Unknown Buyer Obtains 'Vatican.xxx' Web Domain
A mystery buyer has acquired the Internet address Vatican.xxx, which combines the Holy See with an extension specifically used for pornographic material.
The Vatican reported the news Wednesday, according to Reuters. Vatican spokesman Father Frederick Lombardi announced on Vatican radio, “This domain is not available because it has been available by someone else, but not the Vatican.”
The statement did not clarify if the Vatican had tried to acquire the domain in order to prevent future misuse before the unknown buyer beat them to it. Italian media reports indicated that the Vatican had tried to buy the .xxx, like numerous other organizations have done, but Lombardi denied doing so.
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Companies, universities, museums, and many other groups have registered the .xxx domain to avoid being associated with the pornographic content the domain name is intended for.
Earlier this month, more than 100,000 websites went live with the new .xxx domain name after it was approved by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.) The international nonprofit coordinates Web addresses and the launch resulted in the most successful of any new top-level domain.
Aside from protecting their name online, some organizations are worried about the effects proliferated porn sites may have on families and children.
Additionally, the new domain has not only made both religious groups unhappy, but the porn industry as well. While religious family organizations have very different reasons, Playboy opposes the move because they say it promotes anticompetitive business practices.
One of the main reasons behind launching the .xxx domain name was to allow Web users a clear indicator of what type of site they are visiting based on the Web address alone. In theory, the address will prevent users from visiting porn sites on accident, and also the .xxx allows parents, employers, and schools to block those sites from their networks with greater ease.
