Websites With .xxx May Automatically Expand to .sex And .porn Domain Names
Soon there may be no question what type of website a person is viewing, especially in the online sex world.
New web domains may emerge, including ".porn" and ".sex." The additions are coming from ICM Registry, who purchased the controversial ".xxx" last year. A list will be released in coming weeks that begins the regulatory and sale process of new domain names, and there may be a high price associated with the new sex-related domain names according to a recent article.
The most popular domain names are won by organizations willing to spend the highest dollar, and some require extensive campaigning efforts, such as the ".xxx" domain which spent ten years in discussion before going live.
ICM’s Stuart Lawley said the company’s efforts to gain ".sex", ".porn" and ".adult" are part of their intention to keep the sites in an arena only for adults. He also said the organization will not tolerate any content that is illegal, such as child porn.
More than 13 percent of all online searches are believed to be related to searching for sexual content. Experts estimate at least 20 percent of sites on the Internet are pornographic or sexual.
Images began circulating online during the 1980s, but the rise of technology across multiple platforms has created an a rampant increase in pornographic material online. In 2003, it was estimated that as much as 20 percent of all pornography exchanged online featured children, and it is believed that in the last 15 years the number of online images related to child porn has grown by 1500 percent.
It is also believed that the increase in numbers of people who have pornography addictions has risen sharply due to the level of anonymity online sex sites may provide, and the availability of the sites from smartphones or public places around the clock.
Websites with an ".xxx" could see an expansion into the new sex domains through an automatic reservation, due to a grandfather clause created by the registry organization. If an organization decides to also add the ".sex" and related website domains to their list of porn sites, they’ll have to pay a fee.