wanted to. You could set your browser and search-engine preferences to avoid .xxx domains, and the family computer's filters would block everything in the .xxx realm.

It wouldn't be a perfect system. And it would exist mainly to pacify anti-porn activist groups, even the ones who won't appreciate it because they're too busy trying to eradicate adult content in toto.

All we have to do to get from here to there is force an entire business sector -- an international one at that -- to emigrate from the generic commercial domain to the .xxx domain. (No worries about the legalities, of course; we can work out the details later.)

Then we'd have to create a committee to determine whether certain websites -- those about figure drawing, for example, or online bookstores that publish user reviews of erotica books -- belong in .xxx.

Of course once all "adult" enterprises have paid $75 for each of their new .xxx domains (versus the $10 or so they pay for .com), we'd know exactly where to find them next time we decide to impose further regulations (or even taxes) on them.

For me, the most intriguing part of the story is not the .xxx domain itself, but the reason ICANN delayed its approval for another month. All the official statements spout politespeak about making sure everyone gets to be heard, all political and social implications are considered, blah blah blah.

But the impetus for the Department of Commerce's letter (.pdf) to ICANN requesting the delay are the 6,000 letters and e-mails the DOC has received on the subject since June.

Considering that the Florida-based ICM Registry first applied for assignment of the .xxx domain (along with the .kids domain, incidentally) in 2000, it seems like we've all had plenty of time to share our views on the subject. Yet one month's flurry is enough to change the course of the final decision.

That's the strength of the internet. Certain international governments had already expressed concern about .xxx, according to a letter from the Governmental Advisory Committee to ICANN, dated Aug. 12.

But when Conservative Petitions and Family Research Council called their members to action, all it took was 6,000 voices to slow, and possibly reverse, approval of a top-level domain.

I'm glad this example of the power of online communities is happening over a technicality. It doesn't matter much to me which way ICANN decides on this issue -- I don't think a voluntary .xxx domain changes much for consumers, whether they view porn or eschew it.

But I have seen from this that by acting in concert, a small group can have tremendous influence over the future of sex and the internet. And I know I have to pay closer attention to the various arguments. What starts with the porn industry could expand to the personal -- our right to post a profile at an adult swinger site, maybe, or to vlog our showercam to a small group of fans.

Personally, I'd rather not have the Family Research Council dictating what (or whom) I can and can't play with online, whether it's porn videos, BDSM role-playing games or VOIP sex.

Oh, and about that KY massage oil-cum-lube -- you can buy it on Amazon, too.

See you next Friday,

Regina Lynn

Visit reginalynn.com to find out where you can meet Regina in person and to join the Sex Drive forum.