[ NNSquad ] ICANN Moves Forward with Dot-Ex-Ex-Ex, while ICM CEO Plans for Big Bucks and Censorship

[Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>]

               ICANN Moves Forward with Dot-Ex-Ex-Ex, while ICM CEO 
                        Plans for Big Bucks and Censorship

                  http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000724.html


Greetings.  As predicted in "ICANN Likely to Approve 'Dot-Ex-Ex-Ex'
Domain for Chumps!" ( http://bit.ly/aO25zi [Lauren's Blog] ), it is
now reported by AP that ICANN is moving ahead towards final approval
of the dot-ex-ex-ex TLD (Top Level Domain) 
( http://bit.ly/cJoPvh [NY Daily News] ).

Note in the AP piece how the fellow behind ICM Registry -- the
proposed operator of dot-ex-ex-ex -- is already crowing about the
bundles of money he believes he'll make, and claiming that he'll
require registrants to include meta labeling on their Web pages,
presumably so that they can be widely blocked.  Wow, such an
attractive deal for adult sites!  Why not just pour nitric acid into
your servers?  The ultimate effect would likely be very similar.

I believe that if dot-ex-ex-ex is "finally" approved, we can expect
that:

(a) Dot-ex-ex-ex blocking will become essentially a default condition
    for much of the Internet, enforced by governments, organizations, and
    many ISPs in various ways.

(b) Various governments will attempt to mandate that "adult
    entertainment" sites sign up in and/or move totally to dot-ex-ex-ex
    (likely what ICM is actually hoping for).

(c) A flurry of lawsuits on all sides will be forthcoming.

(d) Dot-ex-ex-ex will embolden legislative efforts to force other
    categories of inconvenient or "undesirable" Internet speech and
    materials into their own more easily blocked TLDs and labeling
    regimes.

The DNS (Domain Name System) has become a means to extort protective
name registrations from sites who really have no desire to be involved
in new TLDs, a mechanism for further confusing consumers (and
incidentally, enhancing the value of dot-com), and now, an enabling
mechanism for Internet censorship and "thought control."

By the way, why do I keep referring to the TLD under discussion as
"dot-ex-ex-ex"?  Because if I use its real label, e-mail filters will
automatically reject my associated mailings at many sites -- which
helps to demonstrate how utterly insane this entire situation has
become.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
   - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition 
   for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein