by Chris Woodward
I know Shane has mentioned it recently, but the whole .XXX domain extension, and especially their advertising, has really rubbed me the wrong way. It’s not the actual extension that bothers me, I honestly couldn’t care less about an extension dedicated to porn, but it’s the intimidation factor and the ads that are saying the only reason to buy a .XXX domain is so that someone else doesn’t use it against you if you’re a business owner that irritates me. Is this not mafia mentality at it’s finest?
Surely with the new gTLD’s that anyone can get their hand into, more of these types of TLD’s are bound to pop up. I’ll call them ‘intimidation TLD’s’, because that’s all .XXX is and that’s what several new ones will be in the future. .XXX simply intimidates companies into buying their own version of the name because they know how much UDRP’s cost and they know it’s worth it for a company to spend $500 for 5 domain names than $1500 on a UDRP for one site that turned against them. According to WIPO…
“For a case filed with the WIPO Center involving between 1 and 5 domain names that is to be decided by a single Panelist, the fee is USD1500. For a case that is to be decided by 3 Panelists, the fee is USD4000.
For a case involving between 6 and 10 domain names that is to be decided by a single Panelist, the fee is USD2000 and USD5000 for a case that is to be decided by 3 Panelists.”
UDRP’s aren’t cheap as you see. So, what’s next for those that want to exploit WIPO’s prices and companies’ fear of paying them? Surely .SUCKS will be on the way someday. Thousands of companies around the world own TheirCompanySucks.com and surely they’ll pony up $50 to prevent someone else from owning TheirCompany.Sucks. Hey why not? Companies don’t care because they’re only $50 a pop, and it’s only going to take 3700 domains being sold to cover the $185,000 gTLD fee.I know that all gTLD’s need to be approved but money talks and if .XXX was approved for porn and not intimidation, then .SUCKS could easily be approved for…vacuums.
Hopefully ICANN will put a stop to TLD’s that will rely on intimidation as the sole reason for most companies to buy them. It’s just not right and company money could be much better spent elsewhere these days. If not, be prepared to buy the vacuum domain extension for your businesses.
Totally agree Shane. All the new TLDs are simply a vehicle for those in charge to make money while the Internet becomes more cluttered. Look at what Peter Dengate did. Approved the new gTLD program and then jumped shipped to cash in on what he just approved. It’s gross.
Chris,
I think we both no why we are the only domain blog that .XXX doesnt advertise on. That and our blog blows 🙂 Atleast it gives us the freedom to say what we want.
*
I totally agree, Chris.
A bunch of extortionists.
*
These new TLDs are the biggest disservice to existing businesses that has ever happened on the Net.
We all know that the registries and us domainers can make a fortune off the confusion, but really, let’s be honest, this was an extremely dirty move by ICANN and big business.
ICANN is doing everything they can to f*ck up the Internet and all existing businesses, which especially don’t need something like this in the Second Great Depression we are in.
Finally!! A domain blogger speaks the truth! When you have to “force” a company to buy your
product for “protection” it is called extortion and should be illegal. Yet there are still people out there saying what is the difference, “they don’t have to” as they are not being forced to buy .mobi,
.eu. .ws etc. What is so unique about .XXX is what it implies.
thankyou!
finally sense being talked
what I like about this blog is it’s honest in it’s opinions
totally agree with the post by Chris
wish other blogs would stop rimming their .co and .xxx sponsors
What’s the big deal here ?
First these .XXX are not dirt cheap. So i expect not much typosquatting.
Second , UDRP is not the only option here. Since this is a new gTLD , there is also the option for URS wich is in place for .XXX
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/draft-proposed-procedure-urs-04oct09-en.pdf
Third according to the registry-registrant agreement you are not allowed to typosquat.
So there are tons more options to go after typosquatters but we didn’t see that mentioned in mainstream media.
What .XXX did and i think that it is a good thing that companies suddenly realised they didn’t have their bases covered.
They never cared to secure their domain names in another already exsisting gTLD.
But they didn’t want tobe linked to porn.
So the whole arguement for yet released to be TLD’s is a non discussion. Since they are not high profile as .XXX and the companies that are yelling bloody murder right now will not even bother to secure their company domain name in another gTLD.
There’s a typo in the title. It should read Intimidation.
New GTLDs are holding back and keeping the premium domains. What will be left to register?
theo, the big deal is that the primary advertising campaign for .XXX is informing business owners that they should ‘protect their brand’…if ICM isn’t going to allow domain squatting on trademarks, I’m not sure why they’re scaring business owners and universities into buying the domains in the first place. The fact of the matter is ICM is doing their best to intimidate businesses/universities/etc by saying ‘better get these domains…or else you leave your name open to be linked to god knows what’…if ICM was only advertising .XXX for porn, I couldn’t make this argument. But they’re not, they’re advertising .XXX as an intimidation factor.
You got a point there Chris.
From my perspective it was more mainstream media who rushed out article after article filled with incorrect information with titles like :”protect your company against smut”. These guys where rather creative in grabbing readers attention.
Shane, I’d rather we be able to say whatever we want…this ain’t Mid-American Gardener 🙂
Gnanes, I’ve read the title 6 times since you said that…I see Intimidation every time…am I missing something here?
Theo, if it were just the media that were blowing it out of proportion as they usually do, I wouldn’t have much of a problem with it. But when it’s coming straight from the horse’s mouth it’s hard to look past that
Chris, sorry for my first comment. I didn’t notice you wrote the article. Anyway, you speak the truth for sure. ICM is no different than the mob going around collecting “protection money” back in the day.
@Chris I sent an e-mail to Shane and he fixed it. lol now my comment looks stupid.
Scott, no worries.
Gnanes, lol no worries…I must have looked at it 10 times before you even said it and didn’t notice it…don’t drink and blog.
Nice post, certainly not the only blog to mention it, I think we have done it quite a bit and actually did a video on about a coming .sucks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPoGtWEM3jM
This has become the new model Chris, and people like rightofthedot will advise new tlds how to maximize top keywords.
There will be no good names for the regular registrant to own. They will have to take the leftovers and all the top keywords will go for a lot. Hold back some for auctions later on down the road.