Coonan welcomes second derailment of .xxx domain

By Munir Kotadia
12 May 2006 11:40 AM
Tags: internet, helen coonan, icann, dcita, domain, adult, scrap, porn
The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan has welcomed the decision by the Internet's governing body ICANN to scrap plans for an adult-orientated top level domain.

Almost a year ago, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) reversed an earlier decision and said it would go ahead with plans to introduce a porn-friendly top level domain (.xxx). However, on Thursday the non-profit organisation made yet another u-turn and dropped the idea again.

Last month, Coonan's dislike of an .xxx domain prompted her to send a letter of protect to ICANN. It is unclear if that letter affected ICANN's decision but the Senator welcomed the conclusion regardless.

"This is a positive outcome that has prevented the creation of a domain that could have acted as a haven for illegal and offensive content," said Coonan in a statement. The Australian Government had previously expressed our opposition to the creation of an .xxx domain through representations made to ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee by my Department".

According to Coonan, an .xxx domain would have led to "an increase in pornography on the Internet".

"The Government is serious about cracking down on illegal and offensive material on the Internet and I am looking at ways in which we can continue to help families, children and consumers have a safer Internet experience," the Senator added.

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Talkback 2 comments

    Education Needed Anonymous -- 12/05/06 (in reply to #120134225)

    I think Senator Coonan requires some new advisors. The two statements above make no sense.
    A) A .xxx Domain will increase porn -
    Seriously, is it possible to increase the amount of pornography on the net?
    B) A .xxx domain will create a safe haven -
    It will in fact have the reverse effect, it suddenly makes porn filtering a whole lot easier to implement. Suddenly you can remove a hugr chunk of porn simply by filtering a whole TLD.

    The reson the .xxx domain got voted down has nothing to do with good sense or reason, it is due to the US govt's narrow-minded wheat-belt christian beliefs overtaking common sense.

    Education Needed Peter Spicer-Wensley -- 14/05/06 (in reply to #120134226)

    As a Network Admin for a secondary high school I am well aware of the need for porn filtering. The .xxx domain would be the internet equivalent of a red-light district. This would make it far simpler to protect kids from the vast majority of porn online if it HAD to be on the .xxx domain.
    Coonan and Co. are idiots if they think online porn will just go away. It exists it will always exist as long as we have bodies and eyes. I bet some of the first cave-wall daubings were to draw rude pictures. The Willendorf venus is about 25,000 years old and shows that as long as there are men and ladies that men will make images, sculptures etc of naked ladies. It may not sit well with the Neo-Cons of the so-called Liberal party to support the move by ICANN and others to regulate this area but it has to happen to make it simpler to protect kids from seeing what is definately "Adult" content.

    At present filtering is a nightmare and forcing porn onto xxx domains would REALLY help people like me who try to keep adolescent males with ten times their adult level of testosterone keep both hands on the keyboard and their attention on their studies of subjects other than female human anatomy and Gynaecology.

    PeterSW

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