Let the Market, Not the Government, Punish the Redskins

Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- You might have missed the news thatNominet, the domain name registry for the U.K., is considering aban on offensive terms. This comes on the heels of the U.K.’splan to filter out sites the government deems objectionable,such as those featuring pornography, discussion of suicide or(my favorite) instructions on how to circumvent parentalInternet controls.

In the U.S., Internet domain names are largely unpoliced,except to avoid infringement of intellectual property. For somesite owners, choosing an offensive name seems to have a peculiarappeal. Many others are selected by accident. And in thelibertarian ethos of the technology world, both groups aregenerally left to their choices. The offended can always avoidthe troubling sites.