Comments on: XXX Domain faces hard times

By: Jonathan Schlaffer

Jonathan Schlaffer — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:41:36 +0000

Let’s say if… the .com, .net and .xxx exist side by side some day then you could block all .xxx sites easily. Everything else, well that could be on the block list set manually.

I wasn’t talking about a Firewall, at least not a software firewall. It’s easy to configure a hardware firewall to block said sites but let’s say you are dealing with the Vista firewall. It’s not at all easy to configure and any advanced configuration must be done via wf.msc (and most parents aren’t going to know that).

That’s where software like K9 Webprotection steps in BUT it is easy to block a single tld (such as .xxx) which really serves no purpose (yet). Besides any net savvy kid can bypass any kind of block you have on a system so most software based systems are ineffective themselves.

The only really effective way to block porn is to set up a router with a password and block access to the sites from the router. Any 13 year old kid with a computer could probably bypass software based systems given enough time but if they do, it’s easy enough to tell.

By: Jan Coppens

Jan Coppens — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:29:18 +0000

How do you configure a firewall? It’s simple. You only allow what is necessary and block everything else. People should take the same approach when blocking access to adult sites. Only allow access to sites you want your children to see, block access to everything else. one way to make this easier would be to create a .kids tld.

Creating a .xxx tld and forcing adult webmasters to abandon their .com, .net etc domains would not only be illegal (and in most countries even unconstitutional), it would be a very ineffective way to block access to adult websites.

By: Jonathan Schlaffer

Jonathan Schlaffer — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 20:40:45 +0000

Well, at least it will be easier to block .xxx sites but as long as ICANN keeps denying it then there is nothing to worry about as long as they don’t have it.

By: George Gardner

George Gardner — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 19:01:39 +0000

It would be ‘hard’ to force them over to the XXX domain; on the bright side, approving the XXX domain would cause digital pornography sites to buy their XXX site as well as their .COM site. In turn, it would allow the internet to have twice as much porn.

By: Jonathan Schlaffer

Jonathan Schlaffer — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 17:31:53 +0000

Yes, a lot of porn sites do make use of .com, .net, etc but I believe part of the idea behind this would be to force them to switch over to .xxx thus making it easier for the sites to be blocked, instead of having to block individual .com, .net and so on sites, there could be an overlying rule to block any site with the .xxx suffix.

As with all things internet, it may not be possible to enforce this across the board, since there are various laws regarding porn activity in different countries and many of them exist or are hosted outside of the US, it could be difficult (but not impossible) to enforce some of these new rules.

I honestly don’t know how you would force a site to change its top level domain but it must be possible…

By: Grant

Grant — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:06:21 +0000

I’d assumed that this proposal would force porn sites to change to the .xxx….

By: Jan Coppens

Jan Coppens — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 15:32:54 +0000

Since alot of adult sites already use .com, .net etc domains, creating a .xxx tld would in no way help parents block access to adult sites. Creating a .xxx tld would only benefit 1 company: the ICM.

If you want to protect children from accessing adult content, creating a .kids tld would be alot better option.