It took three years for ICANN to issue a breach notice to BizCn over the invalid WHOIS record behind RAPETUBE[DOT]ORG. Throughout the history of this absurd case ICANN staff would repeatedly insist the record had been validated and the registrar was compliant, regardless of extensive evidence proving otherwise. Despite a letter sent to ICANN’s CEO and an investigation by the Washington Post, the Rape Tube stayed online. Before it was finally taken down, the site described itself thus:

“Welcome to Rape Tube – the biggest rape porn site for violent sex videos (movies). In our site you can find tons of videos full of teen rape, lesbian rape, hentai rape, gay rape and any other rape sex video you could imagine. There are regularly updates at the site. Become a member for free (instant registration) and submit your own videos, rate the vids you watched and join the community.”

In the process of investigating this domain we found dozens of others with “rape” in the title. While many immediately argue this is “fantasy” or free speech, It is important to recognize that “rape” is an industry on the Internet, a business model. The organizations behind these sites are purely commercial in nature; there is no artistic or documentary value. The lines of so called fantasy are completely blurred here and have real world victims.

Holly Jacobs has been fighting to get images removed of her posted on “revenge sites” with extreme difficulty and her case is not even the most shocking. Audrie Pott committed suicide after films of her sexual assault were posted by the assailants. This case in particular has highlighted a potentially dangerous trend which may not be fully understood. This includes the notorious Steubenville, Ohio case and another suicide in Nova Scotia. Courts have seen the danger of this material, even ordering the destruction of rape video evidence for fear the material would leak out and become salacious entertainment.

So the question arises: What is the responsibility of the Internet service provider in this? The images frequently depict apparent victims covered in blood, bruised, confined, or with weapons held closely to their bodies. The content is violent, shocking and grotesque. It is not “pornography” as rape by its very definition is a non-consensual act. A common practice among these sites is to mix images from different sources. Rape scenes from main-stream Hollywood movies are placed besides staged rapes and what appear to be real photos of crime scenes and even murder victims. As society in general becomes more aware of fact of rape and its impact, we must have this discussion within the scope of Internet policy, keeping in mind that the sites in question exist for the purpose of profit, profit which is based on exploiting individual horror. ICANN and their contracted parties have a role in the policy discussion. So we approached all the registrars who sponsored the rape sites and asked them about their policies with varying results.

Some registrars immediately responded by suspending the domains citing policy violations. Other registrars argued that because the sites were not illegal it would be censorship to remove them. This, of course, ignores the fact that rape content sites are illegal in several countries. As always, simply stating that a company will suspend a site if government orders them to is not a policy. While we were not necessarily happy with the answer of some registrars, at least they answered. This cannot be said of Moniker.

Moniker had the single largest collection of “rape” sites we found. We asked all of their main contacts for a policy or statement concerning the domains and there was no answer. The domains included: RUSSIANRAPE[DOT]NET, BESTRAPES[DOT]COM, RAPEDTUBE[DOT]NET, XRAPE[DOT]NET, RAPEU[DOT]COM, DARK-RAPE[DOT]COM, ASSRAPE[DOT]NET RAPED-VIRGINS[DOT]COM, TEEN-RAPE[DOT]COM, ILLEGAL-RAPE[DOT]COM, VIRGINRAPES[DOT]COM, RAPE-BLOWJOBS[DOT]COM, RAPEDSCHOOLGIRLS[DOT]NET, DRUNK-RAPES[DOT]NET, ORAPE[DOT]COM, ANALRAPES[DOT]COM, RAPECOLLECTION[DOT]COM, GANG-RAPES[DOT]COM, TUBEOFRAPE[DOT]COM, RAPECLIPS[DOT]NET.

Ironically, Moniker does have a stated policy that this covers this content, which makes the lack of response or action puzzling:

”Uploading, posting or otherwise transmitting any content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, slanderous, vulgar, obscene…or otherwise objectionable… Activities designed to encourage unlawful behavior by others… promoting physical harm against any group or individual”

This is not about censoring the Net, this is about reasonableness. Does a registrar want this to be part of their portfolio? Is this what we envision when we think of a dynamic global network? It is up to us, the Internet can either be a garden of innovation or a hell littered with trash.