XXX Domain a Good Start

Several new internet domains have been proposed recently, including an XXX domain. This domain would be reserved for 'responsible' purveyors of adult content. I have long advocated such a domain for the primary purposes of isolating pornography onto a single domain. My plan calls for all websites offering adult content be housed within an XXX domain. Once all adult content is isolated on one domain, filtering/blocking becomes quite easy and more effective. Unfortunately, there is no proposal on the table to enforce pornographers to use the XXX domain.

In today's environment, internet pornographers can register any domain name, including the infamous www.whitehouse.com. It is impossible to determine the content nature of a site based solely on the domain name. As a result, organizations and families spend millions annually on third party software and services which specialize in blocking adult sites.

Some blocking solutions, such as that built into Internet Explorer, are cumbersome and rely on the publisher to 'advertise' their content rating. More elegant solutions require the development and maintenance of a centralized database of all pornographic sites. The database, which must be updated daily as new pornographic sites come online, is referenced whenever the user types in a new web address, and prevents the user from accessing any sites registered in the database. As you might expect, effective porn-blocking is expensive and somewhat ineffective.

If all adult content were isolated on the XXX domain, however, then the job of filtering out content becomes quite easy. In fact, blocking can easily be managed within the browser, saving organizations and families millions of dollars. In addition, blocking inappropriate content would be much more effective as no daily monitoring of new sites would be required.

There is no arguing that the reach of internet pornography dwarfs that of adult magazines and movies. 20 years ago kids had little access to pornography unless their father had a Playboy hidden beneath their mattress, or they had a big brother or uncle willing to buy them a Hustler. Today, kids just need a computer to readily access hard-core pornography. It would seem that even the most liberal minded individuals would recognize this as a bad thing. Therefore, we should support the creation of the XXX domain, and take the next step of enforcing the publishing of all adult content on that domain.