ICANN Board to Vote Friday on .XXX

SAN FRANCISCO—In response to a question at a press conference yesterday during the week-long ICANN meeting in San Francisco, ICANN Board Chair Peter Dengate Thrush said the .XXX sponsored top-level domain will be put before the Board for a vote Friday. "Yes, I'm happy to say that that's back on the agenda for the Board for a vote this Friday," said Thrush. "I'm not clear what the Board is going to do, and I don't speak for them. There will be another vote. Historically, those votes have been reasonably interesting, they've been quite close, they've raised a number of issues and it's been one of those topics, I think, after which we've had more Board members wanting to speak and go on the record explaining their rationale for their views than previously. That may well be the same this time, but yes, it's on the agenda for Friday." Also in San Francisco for the meeting are members of the adult industry, many of whom will participate in a rally Thursday outside the conference venue at the Westin-St. Francis Hotel, in Union Square. The rally will take place from 12:30 p.m-2 p.m., and will be followed immediately by a 2 p.m. press conference half a block away at the Chancellor Hotel, 433 Powell Street, where leading members of the adult industry will express their opposition to .XXX and take questions from the media. For more information about the ICANN meeting, visit here.  A video of yesterday's press conference can be viewed here.