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Google Porn Search On Cell Phones
The research was first reported in the New Scientist last weekend, but it didn’t go into much detail. The full paper (PDF, or Google cache if you prefer HTML) was published earlier this month and has some interesting material based on a random sample of searches made through an unspecified U.S. carrier (Sprint or Cingular) in 2005. Among the highlights:
The scientists compare their figures with a 2002 study published in IEEE Computer (again, PDF or Google cache). Using data from the Excite search engine, this found that “Adult” queries fell from 17% in 1997 to 8% in 2001. More recent figures for desktop searches are hard to find, but Larry Page’s comments in a Time hagiography last week suggest that not much has changed since the Excite days. He claimed that only a “single-digit” percentage of Google users searched for porn. (Google itself doesn’t publish much data, except for the heavily edited Zeitgeist lists.) The proportion of mobile users performing “Adult” queries could also fall as (and if) the wireless Web goes from a geek toy to something more mainstream. The researchers actually mention this in the paper, and I think they’re right. Pornography often drives technology. The wireless Web is just the latest example. Google probably won’t actually launch a mobile porn portal. It’s already fighting two high-profile lawsuits over the issue: The White House wants to use the easy availability of porn on search engines to justify online censorship and mandatory government tracking of Internet users, while a porn site says Google's thumbnail images harm its mobile market. The business may not be particularly profitable anyway. Google makes only a few cents per click from porn ads, compared to more than $10 from real estate brokers in some cities, and $50 (yes, fifty bucks a click!) from sites selling cell phone records. More likely, Google will try to encourage other uses for the wireless Web. Maps are the real killer apps. They’re already the most popular use for home broadband connections, and they have obvious appeal to people moving around. Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft just need to get their new mapping apps working on mobile devices, though that could take a hardware upgrade. « Apple, Security, And Disturbing Questions | Main | Daily News Podcast, March 1 » |
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