A global Internet oversight agency on Friday deferred a decision until June on whether to create a “.xxx” Internet suffix as an online red-light district.
The board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, initiated a 70-day process of consultations on a domain that could help parents block access to porn sites. Use of the “.xxx” suffix would be voluntary, though, and would not keep such content entirely away from minors.
Backers have billed the proposal as a way for the adult-entertainment industry to clean up its act. Religious groups are concerned it would legitimize porn sites.
Skeptics also note that porn sites would likely keep their existing “.com” storefronts as they add the new “.xxx” domain name, thereby giving people even more ways to find pornography online.
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