.XXX ? Sorry, ICANN'T - Not In My BitYard

A 9-5 vote against the ''.xxx'' domains : is the Web's Supreme Court turning conservative ?
Not exactly : the score is more balanced than ever. Because this is the third time the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) rejects the opening of Pandora's box.
Beyond the laconic comment of Chairman and Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf ("This decision was the result of very careful scrutiny and consideration of all the arguments. That consideration has led a majority of the Board to believe that the proposal should be rejected"*), the ICANN gave us some good reasons, including :
- "The ICM Application raises significant law enforcement compliance issues because of countries' varying laws relating to content and practices that define the nature of the application, therefore obligating ICANN to acquire a responsibility related to content and conduct.
- The Board agrees with the reference in the GAC communiqué from Lisbon, that under the Revised Agreement, there are credible scenarios that lead to circumstances in which ICANN would be forced to assume an ongoing management and oversight role regarding Internet content, which is inconsistent with its technical mandate."

So this courageous body is worrying about the consequences : I am not the UNternet and I certainly don't have troops to send to Darfur (nor Hugh Efner's mansion, for that matter).

But don't translate this into "Not In My BitYard, folks".

What the ICANN could be telling us is this : the adult business needs to actually grow to adulthood, to stop taking the money and running only, and to invest into self regulation.

In other words : for a change, to produce some useful spent.


Also (TBC) : iPhone could be launched on June the 11th during Apple's developper conference. What's the point here ? That was for the .mob part, going on .$$$**.


* icann.org/announcements/announcement-30mar07.htm
** remembering "madult content : follow the .$$$" (20050716)