Porn Sites Get .XXX Addresses

The Internet got its very own street corner yesterday, as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers gave the greenlight to a ".xxx" virtual redlight district. And purveyors of porn and the religious right alike aren't happy with the decision, reports the New York Times. “Our industry is unanimously opposed,” says a porn trade group rep. The industry says the new designation will enable censorship; religious groups worry that it will further spread pornography.

Not so fast, says the group that will oversee and make a buck off of the new domain, who says that the opposition has been "completely overblown." “The consumer of adult sites wins," says Stuart Lawley of ICM Registrations, which will charge $60 a year per domain. "The providers will benefit because more people will become paying customers. And those who don’t want to go there will win as well, because the sites will be easier to filter.” (More pornography stories.)