Skip to main content

Universities buying .xxx domains to keep their brands porn-free

porn.xxx.domain.university.shutterstock
Image used with permission by copyright holder

In an attempt to protect their brands from enterprising pornographers and cybersquatters, a number of universities have begun purchasing .xxx top level domains, reports the St. Louis Dispatch. The move will hopefully prevent the school from being associated in any way with sex-laden content.

“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, which has purchased both the missouri.xxx and missouritigers.xxx domains.

Washington University, another St. Louis school, has also taken precautions, having purchased the washu.xxx, washingtonuniversity.xxx and wustl.xxx domains. Each .xxx domain costs about $200 to register. In none of the reported cases so far will any of the .xxx domains purchased by universities actually point to any websites.

The .xxx top level domain was approved in March by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which regulates what can and cannot become a top level domain.

Having foreseen the inevitable problem of cybersquatters, ICM Registry, the company that controls the .xxx top level domain, has banned the registration of .xxx domains that include the names of more than 4,000 well-known celebrities, like Angelina Jolie, Donald Trump and Beyonce. Some governmental and child protection agencies have also been blocked, by request.

ICM chief executive Stuart Lawley says he expects his company will sell more than 500,000 .xxx domains by early next year, mostly to the adult entertainment industry.

[Image via Jeff Thrower/Shutterstock]

Andrew Couts
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
How to change your language in Google Chrome on desktop
Chrome OS

Google Chrome supports a wide range of languages. While it'll default to English in most cases, there's nothing stopping you from changing its settings and displaying pages in Spanish, French, or dozens of other languages.

Changing your default language in Chrome takes only a few seconds, and the technique used is the same across Windows and Mac. Aside from changing your language, note that Chrome now gives you the option to automatically translate pages written in another language – making it easy to read content from around the globe.

Read more
23 of the best Netflix hacks, tips, and tricks
The Netflix home screen.

Netflix is one of the most popular streaming platforms for all things movies and TV shows. Home to an immense library of titles, the Netflix archive is constantly changing and evolving, and so are the many ways you can use your Netflix account. 

For instance, did you know you can access region-locked Netflix shows and flicks by using a VPN? Or that you can disable that pesky Autoplay feature? There are tons of Netflix hacks, tips, and tricks out there, so we’ve gone ahead and rounded up all of our favorites! 
Expand your streaming with a VPN

Read more
How to make a GIF from a YouTube video
woman sitting and using laptop

Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

Read more