Yesterday ICANN chose to go against the advice of it’s Government Advisory Committee and approve the .XXX sTLD. PC Mag reported that “the proposal will carve out a portion of the Internet that will be set aside for the adult entertainment industry, allowing a virtual red-light district that the adult industry has said will result in discriminatory financial burdens to register new domains.”

According to Xbiz, protesters from the Adult Industry and Free Speech Coalition were out in force yesterday while the vote was going on. This is the first time ICANN voted against the advice of it’s Government Advisory Committee which has upset some past and present board members: “Ira Magaziner, one of the founders responsible for creating ICANN under the Clinton administration, Vint Cerf, the past Chair of the ICANN Board, Larry Strickling, the Under Secretary for the U.S. Department of Commerce and former US President Bill Clinton all spoke of the absolute necessity of the ICANN Board listening to its Government Advisory Committee.” Xbiz

Another board member who also voted against the measure had this to say to PC Mag: “Many governments are now waking up to the reality of the need for them to get more involved in what ICANN is doing for the greater good of the global Internet community,” said Katim Touray, an independent development consultant based in Gambia, and a member of the ICANN board who also voted against it. “And so it is for this very reason that I think that for ICANN to, on this matter, put aside the advice of the GAC and its members would, I think, be unconstructive and, in the end, poisonous to the atmosphere that we need to build and a positive one at that, between ICANN and the GAC and the rest of the governments of — and the governments of the world.”

Advocates in the adult industry and the Free Speech Coalition haven’t given up and are hopeful that there is still a chance to reverse this decision and are strongly urging the public to boycott.

For more coverage on the story, check out Gizmodo’s post here.