ICM Registry: Difference between revisions

In December, 2011, it was announced that the [[National Arbitration Forum]] (NAB) would handle the Rapid Evaluation Service; they would also be running a second, similar service for ICM, the Charter Eligibility Dispute Resolution Policy. The NAB has been a [[UDRP]] evaluator since the late 1990s, and have evaluated over 17,000 domain disputes. The system will be paperless, and the Rapid Evaluation Service lets trademark owners quickly and efficiently challenge any infringement, while the Charter Eligibility Dispute Resolution Policy allows users to challenge the eligibility of a .xxx domain owner. Those owners are expected to be companies or individuals professionally involved in the adult entertainment industry.<ref>[http://www.thedomains.com/2011/12/05/nab-announces-its-rapid-evaluation-service-to-handle-xxx-disputes-like-the-udrp-but-faster/ NAB Announces Its Rapid Evaluation Service to Handle XXX Disputes like the UDRP but Faster, The Domains.com]</ref>

Prior to the approval to the .xxx domain, their was a good deal of opposition to the proposed namespace. There were governments that threatened to block the TLD wholesale, which some saw as one-step closer to disrupting the global Internet; there were moral oppositions; but perhaps the most sustained opposition was led by the [[Free Speech Coalition]], an adult industry lobbying and advocacy group, and their Executive Director, [[Diane Duke]]. Much of the debate centered around the fact that ICM was applying for a [[Sponsored Top Level Domain]], which means that there must be a cohesive, supportive community backing the bid. The Free Speech Coalition is the adult industry's largest trade organization, and was vehemently opposed to the creation of .xxx, which raises the question of whether or not ICM actually represented the community that it purported to. Multiple prominent adult industry members, such as Larry Flynt of Hustler, created a documentary together to expose their feelings of misrepresentation by ICM. Concerns include: increased expenses to business owners without additional revenue; the need to defensively register a .xxx address for an existent website; the effect of "ghettoizing" the industry, thereby pushing porn to the periphery of the Internet where it can be easily blocked, censored, and manipulated; ICM causing outside influence on a community and misrepresenting them and their desires.<ref>[http://www.juliemeadows.com/blog/tag/diane-duke/ Diane Duke, JulieMeadows.com]</ref> These issues very much came to a head at [[ICANN 40]] in San Francisco, despite The Free Speech Coalitions staging protests and vocally participating at the event, ICM Registry went on to win approval from the [[ICANN Board]] to run a .xxx sTLD registry.

[[Manwin]], one of the most prominent adult content producers on the Internet, filed an Anti-Trust suit against both ICM and ICANN over the creation and implementation of the .xxx TLD. This legal action took place in November, 2011, well after its approval and just before the domain's general availability.<ref>[http://www.thedomains.com/2011/11/16/bbreaking-owner-of-youporn-com-plans-to-file-suit-against-icm-icann-over-xxx/ Owner of YouPorn.com Plans to File Suit Against ICM ICANN over XXX, TheDomains.com]</ref> It also filed an [[Independent Review Panel]] (IRP) Request with ICANN; it is only the second company ever to file such a request, which is somewhat ironic given that ICM was the first to use this mechanism, the outcome eventually overturned the initial denial of a .xxx sTLD. An IRP is a last resort in ICANN beaurcracy, and Manwin filed one because it feels that ICANN's decision to allow .xxx into the root did not “adequately address issues including competition, consumer protection, malicious abuse and rights protection prior to approving the .xxx TLD”.<ref>[http://domainincite.com/youporn-challenges-new-gtlds-with-review-demand/ YouPorn Challenges New gTLDs with Review Demand, DomainIncite.com]</ref>