According to UW-Madison, the best way (not) to beat it is to block it, as the university took preventative measures to protect the exploitation of its name by pornographic websites.
The recent creation of the .xxx Internet domain name, meant exclusively for the pornography industry, has prompted companies and institutions to buy up .xxx domains to prevent any X-rated use.
UW-Madison has opted to block rather than purchase a number of domain names such as “UWMadison.xxx, UniversityOfWisconsin.xxx and WisconsinBadgers.xxx,” a measure that will keep the various domains unavailable to purchase for the next 10 years.
According to Tricia Dickinson, marketing director for UW Communications, the block entailed putting the university’s intellectual trademarks off-limits.
“Basically there was a chance for any organization to file and say ‘hey, these are our federally protected trademarks,” Dickinson said. “If anyone says they want to create a website called Coca-Cola .xxx, for example, Coca-Cola would’ve already filed and said nope, nobody else can do that.”
Dickinson conceded that the block has its limits in protecting the university’s image. Responding to a domain that sidesteps the blocked terms is more expensive and complex, involving the university’s legal action against any sites that do arise.
“We couldn’t possibly predict all the ways someone could use our name,” she said. “For instance, if someone said, ‘Hey, I’m going to create a porn site called ‘Badgercoeds.xxx,’ there was no way we could know what all the possible variations could be.”
