Searching for Sex

Search engines love porn! Or at least that appears to be the case with search giants Google and Yahoo who, according to New York Times writer Saul Hansell, have recently changed policies to "restrict advertisements from unlicensed pharmacies in an attempt to address public concerns about illegal sales of drugs online," yet have not made likeminded restrictions when it comes to porn advertising on the Net, and are making a tidy profit from sex-related advertising.

How did this come about? Well, originally in 2001 Yahoo decided to limit sex ads and listings, and to remove sex merchandise from its shopping section. Yet when it acquired paid search advertising seller Overture Services last year, Yahoo took over search engines that were running sex ads -- Overture, AltaVista and AlltheWeb -- and has not changed those sites' policy. Why mess with a good thing, right?

Meanwhile, Google itself has sponsored links on its site for certain adult keywords (NSFW); as long as adult ads are properly submitted, the only words Google won't allow are "click here" and "visit this link."

At AOL (which is mostly powered by Google results), a search for a sexual term (very NSFW) returns a page noting that the search might generate adult content. This page gives the user two options: an offer to search for the term on Adult Search Fantasy Finder, which is described as "an independent adult search service," or to search using AOL's own search service, which is mainly provided by Google. Both options lead to much hardcore pornography, though the Google search results do not have the usual sponsosred links or produce any revenue for AOL.

However, Adult Search Fantasy Finder charges adult sites a fee to be listed and in turn pays AOL to divert traffic to AFF's search site. In essence, AOL is making money every time they send someone to AFF to find the hardest core porn out there.

Me thinks this is another sign of corporate America eyeing the money to be made off the sex trade and deciding that, hey, sex is legal, we're all adults here, so let's make a buck like everyone.