A standard legal warning to minors seen on most adult websites Internet pornography is pornography that is distributed via the Internet, primarily via websites, peer-to-peer file sharing, or Usenet newsgroups. While pornography had been traded over the Internet since the 1980s, it was the invention of the World Wide Web in 1991 as well as the opening of the Internet to the general public around the same time that led to an explosion in online pornography. Image File history File links A screenshot of the warning page from XXX.com. ...
Image File history File links A screenshot of the warning page from XXX.com. ...
Pornographic movies Pornography (Porn) (from Greek πόÏνη (porne) prostitute and γÏαφή (grafe) writing), more informally referred to as porn or porno, is the explicit representation of the human body or sexual activity with the goal of sexual arousal. ...
A website (alternatively, Web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on a Web server, usually accessible via the Internet or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML, that is almost always accessible via HTTP, a...
A peer-to-peer (or P2P) computer network is a network that relies on the computing power and bandwidth of the participants in the network rather than concentrating it in a relatively few servers. ...
File sharing is the activity of making files available to other users for download over the Internet, but also over smaller networks. ...
Usenet (USEr NETwork) is a global, distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP network of the same name. ...
Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ...
WWWs historical logo designed by Robert Cailliau The World Wide Web (or the Web) is a system of interlinked, hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. ...
Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ...
Like videotapes and DVDs, the Internet has proven popular for distributing pornography because it allows people to view pornography (essentially) anonymously in the comfort and privacy of their homes. It also allows access to pornography by people whose access is otherwise restricted for legal or social reasons. Bottom view of VHS videotape cassette with magnetic tape exposed Videotape is a means of recording images and sound onto magnetic tape as opposed to movie film. ...
DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ...
History and methods of distribution
While pornography had seen limited distribution over the Internet in the 1980s, it was not until the Internet became more accessible to the general public that Internet pornography became a widespread phenomenon. The earliest online distribution of pornography consisted mainly of Internet users uploading scanned photos from adult magazines to Usenet newsgroups. This type of distribution was generally free (apart from fees for Internet access), and provided a great deal of anonymity. The anonymity made it safe and easy to ignore copyright restrictions, as well as protecting the identity of uploaders and downloaders. Around this timeframe, pornography was also distributed via pornographic Bulletin Board Systems such as Rusty n Edie's. These BBSes could charge users for access, leading to the first commercial online pornography (though not "internet pornography," since BBSes were not accessed via the internet). Pornographic magazines, sometimes known as adult magazines or sex magazines are magazines that contain content of a sexual nature, typically regarded as pornography. ...
A newsgroup is a repository, usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users at different locations. ...
Copyright symbol Copyright is a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. ...
Ward Christensen and the computer that ran the first public Bulletin Board System, CBBS from BBS: The Documentary “BBS†redirects here. ...
A typical ASCII advertisement for Rusty n Edies BBS. Rusty n Edies BBS (Rusty-N-Edies) was a bulletin board system founded on May 11, 1987 by the two SysOps, Russ Hardenburgh and Edwina Hardenburgh, of Boardman, Ohio. ...
The invention of the World Wide Web spurred both commercial and non-commercial distribution of pornography. The rise of pornography websites offering photos, video clips and streaming media including live webcam access allowed greater access to pornography. WWWs historical logo designed by Robert Cailliau The World Wide Web (or the Web) is a system of interlinked, hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. ...
Streaming media is multimedia that is continuously received by, and normally displayed to, the end-user while it is being delivered by the provider. ...
A Creative webcam A web camera (or webcam, real camera) is a real-time camera (usually, though not always, a video camera) whose images can be accessed using the World Wide Web, instant messaging, or a PC video calling application. ...
Free vs. commercial On the Web, there are both commercial and free pornography sites. The bandwidth usage of a pornography site is relatively high, and the income a free site can earn through advertising may not be sufficient to cover the costs of that bandwidth. One recent entry into the free pornography website market are Thumbnail gallery post sites. These are free websites that post links to commercial sites, providing a sampling of the commercial site in the form of thumbnail images, or in the form of Free Hosted Galleries—samplings of full-sized content provided and hosted by the commercial sites to promote their site. Some free websites primarily serve as portals by keeping up-to-date indexes of these smaller sampler sites. When a user purchases a subscription to a commercial site after clicking through from a free thumbnail gallery site, the commercial site makes a payment to the owner of the free site. A Thumbnail Gallery Post (abbreviated TGP) is a common type of ad-driven website that provides links to free Internet pornography. ...
The ThumbsPlus image file manager showing folder tree in the upper left and 12 thumbnail-size images to the right. ...
Free Hosted Galleries are pages of sample content (usually pornography) that are provided at no charge to Thumbnail Gallery Post (TGP) websites. ...
A Web portal is a single point of access to information which is Linked from various logically related internet based applications and of interest to various type of users Portals present information from diverse sources in a unified way. ...
Another free source of pornography on the Internet are the Usenet newsgroups that were the first home to such material. Newsgroups tend to be poorly organized and flooded with content that is off-topic or spam. Commercial software and websites are available that allow browsing the images or videos on newsgroups, sometimes with galleries of thumbnail images. Usenet (USEr NETwork) is a global, distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP network of the same name. ...
A contribution is on-topic if it is within the bounds of the current discussion, article, etc. ...
This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...
Peer-to-peer file sharing networks provide another form of free access to pornography. While such networks have been associated largely with the illegal sharing of copyrighted music and movies, the sharing of pornography has also been a popular use for file sharing. Many commercials sites have recognized this trend and have begun distributing free samples of their content on peer-to-peer networks. A peer-to-peer (or P2P) computer network is a network that relies on the computing power and bandwidth of the participants in the network rather than concentrating it in a relatively few servers. ...
Internet pornography formats
Image files Image files, particularly of the JPEG format, are one of the most common formats for distributing pornography. Images may be either scanned into the computer from photographs or magazines, produced with a digital camera, or a frame from a video. In computing, JPEG (pronounced JAY-peg; IPA: ) is a commonly used standard method of compression for photographic images. ...
In film, video production, animation, and related fields, a frame is one of the many still images which compose the complete moving picture. ...
Video files and streaming video Video files formats such as MPEG, WMV, and QuickTime have been used to distribute pornographic video clips. More recently VCD and DVD image files allow distribution of whole VCDs and DVDs. Many commercial porn sites exist that allow one to view pornographic streaming video. Recently (mid-2006), some Internet pornography sites have begun offering High Definition Video content in WMV HD format. The Moving Picture Experts Group or MPEG is a working group of ISO/IEC charged with the development of video and audio encoding standards. ...
Windows Media Video (WMV) is a generic name for the set of video codec technologies developed by Microsoft. ...
QuickTime is a multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc. ...
Video CD (aka VCD, VideoCD, View CD, Compact Disc digital video) is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc. ...
DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into High-definition television. ...
Windows Media Video High Definition (WMV HD) is the marketing name for high definition videos encoded using Microsoft Windows Media Video 9 codecs. ...
Webcams Another format of adult content that emerged with the advent of the Internet is live webcams. It is unique as compared to images and movies in that it did not exist before the Internet, and there is no offline equivalent. Webcam content can generally be divided into two categories: group shows offered to members of an adult paysite, and 1-on-1 private sessions usually sold on a pay-per-view basis. Currently the most popular video format for streaming live webcams is Flash Video FLV. A web camera (or webcam) is a real time camera whose images can be accessed using the World Wide Web, instant messaging, or a PC video calling application. ...
FLV (Flash Video) is a proprietary file format used to deliver video over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player (formerly known as Macromedia Flash Player) version 6, 7, 8, or 9. ...
Other formats Other formats include text and audio files. While pornographic and erotic stories, distributed as text files, web pages, and via message boards and newsgroups, have been semi-popular, audio porn, via formats like MP3 and FLV, have seen only very limited distribution. Audio porn can include recordings of people having sex or reading erotic stories. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Plain text. ...
MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a popular digital audio encoding format. ...
FLV (Flash Video) is a proprietary file format used to deliver video over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player (formerly known as Macromedia Flash Player) version 6, 7, 8, or 9. ...
Legal status -
Since the Internet is an international network and there are currently no international laws regulating pornography, each country deals with Internet pornography differently. Generally, in the United States, if the act depicted in the pornographic content is legal in the jurisdiction that it is being distributed from then the distributor of such content would not be in violation of the law regardless of whether it is accessible in countries where it is illegal. This does not apply to those who access the pornography, however, as they could still be prosecuted under local laws in their country. Due to enforcement problems in anti-pornography laws over the Internet, countries that prohibit or heavily restrict access to pornography have taken other approaches to limit access by their citizens, such as employing content filters. Image File history File links Gnome-globe. ...
Due to the international nature of the Internet, Internet pornography carries with it special issues with regard to the law. ...
Many activists and politicians have expressed concern over the easy availability of Internet pornography, especially by minors. This has led to a variety of attempts to restrict children's access to Internet pornography such as the 1996 Communications Decency Act in the United States. Some companies use an Adult Verification System to deny access to pornography by minors. However, most Adult Verification Systems charge fees that are substantially higher than the actual costs of any verification they do (for example, in excess of $10/month) and are really part of a revenue collection scheme where sites encourage users to sign up for an AVS system, and get a percentage of the proceeds in return. The Communications Decency Act (CDA) was arguably the first attempt by the United States Congress to regulate pornographic material on the Internet, in response to public concerns in 1996. ...
An Adult Verification System is a computing system used by a website to confirm that the user attempting to access their website is of the age required (usually by law) to view the websites content, which could include sex, nudity, violence or profanity. ...
Most employers have distinct policies against the accessing of any kind of online pornographic material from company computers, in addition to which some have also installed comprehensive filters and logging software in their local computer networks. Policy violations can result in employee reprimands or termination. “Computer Networks†redirects here. ...
One area of Internet pornography that has been the target of the strongest efforts at curtailment is child pornography. Because of this, most Internet pornography websites based in the U.S. have a notice on their front page that they comply with 18 USC Section 2257, which requires the keeping of records regarding the age of the people depicted in photographs, along with displaying the Name of the company record keeper. Some site operators outside the U.S. have begun to include this compliance statement on their websites as well. Child pornography refers to pornographic material depicting children. ...
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Porn-blocking Web filters A variety of Content-control software is available to block pornography and other classifications of material from particular computers or (usually company-owned) networks. Commercially available Web filters include Bess, Net Nanny, and others. Various work-arounds and bypasses are available for these products; Peacefire is one of the more notable clearinghouses for such countermeasures. DansGuardian blocking whitehouse. ...
Peacefire. ...
Recent trends Like traditional magazine and VHS/DVD-based pornography, internet pornography has long been a profitable venture. However, with the rise of Web 2.0 ventures and amateur pornography, websites based upon the YouTube platform of user-generated content and video sharing have become very popular. Video hosting service websites (YouPorn, PornoTube, etc.) feature free user uploaded amateur pornography and have become the most visited pornography websites on the entire internet as users seek to bypass spam, ads, and troublesome cookies. Web 2. ...
Amateur pornography is a category of pornography that features models or actors performing without pay, or for whom this material is their first or only paid modeling work. ...
YouTube is a popular free video sharing website which lets users upload, view, and share video clips. ...
User-generated content (UGC) refers to various kinds of media content that are produced or primarily influenced by end-users, as opposed to traditional media producers, licensed broadcasters and production companies. ...
Video sharing refers to websites or software where a user can distribute their video clips. ...
A video hosting service allows individuals to upload video clips to an Internet website. ...
YouPorn is a pornographic video sharing site, similar to YouTube or Google Video. ...
PornoTube is a pornographic adult website that provides audio, videos, and photos of explicit sex. ...
Since the content of these websites is entirely free and of reasonably high quality, and because most of the videos are full-length instead of short clips, these websites has been criticized for sharply cutting in to the profits of paid pornographic websites and traditional magazine and DVD-based pornography. [1]
Pornography based on video game system networks (Wii pornography, etc.), pornography on cell phones, and other alternative methods of distribution have also been gaining popularity in the last few years. Wii pornography is pornography that is distributed via the Wii using its Internet Channel. ...
See also Pornographic movies Pornography (Porn) (from Greek πόÏνη (porne) prostitute and γÏαφή (grafe) writing), more informally referred to as porn or porno, is the explicit representation of the human body or sexual activity with the goal of sexual arousal. ...
Amateur pornography is a category of pornography that features models or actors performing without pay, or for whom this material is their first or only paid modeling work. ...
External links - Straight Dope: How much of all Internet traffic is pornography?
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