IU scrambles to purchase domain names before sites fall to porn industry

IU and universities across the country have started buying .xxx web addresses associated with their names, logos and mascots. The .xxx domain typically signifies that a site contains pornographic material and was approved in early 2011 by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

“The last thing we want is people to go to what they think is an IU site and get an adult site instead,” said Mark Land, associate vice president for IU Communications.

The new domain name creates an opportunity for “cyber squatters” to purchase the rights to web addresses containing words such as “Indiana University” or “Hoosiers” for a low fee and then keep them ransom in hopes of extorting the University for more money.

During a two-month grace period in fall 2011, the ICM Registry offered trademark holders the first opportunity to purchase websites containing their trademark, charging $200 per address for a one-time blocking fee that prevents individuals in the pornography industry from buying the site to host adult content.

Both IU and Purdue took advantage of the opportunity, as did Michigan, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Missouri and the University of Kansas, as reported by USA Today.

Land said IU purchased 11 sites during the grace period, spending a total of $2,200.

"It’s a reasonable expense to pay to protect the dignity and value of our trademark and name,” he said. “We obviously aren’t going to use them, but we don’t want anyone else to use them either.”

IU bought the rights to the sites for all seven of their campuses, such as iub.xxx and iupui.xxx, as well as hoosiers.xxx, iuhoosiers.xxx, indianahoosiers.xxx and  indianauniversity.xxx.

Land said this isn’t necessarily a new concept, and IU has an interest in obtaining as many website domains as possible that are associated with its trademark. However, he said purchasing the .xxx domains is even more important because the school doesn’t want the IU brand associated with adult content.

“We have been pretty proactive in staying ahead of that,” he said. “The IU name has a lot of value, and we want to protect that name.”