How Titillating: ICANN Approves .xxx Domains for Porn Sites

ICANN, the nonprofit organization that is trusted with assigning domain names and managing the Internet naming protocols, agreed to .xxx domain for porn sites after several years of studying the issue.

On Friday, ICANN, the not-for-profit corporation that coordinates the internet's naming system, voted to allow the application of the controversial ".xxx" top-level domain name for sites that display adult content.

The domain, which would need further approval before going live on the internet, would be applied to adult entertainment sites just as ".com" is now.

The .xxx internet suffix, which was first proposed six years ago by ICM Registry, a group that sells domain names, "will provide a place online for adult entertainment providers and their service providers who want to be part of our voluntary self regulatory community," according to that company's news release.

This doesn't mean the end of porn sites using .com or .net suffixes right away, but those sites may end up migrating to the new domains as their registrations expire.