Blacknight are strong believers in freedom of choice and this autumn, they will be giving you the freedom to choose to register an .xxx domain name.
Having a long history of early adoption and innovation in the domain space, Blacknight (http://www.blacknight.com) are to be among the first registrars to offer this new Internet extension (also know as a Top-Level Domain or TLD).
.xxx is a new top-level domain sponsored by ICM Registry for adult entertainment purposes. Soon, those involved in the adult industry will be able to register domain names that end in .xxx instead of .com, .org, etc. Although controversial to some, Blacknight, renowned for their quirky marketing campaigns and innovations in the use of .ie and .me, warmly welcome the new extension to the domain space.
Michele Neylon of Blacknight states:
“Few registrars will provide the option of registering a .XXX domain name in the first round and we are proud to be among them. We aren’t in the business of censorship, if registrants want .xxx domains, they can register them through us. We aim to serve as wide an audience as the imagination permits. ”
Staurt Lawley, CEO of ICM Registry praises Blacknight’s forward thinking in offering .xxx to its registrants.
“We are pleased to announce that Blacknight has met our selection criteria as a Registrar. Their dedication to the Irish market and ever growing presence in Europe were strong factors as ICM Registry develops our channel to market via select participating ICANN Accredited Registrars that provide high quality services for the imminent launch of the .XXX Top Level Domain.”
.xxx will launch in the autumn of 2011 with a 30-day sunrise (pre-registration) period for those in the adult entertainment business with verifiable trademark rights and exact match names in other extensions. A simultaneous sunrise period will occur for those who are not members of the adult community but have verifiable trademark rights and wish to block their name in the .xxx TLD. After the sunrise, members of the adult community have 14 days to register domains before the .xxx is opened up to general availability.
For those concerned about potential issues with the .xxx, Neylon explains:
“There are a lot of IP safeguards and online safety measures in place. As a concept the TLD is very well thought out. We want to insure the success of the namespace and look forward to handling the registration requests”
Exercise your right to choose and register your .xxx domains with Blacknight.
Will you be providing xxx hosting also.
Paddy
As long as the content does not breach Irish or EU law ie. is legal, then we don’t have an issue with it. Have a read over our terms of service
Regards
Michele
How will Blacknight police the content to ensure it does not breach Irish law?
Will you ask for certification that all “actors” were willing participants and not sold in through human trafficking as is common in the sex industry?
Will you be asking for age identification of all “actors” to ensure the content is aligned with Irish law, given that many other countries have ages of sexual consent right down to 9 years of age (Saudi Arabia), in Europe down to 12 years in some.
Will you be able to guarantee that shared hosting will not be shared between people who object by conscience to the merchandising of other humans like cattle and the porn pedlars?
All genuine questions here.
As a respected, senior IT Consultant I have used & recommended Blacknight for about 6 years now and this would really mean an end to my recommendations and usage as my conscience would not permit me to aid anyone to profit from human misery.
Leigh
Blacknight is a domain registrar and hosting. We do not “police” content.
As for your other queries I’d recommend you read over the policies on the ICM registry website:
http://www.icmregistry.com/icm-policies.php
and their FAQ:
https://member-icmregistry.custhelp.com/
Regards
Michele
Thanks for the swift answer Michele.
I’m aware that most domain registration and hosting providers do not police content, however your own comment earlier implies that you had an intention to do so:
“As long as the content does not breach Irish or EU law ie. is legal, then we don’t have an issue with it.”
Also this is not simply “any” kind of hosting or registration but specifically provision of sex centred content and so does not really fall into the “normal” sphere of hosting etc.
The links you have provided demonstrate that there is international recognition of this self-evident fact and that is why the .xxx TLD has been initiated, to enable segregation of this sort of content from other content.
One question still unanswered is: Will you be able to guarantee that shared hosting will not be shared between .xxx and .other TLD’s.
Leigh
Please read my previous comment in context.
Someone asked if we allow XYZ and I answered that specific query.
I did not suggest, infer or imply in any way that we would be policing content.
Adult content is not something that is clearly defined and we already host a lot of content that some people might find offensive – it depends on what they consider to be offensive.
A website selling lingerie could be considered “adult”, as could any number of other types of websites that cater to a mature audience.
It is not our role as the hosting provider to act as arbiter of such things nor are we legally obliged to “vet” content – it would be impossible to do so in any case.
And to be clear a domain registration is not the same thing as “content” or “hosting”.
In common with most domain registrars we provide domain registration services for domains that are not hosted on our network and never will be.
Also I could register “fluffybunnies.tld” and use it for any kind of content I choose. XXX domain name registrations are not any different if you read the documents on their site.
A lot of companies will be registering .xxx domain names simply to “block” their brand and the domain names will never actually resolve to anything.
We do not segment our hosting platform by domain extension, as the question has never arisen.
Regards
Michele