iPorn and iHate?
In the same vein as yesterday's post, I came across this story this morning:
Ah, yes, as Adam Curry predicted days before the video iPod was even released, it didn't take long for the porn industry to see the opportunity for porn-to-go that the new video iPod represents:
Unfortunately, it does make sense, because it was pornography that drove the growth of video sales after the advent of VCRs (most non-porn video was rented, not purchased), and clearly porn was a major factor in the development of online transactions and secure mechanisms for making credit card purchases over the web as more and more people started using the Internet. I'm not looking forward to being on the train or on a plane and having someone next to me watching porn on his iPod. Yes, I know I can ignore it, but you know that there will be some idiots who insist on watching it where kids can see it. The only redeeming grace is that the screen is so small.
While it's not so surprising (at least not to anyone aware of the history of video and the web) that the porn industry would embrace the new video iPod so fast what did surprise me is that porn providers are not the only dubious content providers getting in on the act. Hate groups and white supremacist music providers are now providing content for the video iPod. Remember a while back, when I mentioned Prussian Blue, the cute perky 13-year-old blonde twins who are happy to model Hitler T-shirts and whose racist and white nationalist songs have made them the darlings of the white power movement? Well, it turns out that they're selling iTunes/iPod-compatible videos for their racist songs for $1.99 each on their website.
As much as I love my iPod (4th generation, 60 GB), without a significant increase in storage space beyond 60 GB, there's no compelling reason for me to consider a video iPod. Yes, they're smaller and have a much nicer screen, but I remain skeptical of how much I would want to listen watch pre-recorded video on the go. Even so, it's still rather disheartening to think that, if the new video iPod does catch on and become a hit, prominent early "trailblazers" who jumped on the bandwagon early will have been pornographers and white supremacists.
SAN FRANCISCO - Purveyors of porn and entrepreneurs who spied a niche when Apple Computer Inc. unveiled its video-playing iPod are proving that sex even sells in tiny packages — especially when it is portable.
One online social network of amateur pinup girls said it logged 500,000 downloads of the sexy "featurettes" — three- to five-minute video clips — in the first 24 hours targeting the new iPod-toting crowd.
It's a no-brainer: pornography to go.
The naughtiness is already finding its way into video handhelds through business models tried-and-true — along with some new ones — as the adult entertainment industry works to untether video content.
Soon enough, skin flicks whose viewing has been largely restricted to the privacy of homes and theaters could be on view in the open public of parks and mass transit, for all ages to see.
Adam Curry, president of PodShow Inc., said this week's announcement of the new video iPod from Apple Computer (AAPL: 61.15, -0.70, -1.1%) sets the stage for more big changes in media.
"Porn is just going to be huge," he told listeners to his Daily Source Code podcast this week. "The porn guys are just going, 'holy moly,' " -- in gratitude for the new market that's opened up to them.
But adult material is only one facet of new commercial opportunities, that Curry foresees. As an example, he said that "video dating should happen. A video dating feed. That's also a form of podcasting."
While it's not so surprising (at least not to anyone aware of the history of video and the web) that the porn industry would embrace the new video iPod so fast what did surprise me is that porn providers are not the only dubious content providers getting in on the act. Hate groups and white supremacist music providers are now providing content for the video iPod. Remember a while back, when I mentioned Prussian Blue, the cute perky 13-year-old blonde twins who are happy to model Hitler T-shirts and whose racist and white nationalist songs have made them the darlings of the white power movement? Well, it turns out that they're selling iTunes/iPod-compatible videos for their racist songs for $1.99 each on their website.
As much as I love my iPod (4th generation, 60 GB), without a significant increase in storage space beyond 60 GB, there's no compelling reason for me to consider a video iPod. Yes, they're smaller and have a much nicer screen, but I remain skeptical of how much I would want to listen watch pre-recorded video on the go. Even so, it's still rather disheartening to think that, if the new video iPod does catch on and become a hit, prominent early "trailblazers" who jumped on the bandwagon early will have been pornographers and white supremacists.
Why do pornographers get lumped in with Nazis?
ReplyDeleteI've had some fringe involvement with soft pornography, and don't really consider myself to be on the same level as white supremacists.
All right, I'll give you that white supremacists are probably worse because of the hatred they espouse. However, neither are things that you would like your children to be exposed to in public or to have easy access to (although in the case of pornography on the Internet the cat's already out of the bag, I guess).
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised you haven't yet seen porn in the DVD players in cars. I have. And those screens are quite bigger than an iPod.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing better than being on a long road trip, stopping off at a Wendy's to get some food, and getting a face full of porn in the parking lot. Thankfully, I missed seeing whatever the driver and his passenger were doing. I was also thankful I didn't have any children with me at the time.
Personally, I think the idea of a video iPod is ridiculous, it's not like I'm going to watch a full TV show or movie on a 2" screen, so a 2-3 minute porn is probably going to be a fairly popular thing for these iPods. Just to be a pain in the ass and disagree, however, really I couldn't care much less if more porn is out there. I'm a lot more concerned with violence and crass materialism (rap, I'm looking in your direction) being given to our kids. I would rather find out a parent let their kid have some porn when he/she was 16 than let them watch Pulp Fiction (great movie) when they were too young to handle the violence. That, and I know a lot of my tax $ are going to be wasted fighting eeevil nudity instead of say, going towards educating some kids out there or going to a needy hospital so it can pay its caregivers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the first post by Anonymous. They way people see pornographers is way out of line. And no, I'm not one. I mean we all know sex sells. ;-) And that's how it's always gonna be.
ReplyDeletePorn magazines have been around for a long time, but I don't ever recall seeing anyone look at one in a public place. Why should you have to worry more about seeing porn on an ipod in an airplane or other public place than seeing a porn magazine in the same place?
ReplyDelete