LISBON A “red-light district” for pornographic websites was vetoed yesterday after a key internet oversight agency rejected a proposal for an “.xxx” internet domain.

Proponents of the measures found some solace in the views of some board members of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, who felt that the agency was too timid to embrace controversial ideas.

It was the third time the suggestion had been rejected by the agency, whose members are selected by the US.

“The most fundamental value of the global internet community is that people who propose to use the internet protocols and infrastructures for otherwise lawful purposes, without threatening the operational stability or security of the internet, should be presumed to be entitled to do so,” said Susan Crawford, a member against rejecting the plan, by ICM Registry LLC.

“In a nutshell, everything not prohibited is permitted,” she said, before the board voted 9-5 against the proposal. ( AP)

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