Approval delay for .xxx domain
17 August 2005
The Bush Administration in the United States has halted the process towards releasing the proposed .xxx domain name.
The sex sites domain was approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in June and overall approval for the domain name was expected this week. The .xxx web address was first proposed five years ago.
Michael Gallagher, assistant secretary for communications and information at the Commerce Department, has called on ICANN to "ensure the best interests of the internet community as a whole are fully considered" after the department received nearly 6000 letters and emails expressing concerns about the porn web address.
Mr Gallagher expressed his concerns in a letter to ICANN chairman Vinton Serf, explaining: "The volume of correspondence opposed to creation of a .xxx TLD (top-level domain) is unprecedented". He called on ICANN to delay approval of the .xxx suffix and take time to evaluate the concerns.
The chairman of ICANN's government advisory committee, Mohammed Sharil Tarmizi, has also written to ICANN officials calling for a delay and expressing "a strong sense of discomfort" about the suffix from the global community.
The Commerce Department has veto power over decisions by ICANN, the internet's key oversight body. Opponents of the .xxx domain name are concerned that it will result in more pornography on the internet.
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