Members of the adult entertainment industry gathered in San Francisco to oppose a plan to create a separate internet address for porn websites.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) which decides what and where domain suffixes, decided in December to proceed with the ".xxx" domain.
The ICANN conference, which is taking place in San Francisco, will be taking public commentary on the issue, and the adult industry is speaking out.
Representatives of adult entertainment argue that being labeled with a ".xxx" domain will be like a scarlet letter on their (lack of) shirts. A move to a new domain would also cost current adult website operators millions in unnecessary fees, and also make it easier to be blocked by governments.
PCMag reports, John Sander, vice president of marketing and business development for Kink.com, estimated that the new .XXX domain would cost the company $100,000 per year for the "thousands and thousands of domains" that Kink.com owns.
"We can unequivocally say that the industry does not support it," said Diane Duke, the executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, which held a press conference at a nearby hotel.
About two dozen people showed up to protest outside the ICANN meeting chanting ""We like porn, No to XXX."
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