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XXX domain drop leads to having the US Government Sued

The United States Department of Commerce (DoC) is sued by ICM Registry over XXX domain interference.

ICM Registry filed a suit against the Department of Commerce and the Department of State, looking to get the documents it needs to demonstrate that the US Government influenced ICANN's decision to drop the .xxx idea.

According to ICM Registry, the Government "exerted undue political influence on ICANN's consideration of the .xxx domain application."

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) was pressured by protestors of the .xxx domain introduction, and therefore changed its mind on .xxx domain support, eventually lobbying against it.

The key element in the XXX affair is Jim Dobson's opinion, who coordinates the Family Research Council and Focus On The Family outfits. His power of influencing radio listeners had, according to ICM Registry, a tremendous effect on NTIA's stance.

ICM Registry states:

"... the DoC does not have regulatory authority over ICANN. ICANN was conceived as an independent organization that is not under control of the US government nor any national government. It is intended to be free of administrative control and political influence."

ICM claims the documents show that the US government "solicit(ed) foreign government intervention to achieve DoC's domestic political goals."

XXX domain

.xxx is a proposed top-level domain (TLD) intended as a voluntary option for sexually explicit sites on the Internet. The name is inspired by the former MPAA and BBFC "X" rating, now commonly applied to pornographic movies as "XXX." ICANN announced in June 1, 2005 that .xxx would become a sponsored top-level domain similar to .biz, .aero, .travel, etc. but it was never implemented. On May 10, 2006, ICANN reversed its decision.

As of 2005, there is an alternative implementation of .xxx by New.net, a private domain registration service unaffiliated with ICANN, via an alternative DNS root. Its future - including that of domain names previously registered with New.net - is uncertain in the wake of the ICANN-sanctioned TLD announcement.

There was also an unofficial .xxx TLD in an alternative root offered by the now-defunct AlterNIC.

ICANN

ICANN is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Headquartered in Marina Del Rey, California, ICANN is a California non-profit corporation that was created on September 18, 1998 in order to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly on behalf of the U.S. Government by other organizations, notably IANA.

The tasks of ICANN include managing the assignment of domain names and IP addresses. To date, much of its work has concerned the introduction of new generic top-level domains. The technical work of ICANN is referred to as the IANA function; the rest of ICANN is mostly about defining policy.

Paul Twomey is the President/CEO of ICANN, since March 27, 2003. Vint Cerf is currently Chairman of the ICANN Board of Trustees.