According to Tom Hymes, the FSC's communications director, the decision by the FSC to publicly state its position comes on the heels of a vote by the board of directors clarifying its opinion on .XXX, which has remained consistent since the organization was first approached in 2001 by ICM Registry for an endorsement.
Hymes further added that a statement made by ICM Registry representative Jason Hendeles saying that .XXX had garnered the support of "the industry and the free speech groups" incorrectly implied that the FSC was among those groups.
The FSC instead has expressed full support of the .kids sTLD as a more effective tool for fighting Internet child porn.
"To clarify, the Free Speech Coalition has never, does not now, and will not support a .XXX TLD, voluntary or otherwise," the FSC said in a statement. "It believes that the implementation of such a TLD will create a likely 'ghettoization' effect that will not only be counter productive to the best interests of the adult entertainment industry while providing no countervailing protection to children."
The 13-member FSC board was first approached by Hendeles and Canada-based ICM Registry in 2001 and then again in 2003. Both times, the FSC board declined to endorse the suffix. And while many members of the FSC board were in favor of .XXX, they failed to make the majority vote, Michelle Freridge, executive director for the FSC, told XBiz.
Freridge added that in the near future, the FSC plans to publish articles on why it stands opposed to .XXX, highlighting the risk of censorship by the government and other organizations.
".XXX would bring together in one room all sexually protected speech and it would create an incredible opportunity for government and non government institutions to censor and discriminate against the adult industry," Freridge said. "It would be so easy for Google or Visa to simply say 'we're going to make sure our computers don't go to .XXX.'
"To me, the risk of censorship is not worth the value of that protection when that protection can be achieved in other ways," she said.
Freridge added that the FSC was recently contacted by ICM Registry Chairman Stuart Lawley regarding its position on .XXX. According to Freridge, Lawley expressed an interest in supporting the FSC's 2257 lawsuit against the federal government.
Freridge would not comment on details related to the conversation with Lawley, but confirmed that the FSC has no intention of changing its position on .XXX.
"We're not changing our position, no matter what," she said.
