Plan for Adult Area Sparks a Fight On Control of Web

PLAN FOR ADULT AREA SPARKS A FIGHT ON CONTROL OF WEB
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Christopher Rhoads christopher.rhoads@wsj.com]
Stuart Lawley wants to create a new Internet neighborhood for the adult-entertainment industry: dot-xxx. The 43-year-old British entrepreneur believes the new three-letter ending for Web-site addresses would help protect children from online pornography, by making it easier to filter such material. He also hopes to make a pile of money by collecting fees for registering dot-xxx sites. The matter, which could be voted on as early as today by the organization that governs domain names, has triggered a rancorous global debate involving freedom-of-speech advocates, child-protection groups, adult-content providers, foreign governments and conservative Christian groups. Mr. Lawley's proposal also raises thorny issues for the U.S. government, which funded the creation of the Internet and has long played a behind-the-scenes role in running it. As the Internet grows as a place of business and a forum for exchanging ideas, some have argued that it shouldn't be dominated by any one country. That discontent has prompted a few countries and regions to begin breaking away and forming their own Internet-like computer networks -- a threat to the universality that makes the Internet such a powerful tool. The Commerce Department has expressed reservations about the dot-xxx measure, amid a flood of email from conservative groups, according to internal government documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. In one document, the department made clear that it could block the proposal if the domain-name organization, called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, approves it. As a result of the concerns, Icann has postponed several scheduled votes since last August.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114722804052548561.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
(requires subscription)