The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is considering approval of a .XXX domain for pornography. Public comments can be for or against the resolution by May 10th. The complete resolution can be read here.

Here are some specific arguments against the .XXX proposal by PornHarms:

• Neither ICANN nor the company urging the establishment of this new domain are arguing that the .XXX domain would clean up the .COM domain and require all pornographers to move to .XXX. The .COM domain is a cash cow for pornographers and they are not leaving it. ICANN has no enforcement powers to make them leave and thus clean up .COM. Pornographers would simply expand to .XXX and maintain their current .COM sites, perhaps doubling the number of porn sites and doubling their menace to society.
• The .XXX domain will NOT make it easier to filter porn, even if all pornographers would voluntarily move there (and that will NOT happen). The problem with filtering is not that it is difficult but rather that too few parents care enough to employ filters for the home or laptop computers used by their children. Even if most parents did use filters on home computers, kids have access to the Internet outside the home. And it isn’t just the kids that need filtering. Addiction to pornography by adults is rampant so everyone needs filtering but, sadly, few bother. The new website Pornography Harms, http://pornharms.com, provides overwhelming evidence of harm from pornography and thus the need for protection from it.
• Since most families do not use effective filtering services, the .XXX domain would merely make hardcore pornography even easier to find for children seeking such material. Thus the argument that .XXX would benefit children by “cleaning up the Internet” is without any basis in fact.
• U.S. citizens should not believe claims by some that the U.S. Congress could merely pass a law requiring all porn companies to leave the .Com for the .XXX. Any law attempting to force pornographers to relocate to .XXX would likely be declared unconstitutional because under the First Amendment, all pornography is “presumptively protected” by the U.S. Constitution until it has been determined to be “obscene” or “child pornography.” Just as the Department of Justice cannot force porn stores to move or go out of business because it believes that such stores are operating illegally, the Department cannot force pornographers on the .COM domain to move or go out of business without first charging them with a crime and having a court make a determination of illegality.
• Hardcore pornography (or “obscene material” as it is called in U.S. law) on the Internet is ALREADY a violation of U.S law. It is just not being prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice because those in charge are letting the public down. So for those who argue that by establishing a new .XXX domain AND then passing by a new law requiring porn companies to move (IF such a law was upheld after years of litigation) we can solve our Internet porn problem, we must ask why these two events will suddenly compel the Department to begin prosecuting porn companies. If the Department of Justice is not prosecuting Internet porn companies now for violating U.S. obscenity laws, it is not going to prosecute such companies for merely locating in the wrong address.
• If somehow all porn sites providing obscene material would actually leave the .COM Domain for the .XXX Domain, they would STILL be violating U.S. obscenity law which prohibits such material on the Internet regardless of location. We don’t want the Department of Justice to say to illegal porn companies, in effect, that it is okay to violate U.S. law as long as you do it on .XXX. Men, women, and children are becoming addicted to pornography and I believe the rates of addiction are skyrocketing - this is a virtually untreated pandemic. Many who begin by viewing adult pornography deviate down to harder and harder material as they continue a steady consumption of material and many of these will deviate down to the point that they only become excited by child pornography. This is a significant factor in the growth of child pornography on the Internet. Countless marriages are breaking up because of pornography use. Violence against women, which is depicted in most porn films, is changing male attitudes toward girls and women in a very negative way. A more appropriate goal should be to STOP the distribution of this destructive material by prosecuting those responsible for it, NOT protect pornography on the .XXX domain.

ICANN is considering three options in their decision on the .XXX domain.

Please take the time this week to educate yourself on this issue and contact the ICANN regarding your concerns. This proposed action would only make the pornographers move to the new .xxx domain voluntary which means they would not have to move to the new domain and there would be that many more internet addresses available for pornography.