NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Google Glass Meets the Horrifying Internet Porn Shortage!
Google Glass Meets the Horrifying Internet Porn Shortage!
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/001037.html
Brace yourself. If you're not sitting down, I urge you to do so.
There's devastating news afoot.
The Internet is apparently running out of pornography.
I know this comes as a shock. OK, it's not quite as bad as running
low on cute kitty photos and videos, but it's pretty darned close.
Now if you're like me, you may not have actually realized that the Net
is in such a dire, porn-starved condition. After all, at first
glance, it seems like any legal porn you might want to see (and
considerable amounts you might prefer not to see) are easily and
openly available from a vast number of Web venues.
But appearances can be deceiving. And judging from some of the
wailing I've been hearing since Google announced that they will not
approve porn-oriented apps for the Developer Preview of Google Glass,
I can only assume that a devastating porn shortage snuck up on us
while we were busily building animated meme GIFs.
The inevitable cries of censorship are already being heard. They're
nonsense, of course. I'm about as strong a free speech advocate as
you're likely to find, but censorship is the domain of governments,
not other organizations or individuals. Just as your local
supermarket isn't required to carry "Hustler" magazine, there's no
legal requirement that any firm approve any particular sort of app.
And so long as we're talking about legal content that is readily
available from other venues, and we're not discussing ISPs trying to
micromanage which sites their customers can access, the consternation
seems misplaced.
Decisions to keep mainstream app stores reasonably family friendly
just don't really upset me. Let's face it, they're not the only games
in town -- sideloading and other similar widely known techniques
generally allow for users to obtain content and apps from other
sources if they choose to do so.
There's an important distinction here. Not wanting to be actively
engaged in the distribution and marketing of porn-related apps and
materials is utterly different than saying that you want to ban such
items.
Pushing porn at people who don't want to see it is another matter. If
you look at the terms of use for most firms' social networking or app
environments, you'll typically find provisions that relate in one way
or another to this area, yet porn still prospers. I know how to find
it. You know how to find it.
But I think it's fair to say that most people don't want it slammed at
them either. When I occasionally see unsolicited graphic sexual
content in my Google+ notification stream, I usually report it much as
I would any other kind of spam. I'm not condemning the porn per se,
I'm saying that it is being inappropriately thrust upon me -- no pun
intended.
When it comes to Google Glass in particular, Google's deliberate,
arguably conservative, go-slow approach that some observers find
frustrating is actually entirely appropriate. Glass represents the
first real steps into the mass marketing of general purpose wearable
computing devices, and as I've noted in "The Coming War Against
Personal Photography and Video," Glass is already being targeted from
some quarters as a proxy for forces who would like to greatly restrict
public photography in general ( http://j.mp/124yBea [Lauren's Blog] ).
Adding porn into the mix at this incipient stage would provide yet
another target for knee-jerk reactions, and risk diverting attention
from an array of extremely positive and innovative applications for
this technology.
The policy issues surrounding all this are inevitably going to be
entangled with politics and politicians, and while I hesitate to say
"Luddites" in this context, there is a definite impression that there
are folks out there who would very much prefer that this whole area be
dealt with through emotional haranguing rather than thoughtful and
logical analysis.
In any case, fear not -- the Internet is a very big place. Your porn
cup still runneth over if you wish, the porn desert is not upon us,
your prurient interests need not cower for fear of starvation.
Rumors of the Internet Porn Apocalypse are unfounded.
And now that we've settled that, we can all get back to the important
work of churning out the cat memes.
Meow.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
- Data Wisdom Explorers League: http://www.dwel.org
- Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren / Twitter: http://vortex.com/t-lauren
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
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