The recent rejection of a dedicated .xxx domain for porn sites has prompted the company behind the plan, ICM Registry , to launch a legal attack against the US Department of Commerce.

ICM claims that the Department of Commerce intervened in Icann’s consideration of the .xxx domain proposal and exerted political influence to have the plan rejected.

The lawsuit has been filed under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in order to gain access to information being withheld by the Commerce Department.

Although it has become well known that conservative groups in the US lobbied hard for the Commerce Department to block the new domain, the argument has now blown up into more than a fight for a porn domain, and into an investigation into how much power the US government exerts over control of the internet.

ICM claims that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has provided no explanation of the statutory basis and reasons for redacting and withholding documents relating to the consideration of the proposal. Furthermore, the company asserts that records show that while the Commerce Department lacked any official decisional role in approving new domain names, it nevertheless decided to intervene in the Icann process.

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