porn

There's something quite endearing about politicians.

They'll rail against drunk drivers, just before being caught driving in an intoxicated state. They'll vote for anti-gay legislation, even though they might themselves be gay.

And then there are the ones who would cheerily declare that sex is a frightful thing, while themselves indulging in all sorts of carnal behaviors that might make their constituents blush or envy.

But none, surely, has offered more food for cognitive dissonance than an Indonesian politician who, like Brazilian soccer players, goes by the name of Arifinto.

You see, Arifinto helped in the passing … Read more

For some reason, I am reminded of Eric Schmidt's dictum.

You know, the one that went something like: "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."

It comes to mind because someone whose motivations seem slightly troubling has taken it upon himself to be the Julian Assange of porn.

For there now exists a site called PornWikiLeaks, on which, as you might be able to imagine, certain intimate details of porn stars are displayed for all to see.

The site doesn't … Read more

Police have arrested 184 people accused of participating in what authorities are calling the largest global pedophile network ever uncovered--and more arrests are expected, Europol said today.

Authorities infiltrated an Internet child pornography forum that was the center of the network and had as many as 70,000 members at one time, Europol said in a statement. About 670 suspects and 230 children have been identified in the investigation, officials said, adding that the children have been "safeguarded."

The Web site, which has been taken down, was traced to a server in Holland in 2009. Europol got a … Read more

Our guest on today's episode of The 404 Podcast is Russ Frushtick, the games and tech editor for MTV Multiplayer, but the ESRB has assigned him an AO rating for Adults Only, so he won't be visiting Australia anytime soon. Similarly, Australia also refuses to welcome the latest Mortal Kombat game due to excessive violence.

The real story, however, is Australia's outdated rules for video game classification that currently only accommodate a maximum MA15+ rating, so video games that surpass these limitations are automatically banned in the country.

Since Australian adults still have access to mature media in its other myriad forms, it doesn't make sense that local gamers can't also enjoy video games with similarly "explicit" content.

And speaking of risque video games, a U.K.-only Nintendo Wii title is promising "flirty fun for all" with its latest adult-friendly release, called We Dare. The trailer for We Dare illustrates gameplay in the form of four consenting adults using the Wii remote to control virtual versions of party games like Spin The Bottle, Kiss Under the Mistletoe, and the ever-popular Take Off Your Clothes.

The We Dare trailer is a perfect example of vendors using viral marketing to hype up the release of video games that may not be as fun as the videos suggest.

The Dead Island trailer is making similar waves for two reasons: because of its graphic nature that makes sensitive babies like Wilson and me squirm, but also because it doesn't show footage of actual gameplay in Dead Island.

Game previews often show cut scenes or, worse, videos exclusively created for the trailers, which leaves plenty of gamers feeling cheated when the gameplay doesn't even come close… Read more

"I'm not of the mind that someone who pirates one piece of content is never going to purchase another piece of content."

That statement was made a couple of months ago by Quentin Boyer, a spokesman for adult-film company Pink Visual. Los Angeles-based Pink Visual has eschewed filing copyright suits against alleged film pirates in the hope that it can strike some kind of balance in a world where unauthorized digital photos, books, movies, and music are so easily passed around the Internet.

This year, a growing number of porn studios, including such top triple-x filmmakers as … Read more

After several setbacks, Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver, the law firm that last year filed thousands of copyright suits against accused illegal file sharers on behalf of independent filmmakers, has made good on promises to push on with the cases.

Dunlap has begun to refile lawsuits across the country against people accused last year of pirating movies via peer-to-peer networks. To do that, Dunlap established a network of lawyers who are licensed to operate in different federal districts.

The firm, which also works under the name U.S. Copyright Group, made headlines last year by suing thousands in a federal court … Read more

Home video innovations always seem to lead back to porn.

The fingerprints of the adult-film industry can be found on the development of VHS and Blu-ray disc. Soon, the sector may teach us about the cloud.

Pink Visual, a porn studio with a history of embracing new technologies, appears to be among the first filmmakers in the United States to offer the kind of streaming-video features that Apple and Google were said to be considering last year.

Instead of storing digital movies they own on computer hard drives, Pink Visual customers will be able to store clips they buy from … Read more

We get nostalgic about kid cereals of yore in The 404 preshow this morning, and if you miss Cap'n Crunch OOPS! All Berries and Kellogg's Rice Krispies Treats Cereal as much as we do, you can still buy both on Amazon.com. Don't blame us if you get a stomach ache from 17-year-old crunchberries.

Sprint's dual-touch-screen Kyocera Echo is the latest victim of the "just because you can, doesn't mean you should" cliche.

Bonnie Cha was at the special event in New York yesterday and raises concerns about the effects of the double screens on the phone's battery life, not to mention the lack of 4G support that will likely push this handset to the clearance bin by the end of this year.

The war of the smartphones will always be a heated topic of discussion on the show, but as the numbers of handsets grows, we're getting less excited about the hardware in lieu of the new apps that make them really stand out--things like Grindr, a new service that lets men and women turn their GPS-powered phones into mobile-dating tools.

The mobile service was initially rolled out to help gay men track their nearest potential dates (aka, gaydar) and has grown to support nearly 1.5 million members with apps for iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android.

Once you sign onto Grindr and fill out your profile, the app shows a grid of pictures for potential daters in your area based using GPS technology that works up to a couple of hundred feet. If you see someone of interest, you can then send a photo or a message to start the conversation.

It's opened up a realm of possibilities that take the guesswork out of spotting gay men, but now its 33-year-old founder, Joel Simkhai, is attempting to port the service over for straight women as well.

The problem lies in the effort to incorporate features that appeal specifically to that demographic, since most straight women can walk into any bar and lock down a date. Wilson also brings up a good point about the safety and privacy issues behind an app that keeps track of your location.

Along the same vein, an article in New York Mag caught our attention and hits so close to home that we have to address it in the second half of the show. It examines the negative psychological effects of Internet pornography on the male libido.

Based on interviews with men of all ages (including John Mayer, an expert on the subject), the author questions the possibility that Internet porn is causing men to detach from their partners and instead form mental bonds with the stars in these movies.

Obviously there's plenty to be said on this topic (anecdotally, not personally), so I'm sure we'll spend more time on it tomorrow. Read the article and let us know what you think!

Men, sometimes, cannot help themselves. This, it seems, includes civil servants.

I am moved to this dour view of life by the case of an Australian civil servant who took his government-issued laptop home.

The Sydney Morning Herald tells the tale of this man, a senior government employee, who, once at home, chose to google the word "knockers".

This, for those of you not influenced by English colloquialisms, is a pejorative word used by little English boys to refer to women's chests.

Unfortunately, the Australian Government has in its employ a program called Spector360, which tends to … Read more