Porn zone firm wants a paypal system

The United States firm that is set to manage a new ".xxx" red light zone on the internet has revealed plans to revolutionise the internet porn business by setting up a payment service that will let web users buy porn securely and anonymously.

ICM Registry chairman Stuart Lawley told The Dominion Post he expected the "paypal for porn" service would process up to US$2 billion (NZ$2.87b) for adult website operators.

The company has spent 10 years and US$9.5 million battling for the right to create ".xxx" – a suffix that would replace others such as ".com" or ".co.nz" in internet addresses.

Its breakthrough came at a meeting of the global internet-policy making body ICANN in Brussels last month, when ICANN's chairman – Wellington barrister Peter Dengate Thrush – moved a motion to begin contract negotiations.

ICM Registry's desire to go a step further and create a "trusted interface" between adult websites and consumers of porn, with its own payment system, is likely to send ripples around the industry. It is due to be reported in the US by Business Week later today.

"Imagine you are a porn consumer – before you go to an adult website you are probably very cautious about releasing your personal information and credit card details," Mr Lawley said.

"We verify you are an adult, you put your money with us, and then we allow you to surf `.xxx' sites and spend your `ICM dollars'."

Adult website operators had "pre-registered" 157,000 ".xxx" addresses. Mr Lawley estimated there were 10 million adult web addresses.

According to Internet Pornography Statistics, which measures adult web traffic, more than US$3000 is spent on internet pornography every second, while "sex" accounts for a quarter of all internet searches.

Mr Lawley said the adult industry was being "hosed" by credit card companies with high processing fees and frequent "charge-backs" when customers disputed bills.

"They are generally paying 20 per cent processing charges. We think we can halve that, without any charge-backs."

Fewer bills would be disputed because adult websites that wrongly charged customers risked having their internet address revoked by ICM Registry.

The British-born lawyer said one of the low points for ICM Registry came shortly before an ICANN meeting in Wellington in 2006, when he learned through The Dominion Post that the United States Commerce Department had signalled its opposition to ".xxx".

"We thought it was all going to happen in Wellington and it didn't."

A year later at an ICANN meeting in Lisbon it appeared ".xxx" had been shot down for good. Mr Lawley said ".xxx" seemed no less a good idea than it did when ICM Registry first applied to create it, even though the internet had matured.

"During that time, adult content on the internet hasn't gone away. This is all about allowing websites to be seen to be operating to a code of conduct and voluntarily labelling their content."

Martin Cocker, chief executive of New Zealand cyber watchdog Netsafe, said ".xxx" would not make the rest of the internet any cleaner as pornographic websites could continue to operate and be set up with other addresses. Neither was "paypal for porn" a silver bullet for people frequenting adult websites.

"Anywhere where you have got a payment mechanism on the net, you have got a target for fraud."

- © Fairfax NZ News