.XXX Domain Open For Registration, But Not To All Comers

Posted 09/07/2011 at 9:55am | by Brad Chacos

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If you’re the owner of a Furry fetish page and sick of receiving concerned emails sent by dog-loving (just not that kind of loving) grannies who inadvertently stumble across your site, today’s your day: the .xxx domain is officially kinda open for registration.  Porn and adult sites who aren’t ashamed of having those scarlet letters branded into their webpage URL can now call dibs with ICM Registry, the owner of the .xxx domain.  It’s the first step in the Web’s cautious move to create a virtual red light district.

ICM’s kicking off the fun by extolling webmasters to "Get Yours Today" and splashing a ridiculously hilarious slogan across the top of their website: “.XXX Isn’t Just Coming, It’s Here!” The company’s working with other registrars to handle the influx of applicants. This is the first wave of .xxx applications, dubbed “Sunrise A,” and it’s limited to adult websites. In “Sunrise B,” the next stage, established websites and companies can swoop in and claim the .xxx version of their website to prevent, say, nickjr.xxx from falling into the wrong hands and scarring young minds forever. After that, the floodgates open.

ICM says the .xxx domain won’t only immediately identify a URL as NSFW, it holds a host of other benefits as well, not the least of which is that every site sporting the .xxx extension will be scanned for viruses on a daily basis by McAfee.

“With all the sites malware scanned daily and properly labelled, it’s a win for consumers of adult content who are now able to identify and select the sites they wish to visit more easily and safely,” ICM CEO Stuart Lawley explained in the company’s press release. “It is also a win for the adult entertainment industry as .XXX helps to ensure that responsible adult content is easily identified online, leading to greater and more predictable revenues. And finally it’s a win for those who want to avoid adult content online, with internet users in no doubt about the underlying content of the sites and having the tools to help avoid them.”