This week at the intersections of sex and technology we find singles, Chinese sex toy spammers, porn’s lack of innovation - and even Kim Dotcom.
Match.com dishes on American singles
One of the largest digital dating websites in the world Match.com released the results of their survey on American singles on Thursday.
A Kinsey Institute doctor of evolutionary biology weighed in on the fascinating results.
Over 5,000 singles participated in the survey, ranging in questions such as “How long do you take to get over a break up?” to “Who has more orgasms, Republicans or Democrats?”
Some points were oddly interesting. More respondents felt that fidelity is regarded as a more important quality in the U.S. president than in a partner; and contrary to popular belief, when it comes to cohabitation, it seems that men want to commit sooner than women.
- Singles in America 2012 (Official Match.com Blog)
Porn no longer innovative
Leading Android sex app developers MiKandi are calling out the porn industry for its lack of technological innovation.
In a searing - and constructive - post MiKandi points out that it’s a popular notion to think of porn as an innovator in tech, but that MiKandi’s experience in both worlds of adult and technology reveals that porn is far from the innovation leader it’s touted to be.
They write, “After attending Xbiz, Internext and AVN this year, we’ve had to shake our heads a bit because so much of our industry appears to be looking back rather than seeing the bright consumer future.”
- Whatever happened to porn leading the tech industry? (MiKandi Blog)
Obscenity vs. copyright?
One woman accused of illegally downloading porn is fighting back with an unusual response - and one that may have more than a few slippery slopes ahead.
Liuxia Wong denies ever downloding “Amateur Allure Jen” in the first place, but also claims that she couldn’t have violated copyright laws if she did because the porn she’s accused of downloading isn’t copyrightable.
Not just the specific porn she’s been accused of downloading: all porn.
She is claiming that obscene materials can’t be copyrighted because it is “not a science or useful art.”
- Lawsuit: You Can’t Charge Me With Downloading Porn Because You Can’t Copyright Obscenity (The Consumerist)
“Perfect 10″ celebrates Megaupload downfall
A wealthy Californian pornographer who sued Kim Dotcom for infringing copyright on thousands of nude images says he is delighted the FBI and New Zealand police have smashed Dotcom’s Megaupload file-sharing business.
But Norm Zada, owner of soft-core porn website Perfect 10, said he would be happier still if the US government was instead attacking the search-engine giant Google.
- Google, Kim Dotcom In Porn Wrangle (Stuff.co.nz)
China’s master sex toy spammers
Dr. Hai Hong is one of a new generation of Chinese entrepreneurs: Hong sells sex toys manufactured in his Chinese factory. He is also a master spammer.
Wonder how that email about penis rings got through your spam filter? It may be one of Hong’s, which are excellent at avoiding detection and don’t fit into the patterns that anti-spam software looks for.
And yes - Hong’s bulk, nonconsensual practices run afoul of U.S. law. Wired has an excellent writeup.
