At the beginning of the year, the domain addresses with the new suffix, .xxx became available for purchase for pornography sites in addition to the .com for business, .edu for schools and .gov for government agencies, according to an article on the KITV Website.
This has made Hawai‘i colleges and universities across the nation vulnerable to the pornography industry, for about $100 a year.
The concern was made real for the UH system last week – UniversityofHawaii.xxx was bought and is now an official X-rated website.
“My initial response is, ‘Can they shut it down?’ Someone else owns the domain name,” said Jeremy Rio, 23, liberal arts major.
Not only were the domain names of universities available for purchase like “UniversityofHawaii.xxx” or “UHManoa.xxx,” but also “UHBabes” and “UHGirls,” reported the KITV news article.
Some students at KCC think the site is improper.
“It’s kind of inappropriate, and I think it’s kind of weird,” Lindsey Watanabe, 18, liberal arts major said about the university site.
Another UH university, the University of Houston in Texas has blocked more than 50 URLs to protect the schools reputation, which is why “UHBabes” and “UHGirls” have already been purchased.
Schools across the nation like the University of Houston, Hawai‘i Pacific University (HPU) and University of Missouri have shelled out thousands of dollars to secure several domain names.
The University of Houston in Texas spent about $5,000 to secure several domain to avoid the potential of image and reputation being damaged.
Also, the University of Kansas spent $3,000 and scooped of domain names relating to the school, like “kansas.xxx” and “jawhawks.xxx,” “KUnurses.xxx,” “KUgirls.xxx” and more, an article posted on CBSnews.com stated.
Indiana University has spent around $2,200 and purchased 11 names, which included “hoosiers.xxx.”
Among the universities, the University of Illinois won’t by .xxx domain names, but instead will take the action of threatening cybersquatters with legal action, reported an article on the Chicago Tribune Website.
Even though the X-rated sites have been popping up over the country, many students in the state haven’t heard of the purchases.
Mainland schools have bought out many of the X-rated domain names to keep their school’s image in positive light, though UH has not purchased any of the domain names relating back to the university.
Not only is the .xxx suffix affecting the UH system domain names and name variations, but also Hawaiʻi high schools.
The ICM registry announced the opportunity to pay $200 per address to be sure that it is blocked from adult content, according to an article on USAtoday.com
Hawaiʻi schools made vulnerable to this X-rated domain purchase includes Chaminade University, which has a number of suffixes available for purchase and wants to protect its good name, according to KITV.com
Kamehameha Schools even has some .xxx names out there for purchase. Along with universities the addresses “disney.xxx” and “marvel.xxx” were reserved.
“I didn’t know (about the x-rated site), it’s not good.” said Cody Reyes, 20, elementary education major. said Cody Reyes, 20, elementary education major. “It’s pretty messed up (and) it brings up a bad reputation for the school.”