Virtual Red-Light District
Well, there was absolutely nothing of interest to me in yesterday’s news sources, but thankfully the PTBs have decided to protect our children yet again from the horrible pornographic monsters on the Internet by creating the .xxx web addresses:
ICM contends the “xxx” Web addresses, which it plans to sell for $60 a year, will protect children from online smut if adult sites voluntarily adopt the suffix so filtering software used by families can more effectively block access to those sites.
The $60 price is roughly ten times higher than prices other companies charge for dot-com names.
“It will further help to protect kids,” said John Morris, staff counsel at the Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology. Morris predicted some adult sites will choose to buy “xxx” Web addresses but others will continue to use dot-com.
So, what’s the use? Well, it sounds like a very good idea on one respect. I mean, they’re calling it a “virtual red-light district” and trying to protect our children, right? But, why in God’s name would anyone bother buying a .xxx address that costs ten times that of a .com address when they can continue using the same URL?
I can imagine exactly what is next on their anti-smut agenda… After a certain amount of time has elapsed, I bet that all pornography will be forced to move to the .xxx addresses… and if they don’t, they will be fined for squatting in the virtual-good-side-of-town.