WebProNews

Tag: Porn

  • Porn Star Sasha Grey Takes To YouTube To Support Equal Pay

    It has long been an area of contention that women make less, on average, than men do at the same jobs–an estimated 22% less, to be exact–and while that number has gone down by about 6% in the past ten years, the gap is still fairly wide in the wage war.

    An organization called EqualPayDay is working to change all that, however, with their annual movement to gain awareness of the problem. March 20th marks the eighth year in a row for EqualPayDay, a day on which “manifestations will again take place in various public places and in firms”, according to the information on their site.

    In order to spread the word about the topic, adult film actress Sasha Grey has worked with the organization to make a short video for YouTube in which she talks about getting into the business at a young age and the things she does in order to make more money than a man. The video contends that “porn is about the only way for a woman to make more than a man”. EqualPayDay’s mission, according to their site, is to “draw young people’s attention to today”–that is, get them to think about the future by doing what’s best now, such as getting a good education and focusing on a career plan. Grey, who is one of many celebrities who are active in social media these days, has talked about her role in various causes such as EqualPayDay and “Read Across America” on her Google+ and Twitter accounts.

    While Ms. Grey is proud of her own work in film, she also openly backs the initiative of EqualPayDay and the cause they support. The organization’s motto this year is “Close the wage gap: become a porn actress”, which will be distributed on flyers and posters to spread awareness.

    Below is the video, featuring Sasha talking about her experiences. Warning: the video shows a bit of blurry nudity and has language that is a little more graphic than what is usually deemed appropriate at work.

  • A Day In the Life On The Internet

    I think all of us spend an unhealthy amount of time on the Internet, but that’s what makes it awesome. A bottle of bourbon and three grande meals from Taco Bell taught us the joys of things that are bad for us years ago. Now that the Internet has taken over, it would be interesting to see just how much time we spend on this wonderful invention of the gods. Worry not, dear reader, as we have all those statistics right here.

    MBAOnline has created this handy infographic compiling the insane amount of time we spend on the Internet. This isn’t just the important stuff either, this is the ridiculously stupid stuff we waste our time with online. Let’s start with the most important statistic first though. It’s said that all the information we consume as a collective whole daily on the Internet would fill 168 million DVDs. That’s a lot of copies of Apocalypse Now.

    As for our social networking obsession, 174 million people visit Facebook a day. That’s compared to 40 million for Twitter a day, 22 million for LinkedIn, 20 million for Google+ and 17 million on Pinterest. In what makes me feel bad, we spend 4.7 billion minutes on Facebook a day.

    As for videos, 864,000 hours of YouTube videos are uploaded to the Internet every day. As the infographic points out, that’s 98 years of “non-stop cat videos.”

    What may be a topic close to many Internet users’ hearts, the average Netizen spends 14.6 minutes watching porn. They even go so far as to say that the average “fap session” lasts 12 minutes.

    All these and other stats are collected below to make us all feel bad about how much time we’re wasting online. Oh, who am I kidding? The Internet is awesome and we should feel good about how much we use it.

    A Day in the Internet
    Created by: MBA Online

  • Hack Displays Porn To Young Children At South Carolina Best Buy

    Say what you want about what was broadcast for a couple of minutes at one South Carolina Best Buy, but it was probably better than that repetitive Dave Matthews Band concert that they usually show.

    Customers in Greenville, South Carolina are shocked after they were subject to a few minutes of porn. The pornographic image was broadcast on the store’s 55-inch HD flatscreen, so we can be pretty certain that almost everyone in the store got an eyeful.

    Apparently, the images were pretty graphic – at least according to one woman who says she has never watched porn:

    “It was extremely, extremely pornographic image,” surprised customer Gloria Berg told WSPA, the local CBS affiliate. “I think even the word ‘pornographic’ doesn’t cover it. I have never watched pornography, so I don’t know what else you can see there, but to me, I really felt extremely violated.”

    In all seriousness, this is a pretty big screw up for Best Buy. I certainly wouldn’t be offended by a little porn during my afternoon shopping, but this unexpected show was reportedly seen by multiple kids. Plus, the images were displayed for minutes before a manager was able to take them down.

    Best Buy released a statement to WSPA, claiming that a wi-fi hack was to blame:

    Two individuals accessed our store’s wireless signal to broadcast inappropriate content on a smart television display. In both cases, we worked immediately to disable the inappropriate content. We greatly apologize for this unfortunate incident and we are working to ensure that it does not happen again.

    Best Buy wouldn’t go into any more details, and they wouldn’t say if they knew the identities of the two individuals responsible. But the Berg’s have filed a complaint for “dissemination of pornographic material.”

    [Image Courtesy Flickr]

  • Pinterest: A New Way To Do Old Stuff

    Pinterest: A New Way To Do Old Stuff

    A few days back, I wrotePinterest Spawning Look-Alikes, Competitors, Porn” target=”_blank”> an article about other sites that were popping up that are using the Pinterest layout. Copycats, if you will. There are direct Pinterest competitors, aiming for the same target audience. Something like that is to be expected. Build something innovative and there will be others that copy it, then seek to improve on it, cashing in on the loudly-announced shortcomings of the original. Myspace used to be the social networking big dog. Facebook supplanted them through cleaner layout, more control of experience, etc. It happens.

    Then, there are sites that effectively use the Pinterest layout without competing with them directly. That “pinboard” (some call them “imageboards”) layout is not just suited for displaying wedding dresses, flower arrangements, etc. And, Pinterest will no doubt try to expand their vision and get people to understand that they can indeed be all things to everyone.

    But, there is a catch. The key to whether or not a Pinterest-style layout will work is to understand that it is image-driven. There are captions, and pinners can take advantage of that capability to further draw someone to click on their pin with a good description. But, generally speaking, if you don’t have a good image that catches attention, the Pinterst-layout is almost more trouble than it is worth. You end up spending a lot of time trying to generate an eye-catching image that is also relevant to your content. Sometimes, there is none.

    For example, what image goes with this article? The Pinterest logo? A picture of a pin? Something porn-related (keep reading)? On Pinterest, it is expected that the information behind the pin is very relevant to the image on the pin. If the image is of shoes, the material had better be about those shoes, not about labor conditions in a shoe factory in China.

    The point is, while Pinterest seems like a revolutionary idea, it’s just another way to organize stuff that was already out there and being organized. And, no better place to see this demonstrated than in porn.

    Stick with me here, we’ll keep this safe for work.

    On a typical porn “tube” site featuring videos, there are categories. These are typically listed down one side. Some of the more SFW categories might include “blondes”, “brunettes”, “celebrities”, etc. Once in a particular category, a typical “tube” site will have a pageful of video thumbnails.

    Now, some porn sites are going to a more pinboard-style layout. All the same categories are there, but imagined as “boards”. The thumbnails are now “pins”. Not much has changed, since this was a visually-driven site to begin with. The only caveat to this is the “masonry” style layout. Essentially, the material is organized in columns, as opposed to rows. This allows for easy scroll-down browsing, with a “jump back to top” button that follows you.

    The real test will be to see if porn-surfing ever becomes a “social” phenomenon, where users “pin” their favorite videos, “follow” each others boards, and “share” materials.

    Somehow, I doubt it.

    So, the pinboard-style layout it another tool in a web designers toolbox. But, sometimes that’s all it takes to catapult a concept from obscurity to stardom: a better way to look at it.

  • YouPorn Hacked, Chat Service User Data Exposed

    Popular adult site (actually, just popular site will do) YouPorn is under fire after user data was lifted and exposed. In all, millions were said to have been affected, with thousands still currently exposed after much of the data was posted on pastebin.

    First reported by Anders Nilsson at EuroSecure, info for millions of users of YouPorn’s chat service was accessible for a brief time before the specific server was taken down. It appears that only emails and passwords were exposed. And it also looks like someone might be out of a job:

    “Looking at the data, it seems like a careless programmer accidentally(?!) left debug logging on to a publicly accessible URL as early as November 2007, and it has been storing all registrations ever since,” says Nilsson. “Yesterday, it was found, probably by “accident” by someone sweeping websites for publicly accessible, but non-linked (“hidden”) folders, looking for.. either porn or sensitive material like this, and struck gold.”

    Of course, it’s easy to laugh at this kind of data breach (can you imagine what would happen when the leaked users’ significant others found out they were chatting – on porn sites. And as far as hacks go, there’s a case to be made that of all the targets, YouPorn is definitely one for the lulz. But the problem is that email and password leaks go beyond reputation tarnishing (although that is a consideration). People uses the same email and password combinations for logins all across the web. A simple porn breach could end up being a much more serious type of breach.

    @YourAnonNews
    Anonymous    HACKED: ~6400 YouPorn logins and passes stored in plaintext – Leak: http://t.co/6YUFB6MZ | Article: http://t.co/6Jo8qZrY 10 hours ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    It’s important to note that this tweet isn’t a claim to responsibility. This Anonymous account tweets out news from around the web. One other “anonymous” account tweeted at the YouPorn twitter account to which they responded:

    @YourAnonSupport
    Anonymous Support     YouPorn HACKED, emails+passwords – http://t.co/oiTqKhoK for the lulz #Anonymous @YouPorn 14 hours ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @YouPorn
    YouPorn (Jude)    @youranonsupport http://t.co/VcY6tW3D 14 hours ago via HootSuite ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Here’s what they had to say about it on the YouPorn blog:

    YouPorn.com has not suffered a breach of security. YouPorn.com users can rest assured, no data has been exposed.

    The real focus of the recent news is YP Chat, an entirely separate service that was linked to from YouPorn.com. The chat service is owned and operated by a third party and is in no way associated with YouPorn.com. YP Chat is hosted on separate non-YouPorn servers and a security issue on said servers in no way creates a gateway to YouPorn.com’s secure data.

    As soon as we, at YouPorn.com, became aware of the issue we took immediate steps to block access to YP Chat entirely and a thorough investigation was launched to evaluate the scope of the issue.

    The pastebin data dump currently shows the email addresses and passwords of just under 6400 users.

    [H/t Sophos NakedSecurity]

  • Porn Apps For Android Quite Popular, Infographic Shows

    MiKandi, which provides an app store for adults, has put together an infographic looking at “a year in the life of adult apps” for mobile devices.

    There’s nothing graphic, but if you’re offended by adult words, be warned that there are some of those.

    “Despite spending NO money on marketing and having NO distribution through the other Android App Markets (hey Amazon, we’d be happy to offer your app store to our customers if you offer ours to your customers ), we are seeing new users each and every day,” the MiKandi team writes on its blog. “Well over a million folks have used our app market for adults and while that might pale in comparison to other popular stores, we’re pretty excited about the fact that over 200,000 people use us each month and download an average of over 5 apps per person. We’re just getting started, but it’s a pretty great start.”

    “We’ve learned a lot in the past year and we’re continuing to improve our value to our customers on a daily basis, due in large part to our large and active developer community,” the team adds. “Without the thousands of developers publishing their hot apps every month, we wouldn’t be what we are and we’re very grateful to them all for their support and dedication. We are happy to pay an ever-increasing number of developers each month – they are proving that consumers pay for adult entertainment willingly, when the offer and delivery mechanisms are right.”

  • Porn Site Caught Using Teens’ Facebook Photos

    Porn Site Caught Using Teens’ Facebook Photos

    Girls at a Boston area Vocational High School are a little more than upset after it was discovered that a porn site had been using their Facebook photos without their knowledge or consent.

    CBS Boston reports that photos from the accounts of 17 different Bay Path Regional school were lifted and displayed on a porn site. Local officials say that they believe the specific porn site is based in another country, and that it could be the same site that they had shut down before. Federal investigators are saying that if so, they will try to shut it down again.

    The photos featured the girls (some as young as 14) fully clothed, and it is unclear exactly how the porn site was using them. But officials say that some of their personal information was also posted on the site alongside their photos. They also said that the site in question was found to have actual child pornography.

    “The fact that someone could do that, I don’t understand why someone would do that to me,” says McKenna Daniels, one of the girls who had her photos posted on the site.

    As tough as this is for the girls, the lack of jurisdiction means that there might not be much that any prosecutor can do.

    It’s also a question as to the exact illegality of the porn site’s actions. If they were promoting actual child pornography, that of course is illegal. But lifting images from Facebook isn’t a crime in and of itself. Facebook’s Terms of Service clearly outline the life cycle of any photograph you post on the site (bold added for emphasis):

    For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.

    When you publish content or information using the Public setting, it means that you are allowing everyone, including people off of Facebook, to access and use that information, and to associate it with you (i.e., your name and profile picture).

    Basically, once you put it out there publicly on a social media site, it becomes just that – public.

    This story is reminiscent of one we told you about last year. A woman in the UK discovered that her Facebook photos were being used on a specialty porn site – for amputee fetishes. In her case, her exposure led to lewd Facebook correspondences and other unwanted internet advances.

    Of course, in the high school girls’ case, other laws take over if the images were being altered to make them appear nude or something like that. But the moral of this story is that posting a photo on the internet (publicly) is like mailing a copy of that photo to everyone in the world. You can edit your settings to disallow the downloading of your photos, but anyone can just take a screenshot of your images. The only real way to prevent something like this from happening to you is to ramp up your privacy controls.

    [Note: The girl in image is not one of the girls involved in the story]

  • Pinterest Spawning Look-Alikes, Competitors, Porn

    Pinterest Spawning Look-Alikes, Competitors, Porn

    Since Pinterest is making huge waves, it should be no surprise that there are clones popping up all over. Some may even have been parallel development rather than “copying” Pinterest. But, it ain’t about who got to the starting line first, it’s about who’s ahead in the race. And, Pinterest Referrals Beat YouTube, Google+, & Reddit Combined” target=”_blank”>Pinterest is the lead dog.

    Some “clones” are Pinterest competitors. Some just use the Pinterest “pinboard” concept for their purposes. Let’s have a look at a few that are out there to see the usefulness of this pinning concept and to get an idea of where the whole thing is going.

    Pinterest has a few issues. I’ve Pinterest: Can We Talk?” target=”_blank”>listed some of them here. Others have gone even deeper in outlining Pinterest‘s shortcomings.. And, anytime there is a chink in your armor, someone will come along and offer to do the job better. Even when it seems you are king of the hill, you have to watch out that an up-and-comer does not unseat you.

    Remember Myspace? Remember when your friends asked you to switch to Facebook? Why did you go? Because Myspace had turned into a greasy-kids’-stuff playground full of bloated backgrounds, auto-playing music and inconsistent formatting? Facebook offered us an adult alternative. Something we could get our heads around. We left Myspace, and left Rupert Murdoch holding the bag.

    More recently, Google Plus threw down a challenge to Facebook. We considered it. Why? Because we were getting tired of privacy issues, changes to the layout being forced upon us, boatloads of games and apps of questionable security. And, Google+ had that great “Circles” capability. But, Facebook grabbed that capability and allowed us to do it without calling for a mass migration of our friends. So far there has been no mass exodus from Facebook. But, kings of the mountains must beware. It could be coming.

    And, Pinterest could be at the vanguard of a pinboard movement that it will not remain king of. With 16 employees, they have to scramble to keep abreast of issues, field requests for information, etc. Who knows? Maybe one of their hungry competitors are primed to unseat them.

    For example, there is Juxtapost. You can’t go read a blog article on Pinterest without running into a comment on that article by someone (usually Erica Brand) representing Juxtapost. And, you gotta recognize the tenacity with which they are going at it. Pinterest has had some problems and Pinterest Gets Competition from Juxtapost” target=”_blank”>Juxtapost feels they can do better. If Pinterest doesn’t fix its problems, the rising pinboard tide may well lift Juxtapost’s boat and make it heir apparent when Pinterest sinks under its own ambition. Again, Myspace vs Facebook. It could happen.

    Juxtapost boasts some big features that Pinterest would do well to keep an eye on. For starters, you can make a pinboard (Juxtapost calls them “postboards”) private. No such function on Pinterest. That’s a big deal.

    Juxtapost’s boards are also exportable. You can build an Excel file with your materials. So, if you’ve collected wedding planning information, you don’t have to cart your whole pinboard around with you as you start implementing those ideas.

    And, they have a color indexing feature, helping you keep pins coordinated for decorating purposes, etc. No option like that on Pinterest.

    Some sites are not Pinterest competitors, but are taking the concept into interesting territories. A great example of that is Lulu Live. Developed at Middle East Voices, Lulu Live is a place where people can pin pictures and video of Arab Spring uprisings, particularly those in Bahrain. The Pinterest-like layout allows for a quick scan of available material, without the regimented layout of YouTube itself. The #Occupy movement in the United States could certainly benefit from a layout like this.

    And, finally, any development on the Internet would not be complete without mentioning porn.

    This look alike a good place for a little Tropic Thunder…

    Kevin Sandusky: Now, if you recall that whole hullabaloo where Hollywood was split into schisms, some studios backing Blu-ray disc, others backing HD DVD. People thought it would come down to pixel rate or refresh rate, and they’re pretty much the same. What it came down to was a combination between gamers and porn. Now, whichever format porno backs is usually the one that becomes the, uh, most successful. But, you know, Sony, every PlayStation 3 has a Blu-ray in it…

    Kirk Lazarus: You talkin’ to me this whole time?

    And, with that in mind, here comes [NSFW!] Snatchly [NSFW!]. It has categories, as most porn “tube” sites do. But, it is laid out with a more Pinterest-looking format. In all honestly, this is not much different than those sites ever looked, just with different sized thumbnails to make it look more pinboard-y. Maybe they’ll get a more “social” thing going. And, there you have it.

    So, the pinboard craze is gaining steam. There are direct Pinterest competitors. There are Pinterest-inspired sites. And, there is, as always, porn.

    What more could you ask for?

  • Reddit: No Sexual Content Featuring Minors

    Reddit: No Sexual Content Featuring Minors

    Reddit has made an announcement concerning a topic that has hounded the online community for some time now – as of Sunday, they are adding a new overarching rule concerning sexually suggestive content featuring young girls. “Today we are adding another rule,” they said in a blog post. “No suggestive or sexual content featuring minors.”

    This might make some of you stop and think, “Wait, reddit is just now making this rule?” And it’s true, this was never an explicit rule on the site. As they point out in their post, the site really has very few rules – no spamming, no messing with the actual inner-workings of the site. Reddit has always had a policy against anything illegal – but much of the content that this new ban addresses tiptoed the legality line. In order to avoid any future “legal quagmires,” reddit it making a sweeping move to ban any subreddit that “focus[es] on the sexualization of children.”

    Of course, many of the subreddits that will fall under this umbrella will contain no nudity of underage girls. Reddit has always sought to eliminate “child porn” on a case by case basis (following NCMEC guidelines). But that’s where a lot of this content had toed the line. Many of the subreddits like /r/teens and the previously defunct /r/jailbait post images of underage girls who are clothed but might be making suggestive poses and whatnot. While many of the images were culled from places like Facebook and other public domains, for opponents of these types fo subreddits, it’s really all about the context. The children are being sexualized – even without nudity.

    Here’s the whole post:

    At reddit we care deeply about not imposing ours or anyone elses’ opinions on how people use the reddit platform. We are adamant about not limiting the ability to use the reddit platform even when we do not ourselves agree with or condone a specific use. We have very few rules here on reddit; no spamming, no cheating, no personal info, nothing illegal, and no interfering the site’s functions. Today we are adding another rule: No suggestive or sexual content featuring minors.

    In the past, we have always dealt with content that might be child pornography along strict legal lines. We follow legal guidelines and reporting procedures outlined by NCMEC. We have taken all reports of illegal content seriously, and when warranted we made reports directly to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who works directly with the FBI. When a situation is reported to us where a child might be abused or in danger, we make that report. Beyond these clear cut cases, there is a huge area of legally grey content, and our previous policy to deal with it on a case by case basis has become unsustainable. We have changed our policy because interpreting the vague and debated legal guidelines on a case by case basis has become a massive distraction and risks reddit being pulled in to legal quagmire.

    As of today, we have banned all subreddits that focus on sexualization of children. Our goal is to be fair and consistent, so if you find a subreddit we may have missed, please message the admins. If you find specific content that meets this definition please message the moderators of the subreddit, and the admins.

    We understand that this might make some of you worried about the slippery slope from banning one specific type of content to banning other types of content. We’re concerned about that too, and do not make this policy change lightly or without careful deliberation. We will tirelessly defend the right to freely share information on reddit in any way we can, even if it is offensive or discusses something that may be illegal. However, child pornography is a toxic and unique case for Internet communities, and we’re protecting reddit’s ability to operate by removing this threat. We remain committed to protecting reddit as an open platform.

    So as of this morning, subreddits like /r/jailbaitarchives, /r/bustybait /r/thenewjailbait, and /r/teens have all been banned. In scope, a subreddit like /r/jailbait archives had nearly 10,000 subscribers.

    The reason a subreddit like that gained subscribers is due to the fact that reddit shut down the controversial /r/jailbait subreddit last Fall. This came after a public firestorm around the issue that even saw the likes of Anderson Cooper get involved.

    But right after it was banned, other subreddits popped up in its place. And that’s the nature of reddit – it’s huge. And t’s hard to police every little item in every little subreddit. So is this grand new policy change more of a PR move than an actual substantive shift? Subreddits like “SexyButNotPorn” and “AnythingGoesNSFW” are still up and running. And while subreddits like these make explicit rules for no jailbait or even nudity in some cases – it’ll be up to the moderators to police the content.

    Most people can agree that any steps taken to combat child pornography are good steps. But some redditors worry about the slippery slope that comes with any sort of content ban. Plus, they are also wondering whether or not this new ban will cover /r/toddlersandtiaras. So far, that subreddit it still up and running.

    [Image Courtesy reddit]

  • Porn Copyright Case Is One For The History Books

    Porn Copyright Case Is One For The History Books

    Can you copyright porn? That’s one of the big issues facing copyright law now.

    Liuxia Wong received a letter last year from Hard Drive Productions claiming that she had used her IP address last year to share “Amateur Allure Jen” on BitTorrent. The porn studio told her that they would take her to court for $150,000 but she could settle for only $3,400. Wong didn’t take the bait and is taking the porn producer to court according to TorrentFreak.

    Wong is fighting back and has hired Steven Yuen, an experienced IP litigator from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to sue Hard Drive Productions. In the lawsuit, Wong alleges that she did not download the work in question and attacks the porn studio on multiple accounts.

    Hard Drive claims that the infringement took place on March 28, 2011. Wong did her research and found out that the film didn’t release until April 22, 2011. She claims that the letters “were designed to coerce her into settling the case despite the absence of any facts supporting liability against her.”

    The lawsuit also claims that the letter from Hard Drive says that Wong could be indicted even if her router was unsecured and somebody else uploaded it. An assertion she dismisses as “erroneous.”

    The best part is that she even throws up the opinion that you can’t copyright porn:

    “Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution, known as the Copyright Clause, empowers the United States Congress: ‘To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries,” the lawsuit details, adding:

    “Early Circuit law in California held that obscene works did not promote the progress of science and the useful arts, and thus cannot be protected by copyright.”

    Wong is asking the court to declare that she is not liable for infringement. She is also asking that the court to declare the company’s movie as not copyrightable and is illegal due to Hard Drive engaging in “solicitation, conspiracy to commit prostitution, pimping and/or pandering” during the making of the film.

    Hard Drive Productions, all in all, seems to be pretty bad at this claiming damages over copyright infringement thing. They failed to mitigate alleged damages since they didn’t use the DMCA to have offending torrents removed.

    They also hired non-California licensed investigators to monitor torrents which is in violation of the California Business and Professions Code.

    We have the entire lawsuit for your perusal. It’s a fascinating read and if it goes in Wong’s favor, it could change the porn industry, at least in California.

    Gov.uscourts.cand.250725.4.0

  • Fleshlight iPad Case Takes Forever Alone To A Whole New Level [NSFW]

    Steve Jobs was all about changing the way the world does certain things, so in that respect, I guess he would have to be impressed with the ingenuity at work here. And let’s be honest, in some ways, it could change the way that people interact with porn.

    What I’m talking about it a concept design that takes forever alone to a whole new level. Meet the FLESHLiPad Holder.

    What you’re seeing is a Fleshlight device attached to the bottom of an iPad. For those of you unfamiliar with Fleshlights, you can check out the site (a tad NSFW). As you can see, it’s basically a male sex toy that simulates a vagina. It’s actually a pretty huge industry, as prospective users can build their own or purchase toys modeled after famous pornstars – and yes, they are anatomically accurate.

    It doesn’t take a genius to see why a person would want to have one of these devices attached to an iPad – and the mockup makes it pretty clear as well. I must reiterate, this is simply a concept design, but do you really think that this idea will sit around untapped for very long? I don’t think so.

    [TvMiller via Geekologie]

  • Iranian Court Upholds Death Sentence For Web Developer

    The highest court in Iran has upheld a death sentence for a web developer for “being part of a ‘network of decadence on the Internet.’”

    Specifically, the Iran’s Supreme Court maintains, is that Saeed Malekpour, a Iranian-born 35-year-old who is a permanent resident of Canada, developed and promoted porn sites. Malekpour was visiting Iran to visit his ailing father when he was detained by a plain-clothes officer upon arriving to the country. The Guardian reports that his connection to the porn sites is questionable as the site managers were using photo-loading software Malekpour developed. Malekpour says that they used his software without his knowledge yet Iran extracted a televised confession from Malekpour that formed the basis for his conviction. Malekpour, however, recanted his confession in a letter he wrote in prison and stated that his confession had been made “under duress” (A link and excerpt of Malekpour’s letter can be found below).

    Radio Free Europe spoke to Malekpour’s sister, Maryam Malekpour, after Iran confirmed his death sentence.

    “All of Saeed’s activities were within the law,” Maryam Malekpour said. “He didn’t commit anything illegal. Saeed just wrote a computer program that could have been used by these immoral websites or any other website. Unfortunately, without his knowledge, the program was sold and used to upload photos on these immoral websites.”

    Maryam Malekpour went on to tell Radio Free Europe that she found the court process to be a farce as it lacked a computer specialist who could corroborate her brother’s defense. Additionally, she agrees that his confession is counterfeit. “All the evidence they have against him is from his confessions,” she said told Radio Free Europe. “Saeed was in solitary confinement for about one and a half years and was under extreme physical and emotional pressure. For sure, anyone who is in this condition and wants it to end will confess to anything they’re asked.”

    In order to help spread information about Saeed Malekpour throughout the Internet, United for Iran put together a short video about Malekpour’s plight:

    Malekpour’s fate within the Iranian legal system has been tumultuous and unpredictable since his arrest. Iran Human Rights Voice issued a press release in summer 2011 “the Supreme Court had ‘quashed the death sentence.” The release continues, though, and says that “the Supreme Court declared months later it was unable to reach a voting decision on Saeed’s case due to existing discrepancies in the file that required resolving.” Eventually, after deciding to ignore the fact that the confessions were falsified or and even being unable to determine whether the trial was fair, one Iranian judge re-issued the death sentence.

    On Twitter, supporters posted articles and implored others to take action in order to save Malekpour’s life.

    (image)@SaberiRoxana
    Roxana Saberi    Please take action for Canadian resident Saeed Malekpour, who faces imminent execution in Iran: http://t.co/LX70ULGN(image) 12 hours ago via Facebook · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@Doggpoundradio
    Hip Hop Gone Wild    Release Saeed Malekpour, Iranian-Canadian, Tech Expert, in danger of Death Sentence! – Sign the Petition http://t.co/hjOloWSl(image) 1 hour ago via Tweet Button · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@pavlin
    pavlin    Imprisoned Tech Expert Saeed Malekpour Writes of Torture : http://t.co/w8STGxon(image) 2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@darakerr
    darakerr    An Iranian court ruled that software developer Saeed Malekpour is to be executed shortly, get more of the story here: http://t.co/4GuVAr9z(image) 8 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@drewerydyke
    Drewery Dyke    #iran must halt execution of Saeed Malekpour; cycle of arrests inc Marzieh R, Parastou D & Saham B says #Amnesty http://t.co/Zi4eBtVg(image) 19 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    As mentioned already, Persian2English provided a translation of a letter that Malekpour wrote last March detailing the physical and psychological torture he has been subjected to since his “arrest”:

    My name is Saeed Malekpour. I was arrested on October 4, 2008 near Vanak Square (in northern Tehran) by plainclothes agents who did not present an arrest warrant or identification. The arrest resembled an abduction. Afterwards, I was handcuffed, blindfolded and placed in the back of a Sedan. A heavy-set agent leaned his weight on me by positioning his elbow on my neck, and forcing my head down throughout the ride. They transferred me to an undisclosed location they called the “technical office.” When we arrived, a few agents severely beat me and verbally abused me. While I was handcuffed and blindfolded, they forced me to sign a few forms that I was unable to read. As a result of the physical assault, my neck was aching for several days and my face was swollen from the punches, slaps, and kicks. That night, I was transferred to ward 2-A of Evin prison. I was placed in a solitary cell 2m X 1.7m (6’2? X 5’8?) wide. I was only allowed to leave the cell twice a day at specified times for some fresh air. However, I was blindfolded during the times I left the cell. The only time I was allowed to remove the blindfold was in my cell.

    ~

    On one particular day, One of those very days, as a result of being kicked, punched, and lashed with cables on my head and face, my face became very swollen. I lost consciousness several times, but each time they would wake me up by splashing water on my face [and continued with the torture]. That night, they returned me to my cell. At the end of the night, I realized my ear was bleeding. I banged on the door of my cell, but nobody came. The next day, while half of my body was paralyzed, and I was unable to move, they took me to the Evin prison clinic. The doctor, after seeing my condition, emphasized that I should be transferred to a hospital. However, I was returned to my cell instead, and I was left on my own until 9:00pm. Three guards eventually transferred me to Baghiatollah hospital.

    On our way to the hospital, the guards told me I was not allowed to give my real name, and ordered me to use the alias Mohammad Saeedi. They threatened me with severe torture if I did not follow their orders.

  • Porn Sites Black Out For SOPA

    Porn Sites Black Out For SOPA

    With so many sites down today to protest SOPA and PIPA, it’s safe to assume that many internet denizens will turn to other recreational sites to fill the void (I’m looking at you, redditors).

    But don’t think that just because you’re browsing the porn tubes, that means you’re in a SOPA Blackout-free zone.

    In fact, many popular streaming porn tube sites have joined in the SOPA protest, and their participation ranges from blacked out landing pages to censored logos.

    PornHub has placed a “stop censorship” bar over their logo, reminding users that the site, like other tube sites, would struggle to exist under SOPA and PIPA:

    In fact, other tube sites in the extremely popular PornHub network participating in the protest too. This includes Tube8 and SpankWire:

    Xvideos and XNXX have gone to greater lengths in protest of the legislation. Upon visiting their sites, users are directed to a landing page that announces the blackout:

    SOPA and PIPA are laws that would lead to a censored internet, in the name of copyright protection. You may not have heard about them yet as the big medias are hardly covering the subject because they are all in favor of SOPA. This new set of laws was about the pass silently (less internet = more TV). It would allow copyright holders to shut down any site with user generated content (even just a little as it could be seen facilitating infringements), without due process, and create an American internet blacklist.

    You can then access the site, but with this warning message:

    Thank you for reading all this, you can continue to our site by clicking anywhere, this time…

    One of the most interesting SOPA protests comes from TBLOP, or The Big List Of Porn. TBLOP is exactly what it sounds like – a giant directory of some of the best tube sites, pic sites, blogs, aggregators, and porn torrents on the web. They have greyed out every site on their list that might not exist if SOPA and PIPA were to pass:

    TBLOP NEEDS YOUR HELP TO STOP SOPA & PIPA! FREE PORN IS IN DANGER OF DISAPPEARING. This is because of two new bills being voted on in the USA, called SOPA and PIPA. If passed, these bills could block or ban most websites. See the list below? The faded sites may soon be gone forever.

    It may seem like a trivial thing – to put up these SOPA notices on porn sites. But just think how many daily visitors these sites have. Any little reference could spark further research into the topic – and knowledge is power.

    Of course, can you imagine the freakout if some of these porn sites would have shut down completely, not just participated in the protest with censor bars and landing pages? Since this was basically a warning shot, a “see what could happen” if you will, by all means, resume your previous activities.

  • Facebook Hollywood Hookup Gone Bad

    Gotta watch out for the Fatal Attractions, man. Former bassist for heavy metal stalwarts Danzig, Jerry Montano, learned the hard way that you have to watch what you “Like” on Facebook.

    Montano was introduced to aspiring “model” Priscilla Caputo via some friends on Facebook. Montano says that on December 5, “she came to my place around 4 AM and stayed the night.” She spent another night on December 11. Then, when she came a-knockin’ a third time, perhaps in broad daylight this time, Montano says he turned her down… and she freaked out.

    Caputo reportedly got one of Montano’s roommates to let her into the house while he was gone, whereupon she kicked in his bedroom door and trashed the room. Montano filed a police report. He says Caputo threatened to tell the cops he had raped her.

    So, out come the restraining orders. A judge has awarded Montano a three-year restraining order, and one for Caputo as well.

    Priscilla Caputo – also known as Priscilla Russo – has had some minor fame on the Internet due to her (mis)adventures in plastic surgery, dabbling in porn, and award-worthy duckface photos.

    “You gotta have a gimmick.” – Ethel Merman

  • Google & “Young Babysitters”: An Exercise In Pornified Phenomenology

    Do you ever play that game where you Google random words or phrases like “ice cream” or “Kevin” or “filipino” just to see how far up in the results the first pornography page shows up? It’s a good holiday game. Something the whole family can enjoy.

    Apparently this isn’t so much fun for at least one person, who posted a complaint on Google’s Web Search Help forum:

    Wow. Quite a fascinating conundrum we have here. Anyone have any guess as to why?

    Anyone?

    …..Any-one?

    …..Bueller….?

    Wait! – Maybe those results are appearing because the Internet is obviously overrun with lecherous hordes of young babysitter-porn hounds! Actually, that’s undoubtedly a scientific fact of the universe. Anyone familiar with Rule 34 will shrug off this event without any further concern but this problem demands our continued attention as nothing so far really explains why similar searches for “babysitters,” “teen babysitters,” or “good babysitters” don’t return the same lurid results as “young babysitters.” A search of “young babysitters” returns, save for the second and third results, an entire page of babysitter-themed hardcore pornography. However, searching the other terms I listed above, all you receive are sites legitimately associated with the honest profession of babysitting children.

    This perplexing discovery beggars the important question: Why would Google’s search results for specifically “young babysitter” defile such an otherwise innocent inquiry on how to become a babysitter? What libidinous fascination with young babysitters has seeped so deeply into our cultural subconscious that, upon searching the Internet, this particular word pairing should automatically yield pants-shrinking depictions of prurient affairs?

    The most likely answer? We’re all perverts and these results are probably completely appropriate (NSFW, by the way) to the motives of “young babysitter” Googlers. The information that Google provides us is based solely on humanity’s prevailing interest and, in this case, that mechanism happens to perform like a dark mirror in which we glimpse our twisted reflection snarling back at us. Occasionally someone doesn’t recognize this reflection, like the forum poster above, and confusion begins. According to Google’s results, when most of us hear “young babysitters” we cognitively index that construct as “sex with young babysitters.”

    So let this be a lesson to all of you Internet searchers and would-be babysitters: be very careful with how you choose your search terms because something as seemingly benign as “young” could easily be an Internet synonym for yeahright.

  • UPDATE: Facebook’s Porn Spam Due To “Attack That Exploited A Browser Vulnerability”

    Our global nightmare might not be totally over, but at least it’s in the process of coming to an end. The flood of penises, dead babies, bloodied corpses and photoshopped Justin Bieber pics is being turned off by the folks at Facebook.

    On Monday, users began complaining that Facebook had turned into a porn site – saying that their news feeds were inundated with hardcore images. As the images spread, users began reporting violent pictures and gory images of animal abuse. The images were popping up on people’s feeds, claiming to have been posted by friends – although people had no idea that they were propagating the content.

    Facebook has issued a brief statement, blaming the spread of graphic images on a “coordinated spam attack that exploited a browser vulnerability.” The specifics involved oblivious users adding “malicious javascript in the browser URL.”

    Here’s the full statement:

    Protecting the people who use Facebook from spam and malicious content is a top priority for us, and we are always working to improve our systems to isolate and remove material that violates our terms. Recently, we experienced a coordinated spam attack that exploited a browser vulnerability. Our efforts have drastically limited the damage caused by this attack, and we are now in the process of investigating to identify those responsible.

    During this spam attack users were tricked into pasting and executing malicious javascript in their browser URL bar causing them to unknowingly share this offensive content. Our engineers have been working diligently on this self-XSS vulnerability in the browser. We’ve built enforcement mechanisms to quickly shut down the malicious Pages and accounts that attempt to exploit it.

    We have also been putting those affected through educational checkpoints so they know how to protect themselves. We’ve put in place backend measures to reduce the rate of these attacks and will continue to iterate on our defences to find new ways to protect people.

    So Facebook is limiting users’ exposure to the penises – which is good. Users were a little more than incensed over the spam. Of course, spam attacks aren’t anything new to Facebook – but this one appeared to be particularly malicious.

    While Facebook cleans up this latest mess, it doesn’t hurt to talk about what you the users can do to prevent stuff like this from happening.

    First and most importantly, stop clicking on stupid links. Have an eye for stuff that sounds out of character for your friends to post. Anything that offers you a look into something private, or contains any of the phrases “OMG” or “I can’t believe this” might be a clickjacking scam. If a link offers to tell you how many people have looked at your profile page, for the love of god, don’t click it.

    If you do find that you have fallen victim to something like this, it doesn’t hurt to change your password. And make sure that your privacy settings are set pretty tight on who can tag you in a photo.

    Of course, if your friends fall victim to these spam attacks, you might not be able to stop the flood of unwanted imagery from hitting your news feed. Hopefully, with a little help from Facebook’s security team and a little more common sense from users, we can make this kind of thing happen less frequently.

  • Facebook Porn, Violent Images Giving Users Headaches

    Have you noticed anything odd while browsing your Facebook news feed in the past 24 hours? Maybe your coworker posted a gory image of a dog or one of your friends’ statuses includes a photo of an over-sized male member?

    If so, then you’re not alone. An unidentified Facebook hack is hijacking users’ accounts to post images of extreme gore, animal abuse and hardcore porn. Apparently, the images will appear as updates from your friends on your news feed. Of course, the images and links have nothing to do with the people that are supposedly posting them – your Nana is probably not flooding your feed with hardcore porn.

    It’s thought that the pictures are probably spread through clicking malicious links. Nobody here at WebProNews has seen any of the images in question (we must have friends that aren’t stupid are cautious), but according to multiple sources, the images are extremely graphic. We’re talking dead babies, bashed-in heads, mutilated animals, erect penises and hardcore intercourse. So this isn’t your typical Facebook link scam asking you to “watch this video OMFG HILARIOUS,” although that might be how it starts.

    The origin of the exploit is still unclear. What is clear is that users’ feeds are being overtaken by the images and the users “propagating” the content are unaware that they are doing so. There are also reports of messages requesting link clicks and mass photo tagging. Here’s what Sophos’ Naked Security had to say:

    It isn’t presently clear precisely how the offending content has been spread – whether users are falling for a clickjacking scheme, are being tagged in content without their knowledge, have poorly chosen privacy settings, have been tricked into installing malicious code, or have fallen victim to another vulnerability inside Facebook itself.

    So people could be clicking on harmless-looking links to something about one of the Kardashians and BOOM – penises and guts are being spread from their account. A quick check of Twitter shows that this problem is affecting quite a few users:

    @sarahjacobss
    Sarah Jacobs    im considering deleting my facebook because of all the porn/ dead animals and babies. its disgusting 12 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @sampepper
    Sam Pepper    literally so much porn on facebook at the moment! actually full on porn. 16 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @SarahMaeyer
    Sarah Mae    Why the hell on earth is my Facebook full of porn pictures?!?! 1 minute ago via UberSocial for BlackBerry · powered by @socialditto

    @_MannyGee
    Manny Garcia    If i refresh my fb and see another pic of Justin bieber giving head I’m deactivating it. 9 hours ago via UberSocial for Android · powered by @socialditto

    @linsnead
    Linsey Snead    pretty disgusted with facebook, the dog was too much. #getittogether 9 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    Some are suggesting that the issues might have something to do with Anonymous and a rumored “Guy Fawkes Virus,” which is supposed to attack Facebook. There’s been no confirmation on this from Anonymous (not like it’s always easy to get “confirmation” from Anonymous).

    In a way, watching everyone freak out over some penis pictures popping up on their feeds is kind of funny. On the other hand, there are young teens on the site – and even your grandma in some cases. Plus, nobody really wants to log on to Facebook and see a dead baby.

    There’s a lot of bitching going on right now about all of these images, and a lot of threats from people saying they are going to leave Facebook. But if we know one thing about people and their Facebook it’s that people never really leave Facebook – no matter how much they bitch.

    Facebook is no stranger to porn/odd images spam. But according to most reports, this incident includes much more graphic material than the normal fare. Facebook told ZDNet that they “are aware of these reports and are investigating the issue.”

  • Porn, Halloween & StumbleUpon

    Porn, Halloween & StumbleUpon

    Today’s infographic round-up features porn, Halloween, and StumbleUpon. What more do you want? Don’t worry, it’s not actual porn.

    View more daily infographic round-ups here.

    Search Engine Journal looks at Porn vs. the Internet:

    Infographic: Porn vs The Internet [NSFW]
    Source: Infographic: Porn vs The Internet [NSFW]

    Halloween By the Numbers:

    via

    The Lifecycle of a page on StumbleUpon:

    StumbleUpon Lifecycle  

  • Sesame Street YouTube Channel Hacked, Showed Porn For 20 Minutes

    It was a big deal when Sesame Street came to YouTube (it came to Hulu and iTunes at the same time). These online channels provide worldwide access for children everywhere to enjoy Sesame Street content that many of us grown-ups enjoyed when we were young, only on a variety of devices. As the father of a young child who always wants to play with my smartphone, I can certainly appreciate this.

    Luckily, we didn’t visit the Sesame Street YouTube channel yesterday, as we may have had to have a conversation I’m not ready to have yet.

    The channel was hacked, and the videos of muppets teaching things were replaced by apparently hardcore porn. Classy, hackers. Classy.

    According to TheNextWeb, which broke the news, it was about 22 minutes before Google pulled the content. With YouTube being the second largest search engine (as Google often likes to remind us), I’m guessing that was more than enough time for some children to see some stuff.

    Last night, the SesameWorkshop Twitter account tweeted out the following:

    @SesameWorkshop
    Sesame Workshop    Please read: Statement from Sesame Workshop Regarding Sesame Street’s YouTube Channel http://t.co/L3hnKawA 15 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    That leads to a Facebook post, saying:

    We apologize for any inconvenience our audience may have experienced today on ourSesame Street YouTube channel.  Our channel was compromised and we are presently working with YouTube/Google to restore our original content. We always strive to provide age-appropriate content for our viewers and hope to resolve this problem quickly. 

    Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluley shows a screenshot of what the channel’s profile info was changed to. This includes the user name: Mredxwx. This is a real YouTube user, who has since uploaded this video claiming it was not him:

    The hacked profile info also included the message: “WHO DOESN’T LOVE PORN KIDS? RIGHT! EVERYONE LOVES IT! IM MREDXWX AND MY PARTNER MRSUICIDER91 ARE HERE TO BRING YOU MANY NICE CONTENT! PLEASE DON’T LET SESAME STREET TO GET THIS ACCOUNT BACK KIDS 🙁 PLEASE…LET ME AND MRSUICIDER91 HAVE IT AND WE GONNA MAKE ALL THE AMERICA HAPPY!”

    Sigh.

  • PETA Discusses Upcoming Porn Site

    PETA Discusses Upcoming Porn Site

    Who knew the “P” in PETA doesn’t stand for people? Apparently, it stand for “pornography,” which is always a winning combination in regards to Internet dwellers, but in this case, will PETA’s upcoming pornography site, one that aims to use the adult medium to further its mission, be successful?

    In case you missed it, word of PETA’s porn site came about when the .xxx domain restriction was lifted and companies began their race to register their .xxx site. You know, for brand awareness and all that? Anyway, while it’s doubtful we’ll ever see a Coca-Cola-based pornography site, we will apparently be getting one from an organization that’s committed to protecting animals.

    I’m not sure what this means for the content of PETA’s soon-to-be porn site, but if they go the furries route, it would almost be too good to be true. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case, according to some quotes that appeared in the The Telegraph recently. Rest assured, however. Furries or no, PETA is going to deliver its message with a helping hand from the most ubiquitous of Internet mediums, porn:

    “We’re hoping to reach a whole new audience of people, some of whom will be shocked by graphic images that maybe they didn’t anticipate seeing when they went to the PETA triple-X site,” said Lindsay Rajt, PETA’s associate director of campaigns.

    Does this mean the furries phenomenon is still in play for PETA? Perhaps, but when it launches in December, PETA’s use of their .xxx domain is just as much about generating buzz as it is to titillate viewers:

    “We try to use every outlet that we can to speak up for animals,” Rajt said. “We anticipated that this new triple-X domain name would be a hot topic and we immediately decided to use it and take advantage of it to try to promote the animal rights message.”

    As for what the site’s content will entail, there’s a description of that, as well:

    Visitors to the X-rated site will initially be presented with pornographic content as well as images from PETA’s salacious ads and campaigns, Rajt said. Those images will be followed by pictures and video shot undercover of the mistreatment of animals. The site will also include links to vegetarian and vegan – using no animal products – starter kits as well as recipes.

    An example of these advertisements PETA refers to leads this article, and if PETA can promise more alluring shots of Charlotte Ross, who knows? Maybe the message will be successfully broadcast across the web. The question is, is porn an effective medium for getting a message out concerning the ethical treatment of animals?

    Would, say, someone who hunts for recreation change their behavior after enjoying Internet porn, wrapped in a bow of “we must protect the animals” messages?

  • XXX Porn Site On The Way For PETA?

    In the upcoming months, you’re going to start seeing a much greater variety of domains names appear on your url bar.

    This year, Internet domain name overlords ICANN have made two important votes – first, they decided to lift almost all restrictions on generic top-level domains (gTLDs). This means that along with your basic .com, .gov, and .net, private citizens and companies are soon going to be able to register almost anything they want – .josh, .Pepsi, or .food.

    Some organizations are speaking out against this decision, saying that it could lead to disaster for brand owners.

    ICANN is set to start accepting applications for new gTLDs in January of 2012. The second big decision made by ICANN this year is set to go into effect much sooner. The age of dot-xxx is upon us. Although the official “sunrise” registration period doesn’t kick off until September 7th, domain operator ICM Registry is accepting early applications from organizations who wish to control their names.

    It took ICM Registry over 10 years to finally convince ICANN to allow the .xxx domain. And with the new adult domain on the horizon, companies are going into defensive mode. According to Reuters, ICM Registry has received over 900,000 requests already from companies that want to preregister a .xxx domain.

    Many are doing this to block others from snatching up the domains in the future. For instance, a company like Stanley Steamer or Coke would want to register StanleySteamer.xxx and Coke.xxx – not to use the sites but to make sure others do not. You don’t want grandma doing a Google search and stumbling on something that’s going to turn her off Coke forever.

    MTV has apparently already requested domains like spongebob.xxx and others to prevent cybersquatting. They have no plans to actually operate the site, however.

    But one high-profile organization does. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is planning on not only registering PETA.xxx, but actually running it as a pornography site. According to Reuters, they will use the new .xxx porn site to “draw attention to the plight of animals.”

    Of course, this shouldn’t be too surprising. PETA has been asking celebs to strip down in support of their cause for years. Their “I’d rather go naked than wear fur” campaign has featured notable celebs, all in the buff. A whole site dedicated to this type of advertising seems quite logical.

    Yesterday, GoDaddy announced their pricing scheme for the new .xxx domains. Early registers will need to shell out $210 at first and then $100 each year in renewal costs.

    PETA will probably attempt to avoid GoDaddy, however, as the two companies haven’t exactly see eye to eye in recent months. PETA called for a boycott of GoDaddy after their CEO Bob Parsons killed an elephant and threw the video online. It doesn’t look like it worked, however, as GoDaddy registrations actually went up following the elephant killing.

    Would you visit a porn site run by PETA? Let us know in the comments.