ICANN posted a revision of its Proposed Registry Agreement with ICM Registry on its website today for the public to evaluate. ICM Registry, the applicant behind the .xxx top level domain, has been working towards obtaining the TLD since it first applied in 2004 in answer to ICANN’s call for Sponsored New gTLD proposals. The ICANN board rejected previous versions of the Proposed Registry Agreement, but after and independent review panel declared the rejection of the previous proposals as flawed, ICANN began to move forward in negotiating with ICM Registry.
The Proposed Registry Agreement is available for a thirty day public comment period which began August 24th, 2010 (19:00 UTC) and will run until September 23rd, 2010 (18:59 UTC). The current revision is based on the 2007 Proposed Registry Agreement. ICANN lists the major changes of the agreement as the following:
- Changes to address DNSSEC handling and current specifications
- Changes to ensure consistency with other Sponsored Top Level Domain Registry Agreements
- Clarification to the termination and subcontracting provisions
- Changes to Appendix S (This appendix identifies the purpose of .xxx as well as well as the community the top level domain will serve.
According to Appendix S, the .xxx top level domain will serve individuals, business, entities, and organizations that have agreed, voluntarily to comply with IFFOR (International Foundation for Online Responsibility). Basically, any individual or organization which voluntarily identifies themselves as a member of the community can register an name so long as they provide Online Adult Entertainment — as defined by the agreement — intended for consenting adults.
Permitting that the revisions are approved and Agreement is accepted by board, it looks like the ICM Registry start up plan puts them in a position to begin the registration process about five months after signing the contract with ICANN.
The comment period for .xxx will no doubt bring a lot of comments in opposition to the TLD in general. You can keep up with all the comments on http://forum.icann.org/lists/xxx-revised-icm-agreement/ and submit your comments on the proposed agreement by sending an email to xxx-revised-icm-agreement@icann.org.
