Indiana University buys up ‘.xxx’ domain names

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana University is buying up 11 Internet domains names using a new suffix meant for pornography sites.

University officials say they’re buying the “.xxx” to keep IU’s name from being connected to a pornography site and to protect the school’s trademarks.

University trademarks director Valerie Gill tells The Herald-Times that if someone else were to start using those domain names, it would cost IU several thousand dollars to fight it legally.

The university is paying $2,200 to secure the 11 site names for 10 years. Those names include Indianauniversity.xxx, Hoosiers.xxx, IUPUI.xxx and others based on the initial of Indiana’s regional campuses.

The organization that oversees the Internet address system approved the “.xxx” suffix in March. The addresses are becoming available this month.