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)

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

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)

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)

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 »

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)

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)

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)

FlickrCash: Find The Boobs

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