doodledee

NPR ran a story tonight on All Things Considered that talked about how the major P2P networks are all flooded with porn. [listen here]

In the story, they claimed that a 'recent study' showed that over 40% of searches on P2P networks are for pornographic videos. They sent a reporter to some perv's house to watch him search for things like Pokemon and Britney Spears and end up with 10,000 pr0n vidz in the search results. To keep it edgy, the reporter lady used some fairly risquéords. Like 'boob', for example. Whoa.

I don't buy the 40% finding at all, but that doesn't change the fact that porn is probably the biggest reason most of the P2P networks suck. It's ubiquitous. And it's lame. In fact, in my opinion, it's probably one of the biggest downsides to the internet as a whole. So goes the free market, I guess.

This got me thinking about how my great-aunt Marie never used to have cable. You wouldn't think that'd be a big deal, but for some reason we always seemed to be visiting her on Sundays during the NFL season. This inevitably meant that we end up trying to watch the Vikes on her crappy old console television. Ah boo.

Every time we'd go, we'd have the same conversation:

"Why don't you get cable, Marie?" we'd ask.

"There's too much porn on cable" she'd reply

At which point my dad would always say, "Not on normal cable. You have to pay extra for the porn."

Oddly, that line of reasoning never won her over.

Fast forward to today. Now we've got the internet and it's so full of [free] porn you can't escape it, EVEN IF YOU WANT TO. From the pseudo-naughty ads for those teeny weeny cameras - that, according to the ads, you're supposed to install in your house so you can record all the hot chicks who come over to your place to shower or something - to the spams that must push everyone's yuck button, much of the internet is a wasteland of filth.

But don't get me wrong. Porn aside, the internet is still pretty bitchin'. And what's more, the pollution of the open P2P networks will most likely drive more aggressive innovation in the 'commercial' networks, which can only be a good thing, too.

Again, so goes the free market, I guess.