BRUSSELS — It might soon be easier to block Internet porn: The agency that controls domain names said Friday it will consider adding .xxx to the list of suffixes people and companies can pick when establishing their identities online.
The California-based nonprofit agency, ICANN, effectively paved the way for a digital red-light district to take its place alongside suffixes such as and . The decision ends a decade-long battle over what some consider formal acknowledgment of pornography’s prominent place on the Internet.
Although the move might help parents stop their children from seeing some seedy sites, it wouldn’t force porn peddlers to use the new .xxx address. Skeptics argue that few adult-only sites will give up their existing addresses.
Still, it is seen as a symbolic step in the opening up of Internet domain names and suffixes, coming on the same day the agency said it would start accepting Chinese script for domain names.
The decision is primarily a victory for U.S. company ICM Registry LLC, which has applied repeatedly to be able to register and manage the .xxx suffix.
Peter Dengate Thrush, chairman of ICANN’s board, said the Friday decision “does not mean the .xxx application has been approved. . . . It means that we are returning to negotiations with the applicant.” He estimates that it could take a year for full approval.
