Reports are surfacing that the new .xxx domain name suffix is being used by more non-adult businesses than first expected. Easyspace, one of the UK’s biggest web hosting companies, has suggested that as many as eight in ten companies registering an early interest in the new suffix are not trying to flog your masturbation material.
“Out of the hundreds of businesses that have rushed to pre-register with Easyspace ahead of the opening of the Sunrise phase for .XXX domains on 7 September 2011, only 20% of them are from the adult industry,” said Sarah Haran, managing director of Easyspace.
She added, “As we expected, the early indications are that non-adult industry businesses have realized the need to protect trademarks and brands in dot XXX.”
Domain names are often the talk of the online gaming industry. Whether it be Calvin Ayre and the Bodog Brand purchasing the rights to Slots.com or names being seized in the US as part of the Black Friday indictments, the issue is never far from the gambling industry news pages. Hell, the big conferences even have live auctions to sell the pesky things.
We are still waiting to see whether .xxx being permitted will mean an influx of other suffixes being approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Back in March, we reported that this might be the case and it would give companies a much wider scope over which to conduct operations. For now though they will just have to put up with being thought of as a porn site.
