It was made official by the Guinness Book of World Records earlier, that the sale of the sex.com domain name was made at the highest sales price for any domain name in history. What do you think the domain name sex.xxx might sell for?
The world might soon find out, as the ICANN Board of Directors has approved a new .xxx domain name. ICANN, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, oversees the top level-domain names on the Web, meaning .com, .net, and so forth. The idea for a .xxx domain name has been around for nearly a decade, and was even approved briefly in 2005, before ICANN reversed itself a few years later.
Naturally, .com is still the predominate domain name for businesses, and adult entertainment sites needn’t use the new domain name, but frequently, to prevent cyber-squatting, many companies buy up alternative domains, and this could cost them a pretty penny, being a higher-priced domain name at around $60. In fact, the Free Speech Coalition, which represents some businesses in the adult industry, opposed the .xxx domain for just that reason.
ICM Chief Executive Stuart Lawley said in a statement that “For the first time, there will be a clearly defined Web address for adult entertainment, out of the reach of minors and as free as possible from fraud or malicious computer viruses,” ICM Registry first proposed the top level domain in 2004.
Meanwhile, both FSC and Southern Calfornia-based Vivid Entertainment added that in addition to clearly defining a section of the Internet for adult entertainment, the .xxx domain name might actually create a stigmatized portion of the Web, sort of a District 9 for the Internet.
There is, of course, no reason that a hostname such as sex.com could possibly be stigmatized, it appears.
Via: Domain Name Wire