XXX rated colleges

Forget .com, .org, and .edu.  Colleges are buying up the new .xxx domain.

Intended for pornographers, the extension is getting thousands of dollars from colleges and companies who are buying up the sites to do nothing with them.

“The University of Kansas is buying up website names such as www.KUgirls.xxx and www.KUnurses.xxx. … the university and countless other schools and businesses are rushing to prevent their good names from falling into the hands of the pornography industry. Over the past two months, they have snapped up tens of thousands of ".xxx" website names that could be exploited by the adult entertainment business….The university spent nearly $3,000 in all.”

Target, Pepsi and Nike are businesses who are listed in the article at http://news.yahoo.com/thwart-porn-colleges-buying-xxx-sites-193653013.html 

But wait. Isn’t this effectively shaking down businesses, requiring them to pay money to protect their trademarks? Sounds like this to me. In fact, at the end of the article we see just such a contention: “Vivas said she doesn't think her company — or any organization, adult-oriented or not — should have to pay to protect its trademarks. Otherwise, "it kind of becomes extortion."”