from www.greeleygazette.com – Following last week’s announcement that the new .xxx domain name for web addresses was going live, Morality in Media has called for a federal investigation into the issue.

While many are familiar with the suffixes for web addresses such as .com .org and .net, last year the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved .xxx as a domain name.

Last Tuesday the .xxx domain went live with an estimated 100,000 websites.

ICM Registry explained the purpose for the new domain on its website; “The Internet is home to a wealth of content suitable for a wide range of ages and values. The adult entertainment industry has, and always will, account for a large amount of this content, and while it is enjoyed by some, it is not suitable, or of interest, to all internet users.”

“The creation of .XXX will create a clearly signposted place where adult entertainment can be accessed and allow surfers to have a clear idea of the nature of the site before they click, rather than after.”

One problem with a domain exclusively dedicated to pornography is that it could cause companies that are opposed to pornography to purchase a .xxx domain to ensure their name is not abused. For instance, the official white house site is whitehouse.gov, however whitehouse.com was a porn site until 2004.

Often times a company will be forced to buy all the domain names for their organization to prevent someone from starting a site with a similar name. For instance, a pornographer could purchase a site titled nickjr.xxx unless Nick Jr., which is a children’s network, purchases the rights to that domain as well.

Morality in Media has called for Congress to make it a crime for anyone to register a name on the .xxx site that is registered on another domain without the consent of the owner of the other domain name.

In a statement, MIM President Patrick Trueman [pictured] said, “Nearly every company in the world, every blogger, and the holders of any domain name must fear that the ICM Registry will allow their good name to be trashed on the .XXX domain unless they pay this ‘protection money’ to ICM Registry and its affiliated registrars.”

“Congress must address this outrage. It should be against federal criminal law for anyone to register a name on this porn domain that is registered on another domain without authorization of the owner of the other domain name,” said Trueman. “Both the person registering the name and the registrar, ICM Registry and its affiliate registrars, should be subject to this law. Without such law, ICM Registry and its affiliated registrars will be enriched to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in this protection scam,” he said.”

MIM also called for Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the activities of ICM Registry as it relates to federal criminal laws.

Trueman contends that current law prohibits the distribution of hard core pornography and the new .xxx domain will do just that.

“Why should the ICM Registry, a possible criminal enterprise, be allowed to hold hostage the good names of countless millions with the threat of an association with pornography?” said Trueman.

Studies have shown that pornography causes a multitude of social ills such as addiction, divorce and other social costs according to pornharms.com.