15 Things You Need To Know About Internet Porn

Cable and satellite television companies are losing revenue and, more importantly, profits, because unsurprisingly people aren't paying for pay-per-view porn anymore now that it's free on the internet, the Journal reports. While this should be obvious, the trend was particularly pronounced this quarter and doesn't show any signs of abating.  For the TV people it's not a big hit in terms of revenues, but it certainly is in terms of profits, because pay-per-view porn is very profitable. Porn is basically a commodity and yet it's being rented at prices closer to $10 versus $5 for a Hollywood film. So even though it's not Earth-shattering, as that business disappears, it's going to hit margins. So what else do you need to know about Internet porn? Last year, Online MBA  put together an amazing series of infographics on just how huge the online porn industry is.There are more than 26 million porn sites.

The online porn industry makes over $3,000 per second

There are 40 million regular consumers of online porn in America

See the rest of the story at Business Insider Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.See Also:12 Tumblrs You Absolutely Should Be Following10 Brilliant Google Engineers Facebook Needs To Poach Right NowInternal LivingSocial Survey: Vast Majority Of Businesses Profit Or Break Even On Daily Deals

Meet The Man Behind The Google Of Porn

Did you know that there's a section of the population using the Internet to look at porn? Some of them are probably even doing it right now. Stuart Lawley caught on to that trend and started ICM Registry, a service that lets you register a website that ends in .xxx. It also maintains Search.xxx, a Google-like search engine for finding exactly what you want in your adult entertainment. We spoke to Lawley over the phone today about how the registry and its search engine works. One key differentiator: Porn is very popular among hackers as a lure for unsuspecting searchers. Who's going to admit that they visited a porn site and got their credit card stolen? So Lawley decided to address those concerns head-on. "A site with a .xxx domain offers the same dirty porn, but the idea is that it's there in a clean wrapper," he said. ICM doesn't just sell .xxx domains, it also operates them. When you type a domain name ending in .xxx, ICM's servers tell your computer how to find it. It can scan those sites for malware all the time, which is a level of care not even taken at the more popular .com domains. ".xxx sites are the safest on the Internet with respect to malware," said Lawley. Users win, Lawley says, because they can browse for porn more confidently and not worry about malware. Businesses win because users spend more time browsing and can spend more money. And people who want nothing to do with porn win because they can exercise sense and avoid sites ending in .xxx. "When we got to 20 million pages of porn, we thought, 'That's enough porn for anyone. Time to launch a search engine,'" he said. Thus began Search.xxx, which combs .xxx sites daily, ranking sites based on keywords, relevance, metadata, and backlinks. This is very similar to how Google operates, but with one key difference—its users are explicitly looking for porn. Citing a vulgar term for a part of the female anatomy, Lawley says that on Google, "you'll only find what you're looking for after seven pages of articles about Pussy Riot." And people seem to love using the site. In its first week of operation, Search.xxx drew two million visitors and totally exceeded the company's expectations. Looks like Internet porn is here to stay. And thanks to Lawley, it's a little bit safer. Please follow SAI: Tools on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

View Internet Porn, Get Blackmailed By Hackers (SYMC)

Hackers have discovered a new way to part computer uses with their money. They plant malware on a computer that threatens to report the computer user to the police for viewing or distributing porn. It's a form of hacking called "ransomware," according to a new report by security company Symantec, which estimates hackers are earning upwards of $5 million a year from computer users who fall for the scam and pay the blackmail. Specifically, Symantec warns that:  An investigation into one of the smaller players in this scam identified 68,000 compromised computers in just one month, which could have resulted in victims being defrauded of up to $400,000. ...  Given the number of different gangs operating ransomware scams, a conservative estimate is that over $5 million a year is being extorted from victims. The real number is, however, likely much higher. One of the reasons the scam is so successful is that computer users tend to pick up this malware when they visit a porn site. The computer user is then shown an image purportedly from a government agency, like the FBI, claiming the computer has been locked because the computer was used to view pornography. Sometimes the ransomware message claims child pornography was found on the computer. And then it typically says the user must pay a fine within 72 hours or face arrest. Last year, the scam was mostly in Europe, but in 2012, its hit the U.S. with a vengeance, Computerworld's Gregg Keizer reports.  The best way to avoid porn blackmail is to avoid clicking on ads on adult sites and keep your PC up to date with the latest software patches, Symantec advises. Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

Apple Bans Digital Comic For Its Depiction Of Gay Sex (AAPL)

Apple is blocking a new issue of a digital comic called "Saga" from being sold through comic book apps on the iPad and iPhone due to a graphic depiction of gay sex.  The news comes from the comic's writer Brian K. Vaughn in a statement on his publisher's Tumblr page: As has hopefully been clear from the first page of our first issue, SAGA is a series for the proverbial “mature reader.” Unfortunately, because of two postage stamp-sized images of gay sex, Apple is banning tomorrow’s SAGA #12 from being sold through any iOS apps. This is a drag, especially because our book has featured what I would consider much more graphic imagery in the past, but there you go. Vaughn is a very popular comic book writer, and he's well respected in the industry. He's responsible for some awesome graphic novels like "Y: The Last Man" and several titles in the Marvel universe. Apple has a strict anti-porn policy in its App Store, but has a record of being consistently inconsistent in the way it enforces its rules.  Earlier this year, a lot of sexually graphic content appeared on Twitter's new video-sharing app Vine, but Apple didn't pull the app. Instead, Vine was allowed to quickly push out updates that made it difficult for users to find porn on the service. But Apple hasn't been so lenient with other apps. It removed a popular photo-sharing app called 500px and another video app called Viddy for the same reason. Both 500px and Viddy were allowed to return top the App Store after making changes that helped filter out pornographic content. Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

Actually, There Really Isn't That Much Porn On The Internet

Pornography's dominance of the Internet is dramatically overrated. Only 4% of the web's top one million most trafficked sites were pornographic in nature, according to Ogi Ogas, author of "A Billion Wicked Thoughts." He also told Forbes.com that between July 2009 and June 2010, roughly 13% of the searches were for "erotic content." (Then again, as the chart below shows, unique visitors to porn sites are growing.) So why the disparity between perception and reality? Ogas: "Web filtering companies used to always release competing figures on the number of porn sites they blocked, but these numbers were almost certainly boosted to get sensationalist headlines  and to seem competitive with other filtering companies that filtered “less” adult sites. For example, N2H2 claimed there were 260 million porn sites–haha, one for every American citizen! :) Conservative groups are always coming up with porn figures that are crazy high, too, especially with regard to children’s exposure to porn." We would imagine that there is also the remembrance factor. It's easy to remember the time you stumbled on to a site full of breasts, what with the flashing lights and the, you know, boobs. Also, given the diversity of content on the Internet, anything having a 4% market share is pretty impressive. Sex, of course, sells. (h/t Time.com's Techland)

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Apple Assumes You Want Skyfire To Look At Porn On Your iPhone (AAPL, ADBE)

Skyfire for iPhone, an app that will for the first time let you view Flash video on your phone, was just released in the App Store minutes ago after being approved by Apple yesterday. Anxious to overcome Steve Jobs's personal vendetta against Adobe's widely-used Web technology for interactive applications, I went to download Skyfire from the App Store. Before downloading, I had to dismiss a warning about adult content. In other words, Apple assumes that the main reason you'd want to have Flash on your iPhone is to watch porn. Of course, there are PLENTY of other reasons you might want Flash on your iPhone. A lot of news sites, for instance, still use Flash video. To be sure Apple didn't have a more reasonable objection, I installed the app on my iPhone 4. It doesn't contain any preloaded adult content or suggestive graphics, and the "related content" feature doesn't seem to favor adult content. However, Skyfire does have a private browsing function and other built-in privacy options, like Log Out of Facebook, that could make it easy to cover your tracks. (This is a bad thing?) Skyfire is for Flash video only, not interactive apps. I tried it on one of my favorite ancient arcade games, Qix, and it did not work.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:Everything You Need To Know About HTML5 And Why You Should Care About Its War With FlashApple Kicks Adobe Again: Won't Pre-Install Flash On New MacsApple's Triple-Standard On Nudity In The App Store

CHART OF THE DAY: Who Is The New YouTube Of Porn?

YouPorn has been dethroned as the king of porn online. When we first looked at the performance of user-uploaded adult video sites back in 2008, YouPorn was emerging as a leader with very little competition, and it continued to reign through the following year. Now, at 25.7 million unique monthly visitors, PornHub is the new, unrivaled YouTube of porn. The site was surging by triple digit percentage rates (year-over-year) in the months of 2010. While its growth has 'stalled' at 44% year-over-year for this July, PornHub is still smoking the competition as shown in the chart below. A side note: PornHub just made a $5 million offer to obtain the right of Kim Kardashian's sextape from Vivid Entertainment, which was shopping the rights to the tape for $30 million.

Follow the Chart Of The Day on Twitter: @chartoftheday Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:CHART OF THE DAY: Here's Why Tumblr Can Raise So Much Money At A Huge ValuationCHART OF THE DAY: The Bull's Case For Groupon Explained In Just One ChartCHART OF THE DAY: Netflix Added 10 Million Subscribers Last Year

AMERICAN GUN STORE: Before And After Sandy Hook Massacre [PHOTOS]

In the days following the massacre of 27 adults and children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, there have been many reports of skyrocketing gun sales. This is said to be typical. Whenever there is a highly publicized mass shooting, Americans apparently rush to gun stores. The theory is that they do this for two reasons: First, they want to buy guns to protect themselves from all the guns. Second, they worry that the latest massacre might finally wake up America to the absurdity of its gun laws and lead to a clampdown in gun control. Based on anecdotal reports, these rushes on gun stores can be quite profound. Earlier this week, for example, some Walmarts were said to be running out of guns. (Walmart sells assault weapons but bans music with swear words -- a policy that tells you a lot about America). And the gun rush does not appear to be limited to Walmarts. Nick Jacob of Seattle (@nicktjacob) recently tweeted the following photos.  They are said to be of a gun store in Bellevue, Washington, called the West Coast Armory. The first photo is supposedly of the store's visible inventory on December 14th, the day of the Sandy Hook massacre. The second photo is supposedly of the same shelves on December 20th, a week later. (We have not verified any information about the photos: If they seem inaccurate, please let us know.) BEFORE: AFTER: SEE ALSO: Walmart Sells Assault Weapons And Bans Music With Swear Words Please follow Business Insider on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

Groupon President Rob Solomon Leaving

Rob Solomon, the president and chief operating officer of daily deals site Groupon, is leaving the company suddenly, reports Kara Swisher at AllThingsD. Solomon joined Groupon last year  after a stint at Crossover Ventures and previously spent 6 years at Yahoo overseeing its shopping site. He was widely considered to be the "adult supervision" for the young founding staff -- much like Eric Schmidt at Google. According to one industry insider, the "job got too big for Rob. He was employee number 200 and they are now 6000 or more."  The insider also said that Groupon has been looking for a president to replace him. Solomon is apparently moving back to Woodside, the toney rural Silicon Valley location where Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, and other tech bigwigs make their homes.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:THE MICROSOFT INVESTOR: How Microsoft Can Change The TV Experience Forever?GROUPON SURVEY RESULTS: Everything You Need To Know About How People Use Daily Deals9 Fascinating Things We Learned At Dinner With Ben Horowitz Last Night

Twitter's Video App Vine Changes Age Rating To 17+ After Porn Controversy

Twitter's new video-sharing app Vine has changed its age rating to 17+, following an outbreak of porn. TNW first noticed the change. Before this update, Vine was rated for anyone 12 and older. But that became increasingly risky as users began uploading and sharing pornographic content.   A simple search for #sex or #porn would bring up an array of graphic video. At one point, Vine accidentally featured a pornographic video to all of its users, which prompted Apple to remove the app from its "Editor's Choice" section on the App Store. After that, Twitter started blocking all porn-related searches. However, it's still pretty easy to find porn on Vine with some clever searching techniques. But Apple never entirely removed Vine from the App Store, even though it has a history of removing other apps that make it easy to find pornographic content. Last year, Apple removed video-sharing app Viddy for its porn problem. At the end of January, Apple also removed photo-sharing app 500px because it had a bunch of nude pictures. Other than Vine's updated age policy, the updated app now makes it possible to share directly Twitter or Facebook, and report or block a profile. SEE ALSO: Twitter Made The Most Exciting New App We've Seen In Months Please follow SAI: Tools on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »