IRELAND — In spite of a reputation for heavy drinking, bar fights and big families, the Irish are not world famous for their prowess as lovers or their creativity and broad-mindedness when it comes to matters sexual. Although the days of the Magdalene laundries are largely over, a recent decision to ban two adult domain names suggests that old motivations still reside within some of the nation’s leaders. According to Stephen Ryan, the owner of Sex.ie, all attempts during the past four years to register the domains Porn.ie and Pornography.ie have been in vain – although work-around solutions such as registering Ornie.ie, packing it with licentiousness and tweaking it to display as P.Ornie.ie work fine.

Why? Because “Ornie” isn’t a word deemed “offensive or contrary to public policy or generally accepted principles of morality,” as the Irish Domain Registry (IEDR) defines it.

“Porn” and “Pornography,” however? Very offensive words, if the IEDR is to be taken seriously, which is unfortunate for the owner of Sex.ie, given that the words are also the names of businesses he owns and would like to promote online.

Ryan explains in a blog post that he took legal action against the IEDR two years ago in order to defend the character of the two unfortunate words. Along with a lawyer who specializes in digital law cases, Ryan pointed out that both words appear in the Oxford English Dictionary but neither are identifies as being “rude, derogatory, or offensive.” Further, the duo observed that the word “pornography” appears in the names of governmental agencies and laws, including the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998, and has been bandied about on the floor of Parliament during debates.

Of special importance in Ryan’s case is the fact that the Companies Registration Office did not deem the words to be “offensive or contrary to public policy or generally accepted principles of morality” when it registered his business names.

Ironically, IEDR has previously authorized domains including SexAndViolence.ie and Fcuk.ie.

Even more ironically, after initially claiming that Ryan had never attempted to register his domains and that the IEDR had never denied his allegedly non-existent requests, the agency admitted that it possessed records supporting his claim. Soon after, the appeals body ruled that the agency had acted unfairly – and then decided the matter in the IEDR’s favor.

As the appeals body explained it, “In the view of this tribunal the Respondent, in themselves, neither of these domain names are offensive or contrary to generally accepted principles of morality and the Respondent was incorrect in refusing to register these domain names as being offensive or contrary to generally acceptable principles of morality. The Appellant must therefore succeed on this element of his Appeal.”

While that might lead most people to conclude that Porn.ie and Pornography.ie would soon be on the internet menu, the appeals body changed course in the middle of its own message and concluded that however illogical, the IEDR is legally allowed to make whatever decision it wished.

“Both Parties recognize that the Respondent is a body carrying out functions of a public nature, and is the only body that administers the public resource that is the .ie Internet domain,” the tribunal observed. “It would appear therefore that there is no other candidate for the role of arbiter of public policy in respect of the .ie domain space except the Respondent itself. For reasons given above, in the absence of any other source of public policy and while the logic may appear cyclical, the public policy that this tribunal must apply is the policy of the Respondent. It would not be appropriate for this Appeal tribunal to take upon itself the role of arbiter of public policy.”

Ryan concludes his tale of domain woe by observing that “there is talk that the Communications Regulator (ComReg) may eventually take control of the IEDR and hopefully drag them into the twenty-first century, but until then I have no choice but to accept the powers that be have the ability to censor words which suggest nudity and arousal.”

In the meantime, Pornography.ie remains listed as an available domain in case anyone else can convince the IEDR to release it.