YNOT EUROPE – The International Corporation for Names and Numbers on Friday declined to approve ICM Registry’s bid to establish an adult-content-specific domain on the internet, saying the web’s governing body needed more time to negotiate with an advisory council that continues to have concerns.

ICANN’s board of directors directed staff to develop a plan for ironing out the creases that remain between the board and ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Council. The board plans to attempt another vote on dot-xxx at a future date.

This is the second time in two months ICANN has tabled a planned vote to approve dot-xxx, which Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.-based ICM Registry has pursued for about 10 years at a reported cost of about $10 million. In late October, ICANN’s board delayed a vote in order to seek advice from the GAC, which previously objected to a perceived lack of support from the supposed “sponsoring group” ICANN requires of any sponsored Top Level Domain. Because dot-xxx was proposed as an sTLD, GAC members indicated they could not support a registry contract unless a “sponsoring group” actually existed.

ICM Registry President Stuart Lawley has said the GAC’s concerns about sponsorship were allayed by a change in the documentation supporting the dot-xxx application. According to the new Sponsoring Organization Agreement, dated July 26, 2010, the sponsoring group is not the adult entertainment industry at large, but members of the International Foundation for Online Responsibility, a not-for-profit organization in which membership automatically will vest with each dot-xxx domain registrant at the time of registration.

If that is the case, it is unclear what the GAC’s latest concerns may be.

“ICANN is obligated to seek consultation from the GAC,” said Jeffrey Douglas, an attorney and chairman of the board for adult industry trade association Free Speech Coalition. “It would have been an unwise decision to disregard GAC’s resolute opposition, potentially having grave impact on ICANN’s multi-community model. The sponsorship community is opposed, and ICANN’s Government Advisory Committee is opposed. The only entity that would have benefited from an immediate approval was ICM.”

Douglas and FSC Executive Director Diane Duke attended ICANN’s meetings in Cartagena, Colombia, this week in order to represent FSC members’ opposition to dot-xxx. According to Duke, FSC has fought dot-xxx for more than 10 years, concerned with regulatory aspects as well as the likelihood that some governments, including the U.S. government, would attempt to mandate all adult websites move to dot-xxx while other governments would block the domain-space altogether.

FSC also is not comfortable with IFFOR, which ICM plans to establish as a regulatory board charged with developing and enforcing “best practices” for all dot-xxx websites. ICM has not disclosed the names of potential board members, although Lawley has told YNOT.com that at least two seats on the board will be filled with adult industry representatives. Other seats will be allocated to child advocacy organizations and business, security and technology experts from the mainstream. Nevertheless, FSC as a body is leery of “regulations” the board may define in the future, fearing at least some may be untenable for adult webmasters.

ICM Registry has promised a range of public-interest benefits as part of its bid to operate the dot-xxx domain, including:

• Restricting access to illegal and offensive content.
• Supporting the development of tools and programs to protect vulnerable members of the community.
• Maintaining accurate details about registrants and assisting law enforcement agencies to identify and contact the owners of suspicious websites, if necessary.
• Acting to ensure the protection of intellectual property and trademark rights, personal names, country names, names of historical, cultural and religious significance, and names of geographic identifiers through the development of registration and eligibility rules.

During a presentation to ICANN’s Intellectual Property Constituency on Thursday, ICM revealed that it plans to offer mainstream companies the ability to park trade names within dot-xxx for a nominal fee; however, the same nominal fee will not be available to adult entities that wish to protect their trade names within dot-xxx but have no intention of developing sites at the URLs. FSC is not happy about that development, either, saying that by not offering the same fee structure within and without the adult industry, ICM reneged on a promise it made to gain adult industry support.

“ICM’s proposal will cost adult businesses millions and compromise the online adult industry,” Duke said Friday. “As the industry’s trade association, it is [FSC’s] responsibility to guard against these types of threats. Special thanks to our sister trade associations Eros [Association in Australia] and [the Adult Industry Trade Association in Europe] for their support and for the countless dedicated individuals and companies who donated time and resources. This is truly a collective, ongoing community effort. The adult industry should feel very proud.”

Lawley was not available to comment by press time.