October 28th, 2011 will mark the official end of the Sunrise A and B period of the new .xxx domain. During these phases both adult and non-adult companies can apply for .xxx domain names before the general release in December.
The new extension was initially proposed by ICM Registry in 2000 and then approved in 2005, overturned in 2006 and once again reconsidered in 2007! The .xxx “red-light district” for the Internet has been one of the most talked about domain extensions in history.
Immediately after the approval in 2005, the FRC (Family Research Council), launched a campaign against .xxx web address believing that the new domain would allow pornography to “expand their evil empires on the internet”.
With the ICANN board of directors becoming concerned that the new extensions might make ICANN responsible for enforcing laws and regulations over Internet porn, the .xxx extension was yet again rejected in 2006. However, thanks to strong supporters of the domain it was then brought it back for reconsideration in 2007 and again in 2010.
So, after decade-long battle .xxx was officially approved for use by ICANN, (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number) with the proviso that only websites that contain adult content or have adult themes can publish using the .xxx domain name.
After the sunrise period closes, the ICM registry will launch a second phase – Landrush. Starting on 8th November 2011 Landrush allows adult businesses premium access to the remaining names; with General Availability launch on 6th December, the period when the .xxx extension will officially become available to all.
10 days after the launch of the Sunrise period, the first site with dot-xxx, casting.xxx was launched. Even though the site had not been optimised for search engines (SEO) 10 days after the launch, the site had received more traffic than sex.com, which was purchased for $13 million late 2010.
Since the launch of the first .xxx domain name, the ICM registry has approved over 1,000 websites with the .xxx extension.
As of early October 2011, ICM have sold around nine premium .xxx domains with the top sale of gay.xxx for $500,000. This domain was purchased by world’s leading gay production studios – Corbin Fisher, even though the top-level domain name hasn’t been launched yet!
The next .xxx web addresses can be purchased via the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Conference a live domain auction, which is held in Florida late October 2011. Interested parties will be able to purchase names such as stars.xxx, blondes.xxx, party.xxx, local.xxx, juicy.xxx, hotties.xxx, movies.xxx, singles.xxx, personals.xxx, chatroom.xxx, orgy.xxx, virtual.xxx some of which are set at $0 reserve price.
The ICM Registry have been cautious about cyber squatters and has reserved a list of .xxx domains that include – celebrity names includes musicians, actors, politicians, journalists and even tv presenters. The reserved list also includes “the dead and the living” web addresses.
The next stage in .xxx launch will be the Landrush period and we urge both members and non-members of the adult entertainment industries to secure their brand name. This is particularly important during the Sunrise period, because we expect that .xxx domain names will sell quickly during this phase.
So, have you thought about protecting your brand against the potential abuse? If not, we strongly advise you to think about it now before it’s too late.
For details info about .xxx domain phases visit Easyspace.com or call Easyspace sales team on 0370 755 5088.
