On 3/21/2011 4:38 PM, Joly MacFie wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 5:42 PM, Marc Perkel <[log in to unmask] 
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>
>     He has one point I agree with. Why should .XXX cost more than .COM ?
>
>
>
> Why not?
>
> They certainly have higher costs in terms of diligence. And they do 
> have years of litigation to recoup, and, um, I think there are few 
> more .com registrations.
>
> One comment in another thread made me chuckle about the irony of the 
> phrase "intellelctual property" when applied to smut.
>
>
> BTW I have posted an illustrated version of the board vote at 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YidaDxIH_8I 
> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YidaDxIH_8I&NR=1>
>

The question about why to charge more isn't "why not" but "why". Why 
should one kind of business be charged more that another. What you refer 
to as "smut" is human reproduction without which none of us would be 
here. We all owe our very existence to "smut".

There is indeed intellectual property associated with "smut". Good porn 
is not easy to produce and those people work hard for their money. I 
don't see the difference between that and any other subject matter 
covered under copyright law. I personally own adult intellectual 
property, although it's not porn. It's instructional information.

I personally don't see sex as less moral that drilling for oil, running 
a nuclear power plant, manufacturing guns, or any other business that 
some people disagree on moral issues. And I thought we were against 
ICANN becoming the moral police.

The way I see it there has to be a reason for charging more for .xxx and 
that reason has to be based in some sort of reality and such a test 
needs to be applied to other similar domains. Also - I don't see the 
moral difference between these domain names:

sluts.com
sluts.xxx

I don't understand the diligence and cost of litigation argument.

Also in my view .xxx makes life easier. The .xxx people don't want kids 
and Christians wasting their bandwidth. I think there is a right to have 
porn and a right to avoid porn. The .xxx is sort of a truth in labeling 
issue that helps both seekers and avoiders of porn. It's not a final 
solution. I wouldn't ever want to see laws requiring adult content to 
have an .xxx listing. But if more of it moved there it would help both 
sides. Charging more for .xxx helps defeat the purpose of having .xxx in 
the first place.