In a press release issued today by ICM Registry, who is seeking to run the .XXX registry, the announcement of a Founders Program was made.
The program allows for webmasters who plan to develop a site using a .XXX domain to secure it prior to general availability.
Here is the full release:
Adult Webmasters can secure premium .XXX domains if they proactively develop and maintain domains with the .XXX extension prior to the General Launch, in Summer 2011.
ICM Registry is pleased to announce the launch of the .XXX Founders program. This program is multi-dimensional and designed exclusively for adult webmasters. One part of the program is targeted towards adult webmasters who are interested in building their existing brands with .XXX domains or possibly launching new adult sites with .XXX domains.
Another part of the Founders program is for adult webmasters who are willing to develop new and innovative sites using .XXX domains that were previously unavailable in the adult market such as mobile.xxx, videos.xxx, free.xxx or possibly securing a super-premium adult domain.
In addition, the Founders program will also help adult webmasters secure their matching adult domain portfolio that already exists in other TLDs without having to go through the Sunrise or Landrush phases. In other words, adult webmasters are being given an incentive to secure premium .XXX domain names to build and develop into premium adult properties and then promote them.
The Founders program is similar to how other domain registries offered incentives help potential domain owners develop and promote new properties on the top-level domain. By having adult websites with targeted and more meaningful content, the consumer will choose .XXX domains as their destination of choice.
ICM is asking adult webmasters to review the entire program including a further explanation of the basic terms at http://www.icmregistry.com/founder/.
So, what happens if some smart-ass decides to develop a .XXX porn site using the same keywords as someone’s generic-word .com, .net, or .org?
For example, “beachhouse . com” is a great site to find beach house rentals. What happens if someone decides to register “beachhouse . xxx” for a porn site? Boy, that’d suck for business for “Beachhouse . com”. What if someone decides to register your first-and-last-name.xxx and they turn that into a porn site? If what I’m talking about gets legs and happens, it kills the web for legitimate commerce – many companies and professionals (individuals) will simply stop promoting themselves on the web if they have to worry about their name (or business name, OR acronym) being linked to a .xxx site. And don’t say “well, if you’re trademarked…”; how many people trademark their names?
Somebody set me straight here, and tell me the scenarios I laid out can’t happen with a .xxx extension.
Russian
I know at ICANN they said if you were a global trademark holder say like Disney and you didn’t want to hold Disney.xxx they would block the domain for you so no one would ever get it for a one time fee
Fees fair to me.
No if you have a .com site that doesn’t fall into the category then if you think the extension is important enough then you spend a few bucks and get the domain as a defensive registration, if you don’t care about the extension then you pass.
@MHB,
So, your say “Jane Smith – Attorney, Doctor, Author, or other professinal” has to PAY to register the .xxx in her name just to make sure her name isn’t turned into something raunchy on the web?
If so, sad and wrong.
Church leaders putting pressure on Obama to declare he will NOT be endorsing (allowing) .XXX in his root servers.
://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/c/special-events.html
Russian News
How many Janesmith’s are there in the world?
Yes if you want JaneSmith.xxx you have to pay for it if you don’t you don’t
What is your answer, there should be no other extensions ever in case Jane Smith doesn’t want it
ObamadoesHillary.xxx
@MHB,
I don’t have a better answer.
@RussianTV
anyone getting a piece of the action might promote or tell you otherwise on their blog why this is perfectly justifiable and makes sense (.XXX), but in America we have a word for that type of behavior it’s called being an accomplice to EXTORTION.
“What is your answer, there should be no other extensions ever”
===
Michael Roberts, the first CEO of ICANN made it clear in a CircleID article.
He does not want .XXX to PROFIT from his Non-Profit DNS eco.system.
All ICANN has to do is tell people .XXX is over there —-> they will find it
Dean
Just to be clear, I have not been paid a dime by ICM nor have I asked for been promised one .xxx domain.
Just to be clear
ICANN.xxx
Cum FEB watch the ICANN Board take it up the A**
After school today your tech savy kids will get together and think of every
dirty name they can think of and then type in .XXX
why even print there findings at show and tell, next day …. lol
Even the BIG porn SITES know its like pulling teeth these days,
to get people to pay for porn, so much file sharing, teens will do a
cam show as you watch and direct for almost nothing, torrents,free clips, etc
Then along comes the “New” .Co hustle,
FLAV of the month ….
sorry this is not year 2000 .XXX is ten years late …
but you could have .CO and .XXX and be a Paper CEO (ha)
REMEMBER:
x for porn
xx dirty porn
.xxx FILTHY PORN
HONEST I DIDN’T KNOW HONEY 🙂
@MHB
thanks for stating your position, from previous posts you seem to stand to loose more than to gain from .XXX’s approval yet your stance seems to be one of favorable approval, if not indifference. I guess you have never stated your position either way?
This is just a rhetorical question, just thinking aloud, so need to address it either way. I just like to know who is lobbying for what and what strings are being pulled behind the curtain.
Church leaders putting pressure on Obama to declare he will NOT be endorsing (allowing) .XXX in his root servers.
ICANN has said they WILL be advertising .XXX – OK advertise it – Post the IP Addresses of the .XXX Nameservers and the names of those Nameservers.
The .XXX Registry can also post that info.
Can ICM Registry Get.It.Up at this point ?
Obama does Palin .xxx
.
hum, so Churches …Cities…Mosques Synagogues, Public Schools, Christian, etc
almost anything to your imagination will be fair game …
.
JUST BY ATTACHING .XXX
WILL MAKE IT: X X X Filthy!
.
YES you will have to pay an extortion fee if they don’t want to be slandered, etc
seems like Dean has raised an issue that has no been explored don’t you think?
.
Hey Rico .. Come over here and read this about racket-tering….
@ Dean
Talk about extortion …
I sincerely think you have a GREAT NEW point there???
Landon,
Once again I beg to differ.
Kinky is Grand Dad doing Grandma with here panties on.
Perverted is Junior doing Grandma with here panties on… while Grandpa videotapes it and broadcasts it over the internet.
@ MHB
HEY Rico!
IF i offer to prevent something bad happening you or your business
FOR MONEY is that not extortion, racketeering ….
The internet at present is ignoring commerce and first amendment rights
with WIPO and UDRP …so now we will allow EXTORTION by consent ????
HEY Rico!
Anyways, back to the topic at hand, I think like every .whatever there will the initial hoopla and then zip…
Whatever happened to the .Co promised land?
THIS IS SOMETHING TO RUN WITH!
ICANN (IANA) is making this .XXX thing way too .HARD
://www.iana.org/about/popular-links/
Just post the .XXX version of this
://www.internic.net/zones/named.root
@ MHB
Dean
Just to be clear, I have not been paid a dime by ICM nor have I asked for been promised one .xxx domain.
Just to be clear
—————————————–
Michael,
MHB.xxx
are you sure 🙂
You know it’s kind of like the Crazy vs Eccentric argument. If your rich and act like a lunatic it’s acceptable and you are affectionally labeled eccentric. If your poor and act like a lunatic, your labeled Crazy and locked up.
If your Disney or a rich lawyer it’s called “Sunrise” or “Protecting Your Brand” or some other bogus term.
If your poor and are forced to register your name at a premium domain price to protect your brand than it’s called extortion.
Maybe we can get the same judge who ruled mandatory healthcare in Virginia unconstitutional, to preside over this case and rule over why some are being forced to pay a premium price to protect something that has already been registered, cultivated and branded for years.
Dean
Fair question to ask
I was against the extension for years, and your right I have more to lose than to win
For me the game changer was the Independent Judicial Review which found ICM application should have been granted as they complied with all requirements for approval.
At the end of the day my legal training gives me a sense of fairness and I think that comes across in posts about UDRP’s, other ICANN issues and court cases.
Having said all the above is that over the last year it has become very clear that there will be hundreds of new extensions coming even .sex and .porn and whatever someone is pretty much willing to put up $185K.
Pay Up!
The Dean Bill:
I think this is a GAC, ICANN and General Legal issue that needs to be explored,
this is more then a TLD issue this will have an effect on
everyone, private and ecommerce on the Internet.
You can not agree to be extorted…
Extortion is Extortion!
“If your rich and act like a lunatic it’s acceptable and you are affectionally labeled eccentric.”
===
If you are a government and delay TLDs like ICANN does you are labeled a CENSOR
If you are ICANN and delay TLDs you are labeled cautious and ensuring stability
If you are a TLD investor and appeal to ICANN for help they point you to governments
Governments seem to think the whole Internet thing is a .FAD that will pass
@ MHB
HEY Rico!
IF i offer to prevent something bad happening you or your business
FOR MONEY is that not extortion, racketeering ….
The internet at present is ignoring commerce and first amendment rights
with WIPO and UDRP …so now we will allow EXTORTION by consent ??
—————————————————————
@ MHB
May i get your professional opinion on this thought ???
“it has become very clear that there will be hundreds of new extensions coming even .sex and .porn and whatever someone is pretty much willing to put up $185K.”
=========================
s/hundreds of new extensions/
/thousands of new extensions/
Most will not be via ICANN or paying $185,0000
People are now seeing the true cost of a TLD via ICANN with .XXX (millions)
People are also now seeing the poison pills buried in the FAG (deadly)
.XXX does not just need a TLD it can get a whole new root
13 Founders can provide the servers
Just post the .XXX version of this
://www.internic.net/zones/named.root
Landon
It’s you have to make business decisions.
I registered defensive registrations for thedomains.co berkens.co and mostwanteddomains.co to name a few.
There are 70k+ other domains that I did not file defensive registrations for.
My choice, not extortion.
WIPO and UDRP rights are granted by every domain registration,
.XXX is going to be approved it has to under the findings of the panel I spoke of above to Dean
Unlimited number of new gTLD’s are coming too, next year or the year after.
If you want to sit on this blog for 5 hours a day and argue what could be, should be, and will never be, while disregarding what actually is going on and what will be going on, that is your choice.
For me I’m going to use that time to make money and figure out a plan to deal with what is coming.
Face the facts, we are so Fuc*ed. But no fault of ours right? Did we ever stand a chance against the Corporate Machine. The sad fact is that Michael is right. Lead, Follow or get out of the way because the Machine just keeps turning and grinding, it does not discriminate in who it consumes. Better to try to use that energy to figure out a better way to make lemonade with those lemons.
Hey Landon can I borrow your video camera?
Dean
@RussianTV
anyone getting a piece of the action might promote or tell you otherwise on their blog why this is perfectly justifiable and makes sense (.XXX), but in America we have a word for that type of behavior it’s called being an accomplice to EXTORTION.
————————-
@ MHB
Your none answer speaks mountains …
Adios
@ Dean
Hey Landon can I borrow your video camera?
—————————————–
Sorry Dean, Michael is using it!
Big Lie
Yes I get that you can start your own “root” but it didn’t work for new.net 15 years ago, nor has it worked for anyone since and is still dead on arrival today
If you want to go start your own DNS system then you can join thepiratebay.org and wikileaks.org and go promote it.
Guess what that won’t be free.
It will costs you hundreds of millions to get people to switch and then you will still never get 1% of the market.
Just because something doesn’t have a fee attached to it, doesn’t mean its free.
There are always costs.
Guess what you would be better off buying a a few good .com’s or .net’s or .co’s or .tv or .me or .something than keep talking about an alternative root.
Even better spend sometime getting into the new gTLD market in some way there is hundreds of millions coming into the market you might as well get you some.
Dean
Glass half empty or half full are the changes that are coming going to f*ck you or make you rich.
Now your starting to get it.
“It will costs you hundreds of millions to get people to switch…”
===
Since 1998, it has cost Billions – They (and maybe you) have already switched.
With almost 100% marketshare in CPE DNS, why would anyone consider 1% a goal?
You apparently have not researched what ICANN’s marketshare is. It continues
to drop. ICANN is either in severe denial or aware and not admitting the reality.
Domainers have their own fascinating reality.
@Dean
@Big Lie
Don’t listen to him, HE is part of the machine…
The hucksters are on his doorstop now, with there shiny
new pots and pans… he cant resist and don’t want too,
Nothing will change ….
.
ITS ALL ABOUT KEEPING YOU CONFUSED WITH
BRIGHT SHINY NEW OBJECTS…
WHILE YOUR POCKET IS PICKED.
“Don’t listen to him, HE is part of the machine…”
=================
The Internet is a lot like the NFL and season ticket holders.
When it first started, people grabbed their seats near the 50 yard line near the field.
Growth then coaxed them up into the stands, some did not even notice they were moved. Some continue to move back to the edge of the field and cling to the past.
Others have moved to sky boxes in the stadium constructed while people at the edge of the field were not looking. Now, they look up and ask: “Who are those people in the SkyBoxes ? How did they get there ? What is the view like up there ? Is the food better ? Are there TVs and replays ?
Then, you have the people who have never entered the stadium. They own the stadium and the team. Why would they go there ? They have their owner’s suite with a direct walkway from their perch above the field to their office. They view the fans as pawns and players as a lower form of life.
Finally, you have the people who are invited to attend in the owner’s suite. How did they get there? Did they do their time at the edge of the field in the 1960s?
No, they were likely born to some international player who is cruising by. They
may be on their way to the wedding of the Royals next year. Life is tough.
ICANN is sort of like Vegas and Casinos. It gives Domainers a sense of prestige.
People flock to ICANN to bask in their self-importance. It is fascinating.
Note: Some people have been at this 24x7x365 for 20+ years.
…and they are noobs
://mailman.nanog.org/pipermail/nanog/2010-December/029290.html
sweden’s dept of defense has non-icann dns. it’s under a research project that’s been around for while. you can find it if you search.
dns is really easy to do. and you can make it as complex as you want. and it is free. but there’s a learning curve. maybe that’s the cost. it helps if dns is something that interests you; learning can actually be fun.
many people profit from dns. nothing wrong with that. but it’s wrong to mislead and lie to people. and it’s wrong to discredit perceived “competitors”. (it’s free, remember?) alas, some people who know dns do this, seeming without any conscience. sadly, it is often effective. people believe them and follow them.
in any event, if you make money from dns, fear not. the status quo won’t change unless admins are urged to change. and generally admins respond to the demands of the majority of users, with few exceptions. they don’t often go against the “majority opinion”.
and users, without making some consistent effort to learn, are very much in the dark. the good news is the more effort a user makes, the more the lights come on. and new possibilities will open up.
as for mailing lists and blogs, imo
it’s ok to think different.
it’s ok to have ideas and share them.
it’s not ok to drive people nuts.
sometimes people need to vent stuff. that’s understandable. but there’s a reasonable limit to how much people can take.
(if i’m driving anyone nuts, say “aye”. i need an excuse to ban myself from this blog. it’s just “too easy” to post comments.)
correction: the good news -> the good news for users
according to TechCrunch, a 500,000,000 users dotSEX site already exists… 🙂
techcrunch.com/2010/12/14/whats-on-a-mans-mind/
“dns is really easy to do. and you can make it as complex as you want. and it is free. but there’s a learning curve. maybe that’s the cost. it helps if dns is something that interests you; learning can actually be fun.”
====
Try this one…
[Making beer] is really easy to do. and you can make it as complex as you want. and it is free. but there’s a learning curve. maybe that’s the cost. it helps if [Making Beer] is something that interests you; learning can actually be fun.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Now, inject a bunch of lawyers in your beer making hobby. Inject some religious zealots. Inject people opposed to your backyard picnic without a license. On and on. Your hobby can become “not fun” very fast.
name.space, inc., and alternative dns running since 1996, has a .sex tld and many other non-icann tlds.
name.space.xs2.net/switch
“It will costs you hundreds of millions to get people to switch and then you will still never get 1% of the market.”
====
2010 was expected to be a “Tough Love Year” – it is almost over
January 1, 2011 many people will throw the big switch for what are called Flag Days
IE 9 may be ready – Only on Windows 7 – not XP {Mac users could not care less}
The new DNS will be ready
The new Internet Protocol will be ready
15 days remaining – Some people may wonder – ?? Where did they all go ??
it amazes me how these “problems” so often rely on presumptions. the presumption here is that every user must use a shared cache.
it is possible to use your own cache. and not to share it with anyone.
DNS
Yes these things have been around for 15 years which I think I said above.
Let me ask you to questions:
what is the highest price anyone has paid for an alt root domain in the 15 year since it has been available?
What is the total of all sales of domains under the alt root for 2009?
This is a domain publication written for domain investors.
Your talking about a “product” that fails to produce any sales of any note while we deal in a commodity, regulated domain names that account for hundreds of millions a year in sales to holders.
Case closed.
Your argument is better made to a different audience.
Bie Lie
How about this, when it happens you come back and tell me how wrong I was until then see my comment above and chat about something else that interests our readers
What’s next?
cTLD’s “Company Top Level Domains”
(dot)Google, (dot)Facebook,(dot)Disney, (dot)Kodak, (dot)Microsoft?
or Maybe……
cTLD’s “City Top Level Domains”
(dot)Denver, (dot)Miami, (dot)Chicago, (dot)Scottsdale?
Internet
Yes
You will see many major brands buying their own extension.
My guess is 100+.
Cannon already announced plans to apply for .Cannon
Internet
Right again.
Matter of fact it was berlin’s push to get .berlin that in many ways move ICANN to open new gTLD.
newyork is planning .nyc and paris is planning on .Paris as well.
There will be many others of these as well.
@MHB,
Will these city and company extensions help, or hurt the value of most .com’s?
“This is a domain publication written for domain investors.”
“Your talking about a “product” that fails to produce any sales of any note while we deal in a commodity, regulated domain names that account for hundreds of millions a year in sales to holders.”
=====
.WOW – FREE sells well but will not likely be of interest .HERE
“we deal in a commodity, regulated domain names”
“we deal in a commodity, (U.S. Government Backed) regulated domain names”
Like Fiat Currency, these are Fiat Domains with Artificial Scarcity to Inflate the Price
.PRICELESS
“Your talking about a “product” that fails to produce any sales of any note”
===
Several hundred million CPE devices have the .LAN top.level.domain in them.
Did .LAN produce those sales ?
Can .LAN be franchised again by ICANN ?
Big
You still haven’t answered my question because there are no sales of alt dns domains making the whole deal worthless & the discussion a waste of time again
Biig cheese
If you own a bang on geo like Paris I think there is not a much better thing that can happen to you than the approval and addition to the root of . Paris
“You still haven’t answered my question because there are no sales”
===
“no sales” you see or understand – You are a Domainer – A special breed
://www.icannwiki.org/Portal:ICANNWiki/People
whitehouse.com was a porn site then the owner decided to take it down.i’m sure there was a lot of confusion here.as the new suffixs roll out at 185k the market will decide who will stay in biz especially with the renew fees.what is occuring here is the burden of responsiblity has been transferred from tm holders to domainers that want to protect their domain.
Domain
I agree, a lot of these registrations will be defensive only
As I said I was against the extension but time for that debate ended once the judicial review found in favor of ICM.
So lets not debate whether its good or bad it just is.
Figure out a strategy for dealing with it
maybe there is no “argument” being made about whether or not alternative dns is good “business”. maybe the answer to that is obvious.
perhaps the point being made requires a bit more knowledge of the system of which “domains” are a part. perhaps the point is about how the “product” is produced. and where the “value” comes from. everyone agrees that “no one owns the internet”. so how can an _address_ on the internet be “sold”?
first the buyer has to believe that the owner actually owns what he’s selling. what happens if we apply that test to a domain?
second the buyer might wonder if it’s possible to produce the product himself at a lower cost. (not necessarily for sale. maybe just for his own use.) what happens if we look at the process of how a domain is “produced”?
if these questions make you uneasy, then you can just ignore them. but they are still open questions.
if the internet is “virtual real estate” then it is very “young” real estate. compared to land ownership, establishing “title” is a much more difficult concept. can any tribe or government make claims of title to the internet, a network of networks? nor is there 100’s of years of history to look back on. we got to where we are now in a single generation.
things can change very quickly.
but maybe this is irrelevant to domain investing.
hint for the first test: if the internet is a network of networks. and if, e.g., network A refuses to cooperate with network B, does an address given out by organisation C that is supposed to work on both networks A and B make any difference?
Think
I’m not saying an alternate root system isn’t a subject worthy of debate, I’m just saying this is the wrong forum and crowd for it and of course not the topic of the post.
Its actually never the topic of the post, but Big Lie always brings it up.
Once again the domain crowd has NO interest in this discussion and regards it as nonsense so why “keep beating the dead horse” and bringing it up time and time again on every post?
yep. maybe a lot of biglie’s points are flying over people’s heads. imo, some of what biglie keeps saying, _is_ highly relevant to domain investing (it’s information a domainer could use), but from the way you describe “the domain crowd”, perhaps that’s going to be missed. the manner of presentation and delivery doesn’t help either.
back on topic.
.la has been around for a while as a cctld which like .co has been marketed as having meaning apart from the country code it is supposed to represent.
will there be another tld aimed at los angeles?