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Go Daddy confirms .xxx pricing, will host porn sites

Kevin Murphy, August 15, 2011, 09:03:12 (UTC), Domain Registrars

Go Daddy has revealed its pricing scheme for .xxx domain names and confirmed that it will indeed host the porn sites that use them.
When .xxx goes into general availability in December, Go Daddy will charge $100 per name per year.
That’s surprisingly high – a $40 markup on the $60 ICM Registry fee – for a registrar generally known for its reasonable prices.
I know of at least two registrars planning to sell .xxx more cheaply – the UK’s DomainMonster ($75 if bought in bulk) and Spain’s DinaHosting ($67). There may be others I haven’t come across yet.
Sunrise period pricing at Go Daddy is $210 for applications from the adult entertainment industry and $200 for trademark holders from outside the industry. Landrush prices will be $200 too.
Those fees represent some of the better deals I’ve seen for .xxx’s pre-launch phases.
The prices have not yet been published on the Go Daddy web site, but a company spokesperson confirmed that some of its larger customers have been privately notified.
That apparently includes Mike Berkens, who broke the news last week.
Go Daddy also confirmed that it will host .xxx porn sites, though only on its paid-for hosting accounts.
I’ve always been a little confused by Go Daddy’s hosting terms of service. By my reading, porn was outright banned. Apparently I was dead wrong.
The company’s general counsel, Christine Jones, said in a statement:

Go Daddy’s Web hosting agreement does not currently prohibit pornography, except in the case of ad-supported hosting. Those terms will continue for all TLDs, including .xxx, unless otherwise prohibited by our agreements with the various registry operators.

I know I’m not the only person out there who was confused by the ToS, but I can’t think of a better person to clarify the situation than the company’s top lawyer.

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Comments (3)

  1. Batfan says:
    August 15, 2011 at 6:12 pm

    “By my reading, porn was outright banned.”
    Hmm, odd. I never read it that way. I have always know their policy to be that as long as your hosted site wasn’t illegal or slanderous, it was fine.
    As a matter of fact, if your familiar with their instant site solution ‘Website Tonight’, they used to have a reseller (setup through Wild West Domains) called ‘Porn Site Tonight’.

    Reply
    • Kevin Murphy says:
      August 15, 2011 at 6:31 pm

      The bit that had me confused was

      You agree not to engage in unacceptable use of the Services, which includes, without limitation, use of the Services to:
      — disseminate or transmit unsolicited messages, chain letters, unsolicited commercial email, or unreasonably large volumes of email on a daily basis, provided, Go Daddy, in its sole discretion, may permit you, if you have a legitimate purpose and after request, to send more email than Go Daddy’s standard SMTP relay limit;
      — disseminate or transmit any material that, to a reasonable person may be abusive, obscene, pornographic, defamatory, harassing, grossly offensive, vulgar, threatening or malicious;

      It was never obvious to me that this referred exclusively to the ad-supported hosting service.
      It would seem to suggest that all the other bad stuff outlined there (abusive, harassing, malicious, etc) is permissable as long as you’re a paying customer.

      Reply
      • Batfan says:
        August 15, 2011 at 7:42 pm

        Yeah, that would appear to be the case.
        Smart move considering that their name appears in the ads, on the ad-supported hosting.

        Reply

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