kane

We were never going to be forced to use the .xxx TLD...at least from the start. .xxx was just another option for us just like .net, .biz and so on. There was never a rule or law put in place that would have required us to use .xxx. ICM had actually said they opposed such a requirement and would put a portion of the money they earned from the sale of .xxx names in a fund to fight any such law. If they really would or not remains to be seen.

The worry is that once a .xxx is in place then our fine lawmakers would take that next step and require porn to be on the .xxx. Here is how it could easily happen. The .xxx is approved and a buying frenzy erupts. Lawsuits and complaints fly as people jockey to get the best domains and/or get the .com names they currently own in .xxx. During this time we have a presidential election. Somehow John McCain wins. He realizes in the end that the conservative christian right ended up supporting him and that brought him the election. Now he wants to throw them a bone so he pulls in a few conservative senators (maybe even a democrat to make it seem like he is being bi-partisan) and they come up with the plan to introduce a law that would require all porn sites to be on the .xxx. Of course McCain has never even used a computer so he will be operating solely on the advice of advisers. These senators give the bill a name that you can't vote against. Think something like "The Protecting Children From Pornography Act." It will breeze through the house and senate because nobody will vote against a bill named that. It then ends up in court. There are many a court battle and eventually it is ruled that the law can stand. Let's not forget back during the COPA days the supreme court ruled that the community standard rule can be used on the internet and that freedom of speech doesn't mean we can put whatever we want up on the internet. So the law stands and we are forced to go to .xxx. At this point you would hope that you were able to get all of your domains in the .xxx TLD. If not then you could be screwed. Think if you had 50 domains but were only able to get 10 of them in the .xxx format. Now you just have to kill the other 40 sites.

So at this point there is no rule. There is a good chance that even if .xxx were allowed to exist that a law requiring it would never be pass and even if there was one it may never hold up in court. But then again, you never know.

Worst case scenario?
1. .xxx is allowed to pass.
2. the government rules that all porn sites must use a .xxx (of course this will only effect the US based people)
3. As a part of the bill that requires .xxx to be used it also requires all ISPs to filter .xxx by default. Any customer that wants access to .xxx can contact their ISP and have the filter turned off.
4. Your traffic disappears overnight. There will be people that turn off the .xxx filter, but most will not because there will still be plenty of porn available online from people and companies that are not in the US.
5. With traffic gone and nobody actually surfing the .xxx sites your sites die and your business shrivels up.
6. You begin to practice saying the phrase, "would you like fries with that."