Online Porn: Then Vs. Now

Shocking as it may seem, that spry online upstart Google is already ten years old. In addition to making us all feel old with that announcement, they've decided to celebrate their tenth birthday in the geekiest way possible: by giving us all a trip back in time with Google 2001, a modded version of the search index that only offers up pages that existed in the Google index back in January 2001. More »

#google

Boobs Vs. Ice Cream: What Would Your City Rather Lick?

You may remember a couple of months back when an indicted pornographer wanted to use the "Google Defense" to prove his innocence in a obscentiy trial. As a legal question, obscenity is usually defined as some sort of violation of acceptable "community standards." But how do you know what your community finds acceptable? Ask Google, of course! If people in your community enjoy searching for and reading about "butt sex," then the back door must be acceptable—right? More »

#obscenity

Obscenity A La Mode?

Max Hardcore might have been getting all the attention lately, but another obscenity trial in Florida is currently underway where the defense is using Google search stats to prove that "community standards" are a lot broader than some people might think: apparently, searching for the term "orgy" is just as all-American as searching for "apple pie". (No word on people who search for "apple pie orgy", though—maybe even community standards have their limits.) (freespeechcoalition.com + nytimes.com)

#lawsuits

A Manhattan doctor who was being sued by three former employees for sexual harrasment (i.e. allegedly emailing them a lot of dirty pictures) ended up suing them himself for giving him an "incurable Internet disease." (i.e., having his name end up on a bunch of porn sites when someone searches for it on Google.) The case was just thrown out, because apparently the best way to keep your name from being associated with porn on Google is to not sue people for associating your name with porn on Google. That stuff always ends up on the internet, you know. (nypost.com + searchenginewatch.com; thumbnail via Doctor's Adventures

#china

Despite being the No. 1 search almost everywhere else, "sex" is Googled less frequently in China than "stocks" and other banking terms, which probably has nothing to do with the fact that government censors watch over every internet user like disapproving hound dogs. Nope, nothing to see here. (chinadaily.com.cn)

#legal

Looks like online and print naked babe emporium Perfect 10 has lost its appeal against web outlets like Amazon and Google to get them to stop using thumbnail images of its copyrighted material. Which means that your right to look at eye-strainingly teeny tiny pictures of hot boobs is still safe ... for now. (avn.com; thumbnail via Perfect 10)

#google

Cracked performs a much needed scientific study to determine which of the popular female names bring you the most nudity when plugged into Google Image Search. These are the questions of our age and we must have answers. (cracked.com)

#web20

Stumble Porn: Fall Into Smut

Some of you ~~nerds~~ tech-savvy individuals may be familiar with the StumbleUpon toolbar that you install in your web browser to help you find cooking recipes or vlogs or whatever it is the kids are into these days. It works on the theory of the wisdom of crowds, as everyone using the toolbar combines internet forces to direct each other to the best, most interesting links. However, like every other Web 2.0 sensation looking for VC funding, it frowns upon pornography and so (like every other web sensation) someone co-opted the idea to create a porn-centric equivalent. (It's the circle of life!) More »

#fetishiswheregooglefindsit

Lifehacker saves our butts once again by showing us how to search Google without the overlords keeping tabs on you. (Maybe.) Oh, who are we kidding? Everyone on the planet already knows how we feel about tentacles. (Lifehacker)

#seeyouincourt

Lawsuit happy spank mag Perfect 10 couldn't beat Google in court, so now they're suing Microsoft instead, probably because judges don't like them as much. We don't really understand it, but it does explain why we couldn't find a decent thumbnail for this post. (pcworld.com)

#google

Here's some more seemingly innocent Google Image Searches that return a surprising amount of porn. Although if you're surprised to find porn popping up in innocent image searches than you probably shouldn't be on the internet. (dmwmedia.com)

#funfacts

The top 6 cities that have the most people typing "porn" into Google are all in Great Britain. Hmm, maybe we should be a UK blog after all. (metro.co.uk)

#flickr