The ICM Registry started offering .xxx domain to all interested parties including porn sites and non-porn brands or names.  The point of ICM Registry is to make all porn-related sites end with .xxx, so it would be easy to identify porn sites (I could just hear the pervs rejoicing in the background).  If you’re confused as to what the non-porn industry have to do with the .xxx domain, it’s simple: if you don’t want you or your brand be associated with porn, you can opt to take it out from the list so pervs can’t use your name or brand.

Schools like The University of Missouri and Washington University are now grabbing .xxx domains like washu.xxx and mizzou.xxx away from pornographers.

“We don’t want someone coming across our trademark on a porn site. God only knows what they’d come up with,” said Terry Robb, director of information technology at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The university also has registered missouri.xxx and missouritigers.xxx.

“It wouldn’t necessarily be anyone who even knew much about us,” said Karen Daubert, the university’s trademark and brand manager. As a result, the university has registered washu.xxx, along with washingtonuniversity.xxx and wustl.xxx.

So what would you actually see if you visit those sites? Nothing, the .xxx domain snatched by non-porn brands wouldn’t actually direct you to a specific page, it’s just there so no one can use it maliciously.

The Sunrise period had two parts, A and B. A was for the early porn brands to get their desired .xxx domains and B was for non-porn brands to take their name off the list.

Acquiring a .xxx domain is now on its Landrush period, where premium domains are up for grabs, which started last November 8 and will last until November 25.  After that, there will be a brief period before it becomes generally available by December 6, as in anyone can grab any available .xxx domain.  According to the ICM Registry site, after the Landrush period, brands competing for the same domain can opt to participate in a closed auction.