Most major cities have a red light district where one can go to satisfy more base desires. In Baltimore, for example, all the strip clubs and porn shops are on a single four-block strip known locally as “The Block.”  It’s practical for the perverts and keeps the kids safe. Everybody wins. Why should the Internet be any different?

The Internet Corporation for Assigning Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body that regulates web domains, has been toying with the idea of adding a .xxx domain to go with the more familiar .com, .edu, and others.

In 2005 ICANN approved the addition but retracted the decision two years later before it could be implemented. A group of U.S. judges later ruled ICANN’s reasons for pulling support weren’t valid and they needed to reconsider the issue. Public debate opens May 10.

Critics argue it would be too difficult to enforce a .xxx domain requirement. Some porn purveyors don’t like the idea of being forced into a digital ghetto. Conservatives feel it would legitimize the porn trade online.

Like many political debates, this issue is bogged down in absolutist, binary rhetoric. The situation called for a more nuanced, practical approach.

In an ideal world, all “adult” sites could be forced to adopt the new domain. Those who wanted to block access to such content could easily apply a filter. But that will never happen. The Internet is too vast an unwieldy to ever regulate.

Pornographers can’t be forced to move, but why wouldn’t they? While there are undoubtedly shady operators looking to target minors, wouldn’t a legit outlet want to be in a higher profile section of the web where they could target people looking specifically for that type of content. It would have to be more effective than all those e-mails wasting away in untold e-mail spam folders at any rate.

While ICANN couldn’t require .xxx domains, it would be beneficial to at least offer them as an option. At the very least there’s no good reason not to.

Furthermore, ICANN can’t afford to keep up this meaningless fight. Over the years, this debate has burned through over $7 million – $5 million in legal fees and $2 million of ICANN’s own funds for research. That’s a lot of money wasted on the semantics of where people can get their rocks off online.

“The Block” in Baltimore came about because the city had a rampant smut problem. Urban legend says over time police and local government corralled the adult industry into one section of the city. This way, at least they could keep an eye on the smut sellers and residents could easily avoid it.

There’s no way to muscle the world’s virtual porn in such a manner, but allowing a .xxx domain would be a step in the right direction. Speech doesn’t need to be restricted but those poor children everyone wants us to think of all the time could be a little bit safer.

It’s not a perfect solution and requires all sides involved to give a little. That has to be painful for pundits ­– but practicality wins on the web and in real life.