porn posts

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Windows, Open Source, Humor

Off the Clock: Pr0nSpider helps you - er, your friends - safely download NSFW images and videos

by Lee Mathews Sep 12th 2009

Intro: Off the Clock is something we've kidded about in our newsroom for a while. The plan: write up some apps that aren't quite made for the 9-to-5(ET) RSS feed. Nothing serious, just harmless, grown-up, after hours stuff.

It's pretty rare that you can tell a software developer is totally up front about what truly motivated him or her to develop an application. In the case of Pr0nSpider, however, it's painfully clear to anyone who's been in his situation that he's being straight up with us.

Any technician I've ever met is all too familiar with the "thems not my pr0ns" speech. Born of the frustration caused by yet another "I dunno how my PC got so screwed up, dog" phone call, Pr0nSpider aims to keep your clueless-but-horny pals from getting into trouble. Well, at least from getting their Windows PC in trouble.
Here's how the magic happens. Fire up Pr0nSpider and select some categories (like the Jeopardy-esque Potpurri). Press go, and it springs into action, hoovering the appropriate inappropriate images from a handful of well-known sites. They're automatically dumped into Program files\Pr0nSpider\Output (or Program files x86\... on 64-bit Windows).

Tags: downloader, images, off the clock, OffTheClock, porn, pr0n, pron

Filed under: Browsers, Humor

One big reason people didn't upgrade from Firefox 2 to 3? Hiding porn bookmarks.

by Lee Mathews Aug 26th 2009

Generally, improvements in software are a good thing. Improving something means making it better, right? In the case of Firefox 3's enhanced Awesome Bar, maybe not so much.

The Firefox security team has been analyzing data collected from users who declined to upgrade from version 2 to 3 back in May when Mozilla issued a friendly nudge. Those users were given the chance to fill out a questionnaire to explain their decision. One big sticking point: the suped-up address bar's ability to match text you enter with your bookmarks.

Here's how the Firefox crew describes a common scenario:

"In some cases users had intentionally hidden these bookmarks in deep hierarchies of folders, somewhat similar to how one might hide a physical object. Having something from your previous browsing displayed to someone else who is using your computer (or even worse) to a large audience of people as you are giving a presentation, is really one of the most embarrassing things that Firefox can do to you."

Translation: I hid all my bookmarks to NSFW cosplay sites in My Bookmarks\Harmless\Totally Harmless\No Really\Why are you still drilling down\Nothing to see here\Get out of my chair already\Sandwiches and I don't want them popping up accidentally when I start typing.

Having hot-girls-in-panda-costumes.org pop up when you start typing a URL during a demonstration could definitely make things slightly uncomfortable.

You could, of course, just upgrade and follow Digital Inspiration's tips for disabling this behavior. You'll also be able to use ~~dirty old man~~ private browsing mode in your new Firefox 3.5 install.

[via PC Pro]

Tags: awesome-bar, bookmarks, firefox, porn, survey, upgrade, upgrading

Filed under: News, Humor

Cat cleared of illegal porn charges

by Jay Hathaway Aug 8th 2009

File this one under "LOLcats in real life." A Florida man accused of downloading over 1,000 illegal child porn images tried to lay the blame on his cat. Allegedly, the cat would jump on his owner's keyboard, and the offending images would just appear. The cat had the last laugh, though, as police have now ruled him out as a suspect.

After failing to win the cops over with his implausible tale, the man faces 10 counts of possession of child pornography. He's now being held on $250,000 bail as he awaits trial. Meanwhile, the cat is staying with relatives. Presumably, no illegal photos have appeared on their computers, but I'm sure they're keeping a close eye on the suspicious feline.

Tags: cat, law, police, porn, pornography

Filed under: Internet, Microsoft, Search

Bing addresses porn controversy with separate domain for explicit content

by Jay Hathaway Jun 16th 2009

The last time we talked about the uproar over Bing's live video previews including some explicit material, Lee was reporting that Microsoft had changed the default safesearch features to block porn. A week later, they've taken one further step to reassure concerned customers that they're not going to accidentally see XXX videos. Potentially explicit videos and images are now served from their own domain, explicit.bing.net.

They've also gone ahead and added the source URL into the query string. The average user's not going to look at that, but it makes things easy for corporate filters to just block anything with "explicit.bing.net" in the string. I'm not sure if this is overcorrecting for a mistake that, as Lee argued, wasn't that bad to begin with. It should definitely put to rest any remain concerns that Bing should be renamed Microsoft Live Porn, though.

Tags: bing, controversy, explicit, porn, safesearch

Filed under: Internet, Blogging, Microsoft, Search

Back up the porn bus - Bing responds to pressure over previews

by Lee Mathews Jun 4th 2009

First off, don't worry - if you were using Bing to preview naughty videos in thumbnail-sized awesomeness, this doesn't mean the fun is over.

In a post on the Bing blog, the crew has announced that they have tweaked search settings in response to concerns from corporate customers. The changes should now allow Bing to play nicely with firewalls and safety products. Adding adlt=strict to Bing query strings will also force the filter to activate, even if a user has disabled it manually.

They've also offered some insight as to why the previews are there in the first place:

What's cool about the technology is that it helps you decide if it is a video you want to go watch.This makes it easier to sort through the clutter of all those results and help you get to what you are looking for. And as a publisher, when people leave Bing for your site (and require bandwidth on your servers) it tends to be higher quality traffic because folks are sure of what they wanted to watch. Plus, we think it's pretty cool.

It's still only a few clicks to shut off the filter, so not much has really changed. Loic LeMeur's jab that "You are now on a porn site without leaving bing. Amazing" still holds true. But, ah, as I pointed out earlier, that's true of every damn search engine on the Internet.

[ via CNet ]

Tags: bing, fail, porn

Filed under: Internet, Search

Why exactly are we criticizing Bing for porn previews?

by Lee Mathews Jun 4th 2009

When Bing debuted two days ago, there was a flood of activity as people rushed to kick the tires on Microsoft's new ~~search~~ decision engine. Some liked it, some didn't. And some found a feature that made them titter like gaggle of adolescent boys sneaking glances at a dirty magazine.

Yes, Bing's video preview thumbnails display watchable porn. When you search for it. And you have the adult filter turned off. Big blogs, internet personalities like Loic LeMeur, and even Fox News were all over this. Yes, the same Fox News that just proclaimed Apple and Firefox two of the top three search engines.

Wait, why is this a problem?

Bing, like other search engines, tries its best to index content on the Internet. Want in on a little secret? The Internet is full of porn. Full. Think about the fullest thing you can imagine, then fill thirty seven of it. That's how much porn there is on the 'net. Heck, last week (thanks to a 4chan raid) there was even a flood of raunchy videos on YouTube.

You can turn off safe search on Google and the image results will get pretty racy - downright terrifying in some cases. Same with Yahoo - and turning off the filter is WAY easier there. Heck, search Twitter and see what people like Cytherea are tweeting (If you don't know who she is, don't look her up. She's a porn star.).

Tags: bing, google, porn

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Humor

Obvious stat: 70% of IT pros spot porn on laptops

by Lee Mathews Apr 16th 2009

Unless you're working for a company like Vivid Video, chances are good that you shouldn't be using your office laptop for checkin' out the porno.

And yet, according to 3,100 respondents to a Computer World survey 70% of work laptops are being used for portable porn.

That's kind of impressive. Nearly three quarters of all administrators surveyed found either pictures, videos, or browser cache evidence of digital naughtiness. Better still, it's a greater percentage than the number reporting evidence of employment searches, which was just behind at 63%.

Apparently work laptops are being used to look for other jobs, just not the kind where you submit a resume.

Don't get any ideas, now. Just because 70% of your staff are downloading porn doesn't mean you'll start reading about it on Download Squad.

Nope. No way. Well, apart from this post. And any other humorous statistics that pop up.

Tags: inapprpriate-use, porn

Filed under: Internet, Blogging, Web services, Social Software

Ning is pro-freedom, and porn agnostic

by Kristin Shoemaker Jan 5th 2008

Marc Andreessen of Ning is our hero. Ning, the online platform that allows users to create and maintain their own social networks, seems to have a few naughtier communities its midst. We'd be more shocked to hear it didn't, quite frankly. This is the internet, after all.

Some do find it surprising, however. Enough people, in fact, that Andreessen issued a statement on his blog today.

Andreessen's response is calm and well-argued. The short version: People who violate the terms of service will be dealt with accordingly. People who do things that are outright illegal will be reported to the authorities. He isn't, as he puts it, "pro-porn" but is "pro-freedom."

The Ning blog outlines a little bit about the "Red Light District." Adult-oriented sites must have warning pages, and must not appear in the search results on Ning.com. Additional tips are given on keeping non-adult sites free of racier material.

Interestingly enough, some of the high-traffic sites that Valleywag pegged as being pornographic simply aren't. (We will warn you some are, so if you're not supposed to be checking out that type of site for whatever reason, don't.) The most noticeable mis-categorization: GirlonGirl, a site where you can vote for the sexiest (fully clothed) girl. The other? Pomoworld, which looks a bit like Pornoworld if you squint. It's dedicated to a post-modernistic lifestyle.

Cheers to Andreessen and Ning for taking a position on the issue, and explaining that position like a rational (dare we say it?) adult.

[via blog.pmarca.com]

Tags: internet, Marc Andreessen, MarcAndreessen, ning, porn, social networks, SocialNetworks, terms of service, TermsOfService

Filed under: Internet, News

ICANN rejects .xxx domains

by Brad Linder Mar 30th 2007

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has rejected a proposed .xxx domain for pornographic websites. This is the third time ICANN has shot the idea down.

The proposal had faced opposition from adult-entertainment groups who feared it would ghettoize their sites, and also from religious organizations who were concerned that the domain would lead to more porn sites on the internet (would that even be possible?)

The proposal is being pushed by ICM Registry LLC, a Florida company that wants to oversee registration of .xxx sites. ICANN voted 9-5 to reject the measure.

Tags: icann, porn, pornography, xxx

Filed under: Internet, Security, Windows, Shareware

Heatseek: The porn browser

by Jordan Running Jul 13th 2006

There's a lot that the term "porn browser" brings to mind, but Michael Arrington's review of Heatseek is any indication you can add "pretty decent app" to the list. He says Heatseek's developers have "clearly thought this through," and that "every feature is aimed at either making porn consumption easier or making it less likely that others will know what you are up to." Heatseek requires users to enter a password just to access the browser, and all files downloaded are encrypted and can only be accessed within the browser. Files can be organized in playlists and favorite scenes in videos can be bookmarked for quick access. Heatseek is based on Internet Explorer and available for Windows only. There's two version available: a free version and a $19.95 "Gold" version, the distinction being that the Gold version lets you unencrypt files and export them to a folder on your hard drive, plus access to "premium" content. For the conscientious (or paranoid) pornography consumer, Heatseek looks like a pretty good option.

Tags: adult, browser, heatseek, ie, internetexplorer, porn, pornbrowser, pornography, privacy, security

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