Elevate your local knowledge

Sign up for the iNFOnews newsletter today!

Select Region

Selecting your primary region ensures you get the stories that matter to you first.

Taylor Swift, Harvard, Microsoft among those buying up .porn, .adult suffixes as a precaution

CP32410083
FILE - In this Feb. 15, 2015 file photo, singer Taylor Swift attends the SNL 40th Anniversary Special in New York. Swift, Microsoft Corp. Harvard University are among those buying up .porn and .adult Web suffixes as a pre-emptive move before those domain names become available this summer. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, is making Internet address suffixes beyond the usual .com or .org available for people and businesses to use. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The singer Taylor Swift, Microsoft Corp. Harvard University are among those buying up .porn and .adult Web suffixes as a pre-emptive move before those domain names become available this summer.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, is making Internet address suffixes beyond the usual .com or .org available for people and businesses to use. While some are in Chinese or other languages besides English, others could include the likes of .music, .app or, of course, .porn.

To check what brands, groups and celebrities have bought their domain names, visit http://icmregistry.com/domaincheck . According to the site, Microsoft has bought not only Microsoft.porn but Office.porn and Office.adult as well.

Representatives for Taylor Swift, Microsoft and Harvard could not immediately be reached for comment.

News from © The Associated Press, . All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Join the Conversation!

Want to share your thoughts, add context, or connect with others in your community?

Create a free account

The Associated Press

The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day.

Related Articles