FC: Porn and filtering: Brits love smut; J.Wallace on N2H2's woes

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Sun Aug 12 2001 - 15:45:50 PDT

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    [Below, coincidentally, is a press release forwarded by an N2H2 rep and an 
    analysis of N2H2 by a prominent critic of filtering. --Declan]
    
    **********
    
    Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 10:15:56 -0700
    From: "David Burt" <dburtat_private>
    To: <declanat_private>
    Subject: Those Naughty Brits: Almost four million Britons visited adult 
    websites during June
    
    Looks like it's more than upper lips that are getting stiff with
    Englishmen log on to the net. --David
    
    Almost four million Britons visited adult websites during June
    http://www.netvalue.com/corp/presse/index_frame.htm?fichier=cp0034.htm
    
    London, August 9th 2001
    
    Pornography web sites were visited by 3.8 million home Internet users in
    the UK in June 2001, according to Internet monitoring company NetValue.
    This accounts for more than a quarter of the entire UK home Internet
    population.
    
    UK visitors to adult websites spent more than 45 minutes on these sites
    each in June. Pornographic sites make up 41.2 per cent of all the sites
    visited in the UK with a significant audience. Students (23.2 per cent),
    manual workers (15 per cent), and professionals (12.8 per cent) are the
    largest groups of UK visitors to pornographic sites.
    
    However Germany has the largest audience for online pornography in
    Europe with more than 5.3 million Germans visiting an adult site in
    June. They also spent more time on these type of sites than any other
    nationality - each German visitor spent almost an hour on pornographic
    sites in June. NetValue data also showed that more than half (52.3 per
    cent) the websites visited in June by a significant number of German
    users were of an adult nature.
    	
    Spain has the greatest proportion of visitors to pornographic sites - 40
    per cent of Spanish home Internet users visiting a pornography site in
    June.
    
    "Pornography has become a lucrative online business, with many companies
    now recognising it as a valuable additional revenue stream," NetValue's
    Alki Manias said. "And this would seem to be a stable business area -
    the popularity of online pornography continues unchecked."
    
    Pornographic sites are also popular amongst the earliest adopters of the
    Internet. People who first got online at home before 1997 account for
    18.5 per cent of visitors to pornographic sites, though they only make
    up 14.1 per cent of the whole UK online population.
    
    In the UK, lastminute.com has just introduced an auction for adult toys
    and aids, whilst in Germany, Freenet.de and T-Online are also moving
    into the adult business.
    
    -----------------------------------
    David Burt, Public Relations
    N2H2, Inc.
    E-mail:dburtat_private
    Web: http://www.n2h2.com
    Address: 900 4th Avenue, Suite 3600
    Seattle, WA 98164
    Office Phone: 206 892-1130
    Cell Phone: 206 915-1283
    Fax: 509 271-4226
    -----------------------------------
    
    **********
    
    From: jwat_private
    To: declanat_private
    Subject: N2H2 Inc., censorware and freedom of speech
    Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 02:13:23 GMT
    
    I've just posted the first in a series of articles profiling censorware 
    company N2H2 Inc. of Seattle:
    
    http://www.spectacle.org/cs/bess1.html
    
    That one is on the company's financial situation--fifty cent stock price, 
    seven million dollar loss for the quarter, facing delisting by 
    NASDAQ.  Future articles will cover the company's claim that it uses 
    sophisticated artificial intelligence, give examples of what it really 
    blocks and doesn't, and at the "human review" process it uses. In a 1999 
    report, The Censorware Project, http://censorware.net, disclosed that N2H2 
    blocked numerous innocuous and sociallly useful sites including Bible pages 
    and Feminists Against Censorship, while letting through hardcore porn like 
    asiansluts.com. I'll be examining whether N2H2's track record has changed 
    since then.
    
    I would be delighted to see some professional journalists take a look at 
    this company, which has achieved a significant penetration of the K12 
    market. I would be happy to help in any way I can--brainstorm, exchange 
    information, even point you to the sources I've found.
    
    Hope to hear from you......
    
    **********
    
    
    
    
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