Like It or Not, Porn Can Still Be an Engine for Tech Progress
Recent controversies demonstrate that it has perhaps the clearest use case for censorship-beating, privacy-protecting innovations.
Innovators at work?
Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Online porn has critically shaped the internet as we know it. Two recent public debates, one involving Apple Inc.’s decision to scan iOS devices for child porn, the other following OnlyFans Ltd.’s (quickly reversed) decision to ban adult content, show that the sex industry still has a role to play in setting the direction of technological progress. Though its importance in commercializing the internet is diminished, it has perhaps the clearest use case for censorship-beating, privacy-protecting tech.
Back when life on the Internet (spelled with a capital I in those days) was concentrated in Usenet groups, five out of six images shared were estimated to be pornographic. In 2006, still in the pre-iPhone era, adult content accounted for more than 20% of Google searches from mobile phones (the next category by popularity was “entertainment” with 10%). But the early internet and early phones weren’t really suited to high-quality porn.