In line with other universtities, Temple bought up ‘.xxx’ sites as a precaution.
Temple has joined a slew of universities nationwide in buying .xxx domain names in order to avoid future association with salacious content.
The .xxx domain, more commonly known as “dot-triple-x,” serves as an up-and-coming, unfiltered web address for x-rated content in the same vein as its .com and .org counterparts.
Officially approved in March 2011 by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, universities and various other organizations have since scrambled to buy-out .xxx domain names in order to protect and maintain copyright privileges.
Assistant Vice President of University Communications Ray Betzner clarifies that Temple’s purchase of .xxx domain names is indicative of strictly “precautionary” measures.
“Temple has always worked to keep the Temple name as strong as possible, and part of that effort is making sure that we’re represented appropriately on the Web,” Betzner said. “We want to make sure that websites that seem like they’re from Temple University are actually appropriate.”
Betzner further remarked that, unlike with universities such as the University of Kansas, which reportedly has spent nearly $3,000 on more than 200 distinct domain names, Temple has not spent more than “a couple hundred dollars” on snatching smutty domain names.
“Dot-triple-x” domains became available for public purchase early last month via official .xxx registry ICM Registry, with Temple having quickly purchased Temple.xxx and TempleUniversity.xxx addresses. Upwards of 155,000 organizations grabbed domain names in the first 24 hours of availability. The university did not comment about additional domains purchased, however.
“I would prefer not to say [which domains were purchased],” Betzner said. “I don’t want to give folks out there any ideas.”
ICM Registry spokesperson Jocelyn Johnson has expressed that some buyers nationwide have spent as much as $500,000 to secure major and blatantly adult-oriented domain names like gay.xxx and shemale.xxx.
The new .xxx domain destination aims to isolate online adult entertainment so as to avoid unwanted content stumbling from adolescents and other unknowing users while navigating basic .com, .org and .edu domains. In addition to increasing awareness of adult content, .xxx also cleanses the virus-prone nature of adult sites by implementing free daily McAfee Malware scans for each individual .xxx site.
And despite concerns from other universities both in the area and elsewhere, Temple appears relatively calm about the potentially damaging effects of .xxx associations.
“I was [recently] at a conference with about a dozen other people from universities across Pennsylvania,” Betzner said. “We talked about a lot of very important issues, but this was not one of them.”
Brandon Baker can be reached at brandon.baker@temple.edu.
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