[ draft-iahc-salim-restricted-tld.txt ] [ Author: A. Michael Salim, salim@localweb.com ] [ Expires: March 31, 1997 ] PROPOSAL TO RESERVE RESTRICTED TLD'S FOR ADULT-ORIENTED DOMAINS. Status This proposal has NO official status. History 1.01 January 17, 1997 Rewritten and submitted Abstract This draft proposes to reserve a TLD (top level domain) for the purposes of restricted activities, such as adult-oriented sites, in a manner that preserves the freedom of speech yet provides a simple and elegant mechanism to monitor and/or block such sites as necessitated by personal preferences or required by law. Assumptions That one or more TLD's will be made available for this specific purpose. Abbreviations TLD - Top Level Domain RTLD - Restricted Top Level Domain Introduction and Background There is a proliferation of sexually oriented and adult oriented sites on the World Wide Web. In fact there are those who suggest that the majority of traffic on the Internet today is carried to and from such sites. There are numerous individuals and organizations who would prefer to ban or prohibit such sites, or at least somehow prevent these sites being accessible to minors in households. At the same time, there are numerous individuals, commercial and non-commercial organizations that seek to preserve the right and the ability to host such sites and newsgroups. THIS PROPOSAL DOES NOT ARGUE FOR OR AGAINST EITHER POINT OF VIEW. This proposal provides a simple mechanism that would allow both positions to be fully satisfied, without placing an undue burden on either positions and without extracting a compromise from either position. Implementation This proposal requires implementation in two arenas: technical and legal. It proposes the implementation of one or more RTLD's (RESTRICTED TOP LEVEL DOMAINS). Technical Aspects Assuming a TLD (top level domain) or TLD's can be reserved for such sites, the technical aspects of this proposal are trivial. All that would be at issue would be the actual number of such TLD's (1 probably) and it's name (.SEX, or .XXX, or perhaps less controversially, .R). Once a RTLD is created and operational, it would be a simple matter for any software (be it a Web Browser, Email reader, or any other such applications program) to permit or block such sites based solely on the TLD extension. It would not be necessary for such software to search the content of the transmission, or perform any complex heuristics on the domain name to determine whether this is a restricted domain or not. Legal Aspects (I AM NOT A LAWYER. I AM JUST AN ENGINEER WITH GOOD INTENTIONS, ON THE WHOLE.) The implementation of this proposal would require that all SLD's (second level domains) carrying adult oriented material (as determined by law) be required to register in the RTLD's exclusively. Registering such a domain outside one of the RTLD's would be a violation of law in the same manner as exporting the wrong kind of encryption technology is today. Domains carring non adult material would be free to register in RTLD's if they wished. Conclusion With RTLD or RTLD's in place it will be possible for anyone who wishes to set up an adult oriented domain to do so freely and without hindrance. At the same time it would be possible for the recipients of this material to easily block this material based solely on the short TLD extension (.SEX, .R, .XXX or whatever). The technical aspects of this implementation are trivial enough that the blocking mechanisms could be readily built right into the Operating System. Contact Information This text written and copyright 1997 by A. Michael Salim salim@localweb.com American Data Technology, Inc. http://www.localweb.com 2 Davis Drive, P.O. Box 12892 Phone 919-558-8842 Reserach Triangle Park Fax 919-547-0820 North Carolina NC 27709 USA President, American Data Technology, Inc. Permission to copy this document as long as credit is given. Permission to place on IAHC website is given.