History of the Toronto.XXX Web Domain

[blueman]

When the toronto.xxx domain went up for sale in 2011; there was a concern that the City of Toronto might have to buy it.

However, in December 2011, the city declined to. At the time, Coun. Paul Ainslie, chairman of the government management committee, said to Don Peat of the Toronto Sun: “If somebody wants to own toronto.xxx and turn it into an adult entertainment site, feel free,” he said. “Toronto.ca certainly won’t direct itself to it.” Ainslie also pointed out the city had faced enough heat when a columnist found the Toronto Reference Library had Playboy on microfilm.

According to domaintools.com, toronto.xxx registered first on November 30, 2011.

From 2020 to 2023, Toronto.XXX was an adult directory that provided information on erotic services and resources in the Greater Toronto Area of Canada.

What Did Other Canadian Cities Do?
Other Canadian cities like Saskatoon, possibly Ottawa, Calgary and Halifax, but not Vancouver, have registered their city names to prevent them from being registered by adult-themed or other undesirable businesses.

What Does “XXX” Actually Mean?
XXX, of course, is usually code for the highly pornographic material. In the US, the MPAA had an X rating until 1989, when it was replaced with the NC-17 rating.

NC-17 (No one under 17 admitted), rating replaced “X” as the X classification was so strongly associated with pornographic films that many theatres would not show those films. Examples of mainstream films that would have received the X rating if made before 1989 include Showgirls (1995), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989) and Rodney Dangerfield’s Nothin’ Goes Right (1988), which was X-rated in release but reclassified as NC-17 in 1991. Canada has no NC-17 rating, so the R (Restricted to 18 years and older audiences) rating is used instead.

In the 1970s, the adult film industry embraced the X-rating, and producers created the “XX” and “XXX” “ratings” to market a film as especially wild and sexy, much like “unrated-cut” is used for the same effect. The XXX term also went beyond movies to magazines and strip clubs using XXX to advertise themselves as pornographic.

Outside of movies, XXX also has several other meanings, including:

Mostly in In cartoons today, XXX indicates strong alcohol. Initially, it came from Moonshine labels. The XXX on a bottle meant the alcohol had gone through a triple-step process to produce almost 100% pure alcohol.

“XXX” at the end of a message means kisses. Sometimes, XOXO is used the same way. Sometimes, it implies more than a peck on the cheek, so use it with care.
XXX (three tens) is the number 30 in Roman numerals.
A t-shirt size (like XXXL)
It’s a trio of Vin Diesel movies where Deisel’s Xander Cage saves the world through his mastery of extreme sports. The first movie also featured Toronto subbing in for Moscow…and Hamilton as Detroit.

In Toronto, a “Modern Intimate Suite in Toronto” for rent in the Wellesley and Jarvis St. area of Toronto, according to Booking.com.
Finally, it can refer to the Straightedge lifestyle that believes in monogamous relationships, and abstaining from drugs, alcohol—kind of the opposite of nearly everything else in this list.

When Did the XXX Domain Start?
The history of the XXX domain goes back to the earliest years of the internet. Initially proposed in 2000 as a way of separating pornographic content from other content, it faced opposition from politicians, conservative activists and even from the adult industry, that feared it would make it easy for search engines to block their content.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) gave final approval of the XXX domain in March 2011 by a 9-3 vote.

Once it became available in 2011, many marketing and IT articles recommended businesses purchase the “xxx” domain as a way of protecting their brand, in much of the way “[company name]sucks” was frequently purchased in the early years of the internet, or when the .sucks domain arrived in 2014.

Other domains have faced scrutiny over the years; for instance, the .baby domain proposed by Johnson&Johnson for baby products was opposed by Saud Arabia over concerns it would be misused.

How to Get an XXX Domain
The XXX domain is a sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) owned by the International Foundation for Online Responsibility (IFFOR) and administered by ICM Registry in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Domains can be purchased from many well-known domain registrars such as Hover.com, GoDaddy and NameCheap, among others. To use it, you do need to register with ICM Registry (it’s currently free and takes about a day or two to complete). ICM will and they will provide a code that needs to be provided to the register.

What Is the Difference Between .Adult, .Porn and .XXX Domains?
In 2015 ICANN approved a host of other domains, including .porn and .adult. Again several companies and individuals were the buyers of these domains. According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), one of the earlier buyers was pop star Taylor Swift who purchased TaylorSwift.porn and TaylorSwift.adult before anyone else could – presumably including her exes.

In practical terms, there is not much difference between these new domains and .xxx, other than .xxx, is shorter and has a four-year lead in the public conciseness.

-- Originally published on 6/6/20

[SensualCanuck]

An interesting read.