And yet, the idea of even more novelty domains seems to be really stupid to me. Oh well, who am I to judge?

The nonprofit organization responsible for Internet addresses on Wednesday approved “.xxx” domains, a move that reverses the group’s earlier position and heads off a potential political spat with conservative U.S. politicians.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) said it’s working with the ICM Registry to finalize remaining details, meaning the porn-friendly set of .xxx domains should be available by the end of the year. Other top-level domains still awaiting a decision from ICANN are .asia, .mail, and .tel.

Stuart Lawley, chairman of the ICM Registry, could not be immediately reached for comment. In an interview last year, Lawley said that .xxx domain names would cost around $75 and come with no restrictions except that any sexually explicit content feature only adults. “Apart from child pornography, which is completely illegal, we’re really not in the content-monitoring business,” Lawley said. [Read the rest]