Time to Act on the xxx Porn Domain

For the second time in two months, ICANN has delayed approving the .xxx porn domain. Clearly, the puritans and powerful conservative special interest groups are in the ascendance. They're wrong, of course A.xxx red light porn district would create rules for the Internet's slimy underbelly, including prohibiting malicious scripts, and it would make site-blocking easier. It also might stop the proliferation of .com porn sites, even though those would still be allowed.

Would it stop pornograpy on the Internet? Of course not. To do that, you'd have to change human nature, and that's not about to happen.

But a .xxx domain would also least help parents close off porn sites from their kids by allowing for easier filtering, and it would cut down on some of the nastier spyware tactics used by some porn sites.

For all those reasons, it's time for ICANN to stand up to the zealots and approve the .xxx domain.