Domain sale highlights uneasy relationship

Legalbrief reports that with the enormous growth of the pornographic industry - largely due to the global Internet boom - the uneasy relationship is always under the spotlight. What once was taboo, hidden inside a suitcase or wardrobe in an older male relative's 'girlie magazines', has moved into all our homes. A new generation growing up on the Internet will be routinely exposed to extreme sexual violence before they have so much as removed their shirts in front of a real-life boyfriend or girlfriend. For the record, according to a report on the News24 site, sex.com fetched $12m in 2006, said a German firm handling the sale. 'It happens very rarely that an Internet address of this calibre goes on sale,' Cologne-based Sedo said. '(The) sale of sex.com offers the new owner a unique opportunity to become market leader.' According to the report, Sedo, which said it is the world's biggest trading platform for domain names, is selling sex.com on behalf of US firm Escom after creditors filed for insolvency protection. Meanwhile, the International Regulating Body the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) last week gave the green light to the .xxx Internet domain name suffix for adult Web sites. The Inquirer reports that the suffix works like .com, .org or .co.uk, only the .xxx domain takes surfers to the world of adult entertainment. The Icann board voted on and approved a series of next steps to bring the porn domain to life. Icann had to work in consultation with its own Governmental Advisory Committee and an Independent Review Panel. It was the review panel that said Icann was unfairly pressured to withdraw its domain application in 2007 after it caved in to pressure groups. The Guardian reports that Internet consultant Kieren McCarthy, who wrote a book about the battle for the sex.com domain and has worked for Icann, says that 'because they're very focused, and there's a lot of money there, pornographers often do really good advances in technology, so in-stream video, a big chunk of that is thanks to the adult industry'. Full report on the News24 site Full report in The Inquirer Full report in The Guardian

Meanwhile, it's been business as usual for paedophiles who are increasingly accessing indecent pictures of children from Web cams, experts warn. According to a BBC News report, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) says it has seen a 'notable increase' in still and moving images captured on Web cams. Ceop warns some of these images may be self-taken, as a result of online grooming, and others are passed on via Web cam streaming chat sites. The centre is also cracking down on paedophiles travelling abroad. In its annual review, Ceop said the volume of indecent images remained challenging and the rise in pictures captured via Web cams was notable. Full BBC News report

A 27-year-old man has been arrested and charged with grooming a minor for sex on the Internet. According to an ABC Net report, New South Wales Police say the man from Bonnet Bay in Sydney's south was arrested following investigations in which police posed as a 15-year-old girl. The man had allegedly been sexually explicit and arranged to meet the minor for sex during a year of conversations. Full ABC Net report

A mother has told of her horror after Google published a photograph of her young son naked on the Internet. According to a report on the IoL site, Claire Rowlands was stunned to see the image of Louis playing on a sunny day in his grandmother's garden in Walkden, Greater Manchester. Three-year-old Louis was snapped by Google's controversial 'camera car' as it took pictures of every road in Britain for the search engine's Street View service. The company blurred out the registration plate of a car in the driveway - but the image of Louis, who was wearing nothing but his shoes, was uncensored. Full report on the IoL site

Indonesian police said they would charge eight suspects over a celebrity sex video scandal that has gripped the mainly Muslim nation and fuelled calls for Internet controls. According to a report on the IoL site, chief detective Ito Sumardi refused to name the suspects but said they did not include models and television personalities Luna Maya and Cut Tari, who allegedly appear in the videos with rock star Nazril Ariel. Ariel, the singer with local pop band Peterpan, has already been charged with breaches of the anti-pornography law and remains in police custody awaiting trial. Sumardi said the eight other suspects had uploaded the two explicit videos to the Internet, sparking a national scandal. Full report on the IoL site

The South African Law Reform Commission (LRC) is conducting research to determine how the South African Pornographic Bill should be implemented, a process that could take up to 18 months. ITWeb reports that Bayanda Mzoneli, media and parliamentary liaison officer for the Department of Home Affairs, says deputy Minister Malusi Gigaba requested guidance from the LRC in 2009 on how best to ensure that TV, mobile phones and the Internet can be included in the classification dispensation to protect children. 'As technology evolves, it became clear that mobile phones and the Internet may contain some classifiable material, with the deputy Minister feeling that we cannot neglect these mediums of communication,' says Mzoneli. Full ITWeb report