Governors, Senators, and Members of Congress blocked on .xxx registry

The ICM Registry - which controls .xxx - announced last month that they'd taken off the market thousands of domain names that match the first and last name of celebrities, politicians, and international organizations. Quoted in the UK's Guardian newspaper, ICM CEO Stuart Lawley said:

"The reason we banned the celebrities' names was because it's very difficult for them to trademark their names. We didn't want to have the embarrassment of AngelinaJolie.xxx coming up at the launch of the new domain."

But they've refused thus far to release that list. We've been testing a large number of names, and so far, every single one - except that of Congressman Mark Amodei (elected just last month in NV-2) - has been blocked.

You can see for yourself. Just visit the ICM Registry's WHOIS page and enter in a possible domain.

If it responds "Not Found", that domain will be available when general registration opens in November. But if it responds "Reserved by ICM Registry", then it's off the market.

But, wait! What about state legislators, down-ballot state officials, local officials, and candidates? Have no fear, the ICM Registry also has a general rule against swiping names. Again, Lawley:

"There's a prohibition on anyone registering a first or last name that doesn't belong to them," he said.

So, really. Don't panic.