FSC Press Release: Letter Submitted to ICANN, FSC Travels to Cartagena

Free Speech Coalition (FSC) Executive Director Diane Duke and FSC Board Chair Jeffrey Douglas will travel to Cartagena, Columbia, next week to oppose the proposed .XXX sTLD at the ICANN Board of Directors meeting.

Prior to the meeting, FSC has submitted a letter to ICANN (FSC Letter to ICANN Board 12-01-10) outlining statements of opposition to the ICANN Board against the proposed .XXX domain. Domain registrar ICM has proposed the sTLD and been pushing efforts for its approval for several years.

Issues pointed out in the letter include:

• ICANN exceeding their jurisdiction if the .XXX sTLD is approved, by allowing ICM and proposed IFFOR Board of Directors to regulate and control content.

• Concerns voiced by the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) over the proposed domain.

• If approved, .XXX would set precedent charging fees to adult businesses to be used to fund a third party association to “protect” children from online adult material; an action that would violate free speech and free association rights.

• The threat of division and fragmentation of the Internet that comes with delivering to censorious governments a TLD which is not only tailor-made for censorship but which virtually dares some countries to respond to the .XXX sTLD by banning or restricting it.

The letter also urges ICANN to implement actions that will reject ICM’s application “once and for all.”

In October, FSC also submitted a letter to GAC voicing online industry concerns about .XXX.

“ICM continues to act as if it already has a contract with ICANN for .XXX,” Duke said. “The issues are far from resolved and this battle is far from over. Rest assured that FSC will be there every step of the way to represent the best interests of the adult online community.”

The Road to Cartagena

FSC Executive Director Diane Duke and FSC Board Chair Jeffrey Douglas will travel to Cartagena, Columbia next week for the ICANN Board of Directors meeting. One of the topics to be discussed at the meeting is the .XXX “sponsored” Top Level Domain, proposed by Internet registry ICM.

FSC opposes the .XXX sTLD – the majority of adult Internet business owners and webmasters do not support being categorized in an Internet ghetto that will cost them millions in extra fees annually and also make it easier for anti-adult entities to censor and block their sites.

It’s been a long fight. There have been several attempts by ICM to get the domain approved. ICM President Stuart Lawley previously had said that pre-registration for .XXX addresses would NOT be proof of support for the domain; in this latest attempt, he has gone back on this statement. FSC believes that most Internet business owners that have signed up for pre-registration are doing so as a defensive measure, so that domain resellers and cyber-squatters don’t infringe on similar .com address where their businesses reside.

Webmasters – you worked hard to build your business; do you really want an address in the .XXX ghetto?

“ICM continues to act as if  it already has a contract with ICANN for .XXX.” Duke said.  “The issues are far from resolved and this battle is far from over. Rest assured that FSC will be there every step of the way to represent the best interests of the adult online community.” – jc

Homeland Security Shutters more than 70 Torrent Sites

Since last week, Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division (ICE) has shut down more than 70 file-sharing sites. According to reports, the Department of Homeland Security is seizing sites directly from Internet regulatory body ICANN without citing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) or the more recent Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeiting Act (COICA). Reportedly, the sites were closed without any notification to owners.

Several of the sites offer P2P sharing while some may traffic in counterfeit goods.  A list of seized sites was published by tech blog TorrentFreak.com. -jc

(Some rights reserved by therapycatguardian)

.XXX Domains: Pre-registration is NOT proof of support

ICM President Stuart Lawley plainly states, at an adult webmaster conference in 2007, that pre-registrations for the proposed .XXX “sponsored” Top Level Domain will NOT be used as proof of support from the adult webmaster community.

These days, Lawley is singing a different tune. But he’s still trying to get the .XXX sTLD pushed through despite no support from the “sponsoring” community of adult online businesses. .XXX will cost adult webmasters millions in unnecessary fees and make it easier for anti-adult entities to censor adult websites.

FSC Issues Letter to GAC Addressing .XXX Concerns

Free Speech Coalition (FSC) yesterday submitted a letter to the ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) regarding concerns over the proposed approval of the .XXX “sponsored” Top Level Domain (sTLD). The action comes after Internet domain regulator ICANN’s decision to consult with GAC about key issues regarding the proposed .XXX domain, prior to the ICANN board voting on the issue at their Dec 5 meeting, in Cartagena, Columbia.

 
“In our letter, FSC emphasizes that ICM’s proposed .XXX sTLD poses a threat not only for adult entertainment community, but also to the stability and security of the Internet as a whole,” FSC Executive Director Diane Duke said. “The GAC has an inherent understanding of the issues and hopefully will guide the ICANN Board in the right direction.”

 
The letter is accompanied by other documentation and outlines specific points that would present significant obstacles to the approval of a .XXX sTLD.

Those points include:
• ICANN’s lack of authority to oversee content-based regulation, and its inability to approve any other entity to oversee content-based regulation, in regards to establishing a domain category.

• Lack of support for the proposed .XXX sTLD from the “sponsor” community, which is necessary for approval.• Use of fees from .XXX domain registrations to fund proposed regulatory board (IFFOR) in violation of free speech and free association rights.

• Inconsistencies in documentation provided by domain registrar ICM and its president Stuart Lawley, in their ongoing campaign for approval of .XXX.

• Lack of transparency by ICM during the approval process, overall.
GAC has previously expressed its disapproval of the .XXX domain, and documentation confirming this was included in the packet sent by FSC.

FSC opposes the proposed .XXX sTLD because it is not supported by the adult online community; it would cost adult online businesses millions every year in unnecessary fees; and it would make censorship efforts easier for anti-adult entities.

The .XXX Ghetto