After a process which began over a decade ago, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has finally approved .xxx (“dot triple-X”) as a top-level domain – joining .com, .net, .org, and others. Sites with the .xxx domain are intended to be used for adult and pornographic sites.

One school of thought behind this new domain is having a clear, easy way to determine whether or not a website is pornographic in nature – helping those who don’t want to view pornography online avoid it (because, let’s face it, it’s not like the people who want to view porn currently have a hard time finding it).

However, even if this was a motivating factor to get the top-level domain approved, it will have very little impact in actually helping people avoid pornography. While all .xxx domains will still have to prove they aren’t fraudulent, aren’t involved in child pornography, and aren’t involved in other illegal practices, adult sites aren’t going to be required to switch to .xxx domains or shut down their current non-.xxx domains.

So while users will know not to visit any .xxx domain (again, assuming they’re trying to avoid adult content), there will still be the challenge of avoid pornography with every other website out there. Networks or parents will be able to block any and all .xxx domains, but they’re still faced with the challenge of other domains.

All of that being said, from a philosophical point of view, it’s not really up to ICANN or the government or anyone else to make sure children or employees aren’t exposed to pornography. While parents and companies can install security software and firewalls – or governments could, hypothetically, institute some sort of regulation – it’s ultimately up to individuals (including children who are old enough to know better) to manage themselves and act professionally.

So while it’s interesting that .xxx has been approved, it will make very little difference for the average user.