The University of Hawaii is threatening legal action against the operator of a pornographic website called universityofhawaii.xxx.
X-rated domain names were made publicly available late last year and many universities aroundthe country, including Hawaii Pacific University here, purchased names that could have associated their institutions with pornography.
The University of Hawaii chose not to do so because it was "a form of extortion" and because there were simply too many different domain names to acquire, said UH spokeswoman Lynne Waters.
"The University of Hawaii System did consider purchasing .xxx domain names in order to prevent this kind of willful misrepresentation," said Waters.
"We quickly realized that there are an almost unlimited number of possible names relating to our ten campuses, our sports teams, our colleges and other UH-related programs and activities that could be abused," Waters said.