An anti-porn group is opposing a series of porn-related suffixes that could potentially be added to the Internet’s top-level domains, including .porn, .sex and .adult.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which assigns top-level domains to sites worldwide, announced on Wednesday a list of domains that have been applied for that could be added to the existing list that includes “.com” and “.gov.” But the Morality in Media organization is petitioning to reject the request to introduce the porn-related domains, arguing that it will encourage more pornography on the web.
Morality in Media wants supporters to ask President Obama and Congress to also oppose the domains. Since last night, 1,000 people have already signed the petition.
“America is already suffering an untreated pandemic of harm from pornography and we need less, not more, pornography,” Morality in Media said in a press release.
ICANN approved adult website domain .xxx in 2011, following years of opposition from the U.S. government. The ICM Registry, which sponsors the .xxx top-level domain for the adult community, is also behind the request for .porn, .sex and .adult.
“The U.S. Government opposed the creation of .xxx domain for 10 years, but unfortunately lost that battle,” Dawn Hawkins, executive director of Morality in Media, told Mashable. “Not only does the creation of these new ‘porn’ domains mean there will be more and ever-deviant pornography available on the Internet, it also means that ICM Registry stands to make millions more from all the companies and brands that do not want their brands associated with pornography.”
ICANN also revealed a list of company-related domain requests, such as .Apple and .Google, to more generic ones, including .lol, .pizza and .poker.
Google applied for more than 100 domains, including .lol, .youtube, .map, .car, .cloud, .dad, .mom, .dot and .fun. Meanwhile, Amazon put in 70 applications, such as .Amazon, .app, .author, .coupon, .book and .shop.
Do you think the porn-related suffixes would help make the .com domain more porn-free or are separate domains for porn unnecessary? Let us know your opinion in the comments.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DNY59
Source: Mashable » Tech