Gnutella Porn Searchers Identified

from the hmmm... dept

Something of an odd story here. A company is using Gnutella and offering pictures that sound like they're porn, but are not. Instead, what they're doing is tracking those who try to download their "porn" and exposing them on the web (or, at least, their IP addresses). I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I understand that they're trying to expose porn seekers to some degree, but on the other hand there's a big ethical question on whether or not it's okay to "trick" people like that. There's certainly potential for things like this to become even more like a "witch hunt" where people can expose others for all sorts of different searches. I can certainly see some fanatic religious groups using an approach like this.
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  • identicon
    shock32638, 5 May 2000 @ 9:08am

    No Subject Given

    it's not just that they're tricking people, but that the names of some of the files don't necessarily reflect that they are pr0n. "youngteen.jpg" may sound bad to some people, but I don't think my grandparents would even give it a second thought. That and logging ip addresses doesen't do much for dialups and people with dynamic addresses

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    MMMark, 5 May 2000 @ 9:48am

    You know what? Let 'em!

    The reason that censorship, snooping, and "walls of shame" are tolerated is: Many people accept, without question, the idea that "porn is bad". I'd like to suggest that "porn is good", it's normal, EVERYONE likes it whether they admit it or not, and there is NOTHING to be ashamed about! When enough people stop apologizing for enjoying images of sex, and start CELEBRATING it, the censors, snoops and "shamers" will lose all their power. As far as I'm concerned, THEIR behaviour is what is shameful.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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