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Rob Kardashian’s revenge porn is social media’s latest headache
Members of the Kardashian-Jenner family, like Kanye West's wife, Kim, and model Kendall, didn't become famous by being afraid of the spotlight. Heck, their reality TV show, Keeping up with the Kardashians, centers around every move they make in their personal and business lives. But that celebrity status arguably requires some degree of responsibility. And that's something Rob Kardashian failed to exercise when he posted explicit photos and videos of his ex-girlfriend Blac Chyna on social media last week.
Tumblr's safe mode keeps racy material out of sight
There's a lot of porn on Tumblr. Over a fifth of content on the site (disclaimer: it's a sister brand through Verizon's Yahoo purchase) is adults-only, if you ask the analytics firm SimilarWeb. And that's a problem if you're surfing from work or giving access to your kids, since there's a real chance you could see some naughtiness. Tumblr is ready to help out beyond its existing filtering options, though. It's introducing a safe mode to its mobile and web apps that hides sensitive material from view. You can still click to see the content if you're over 18, but it won't be visible right away. Also, Tumblr is keen to add that this includes all "sensitive" material, not just naked bodies.
The semi-nude lives of webcam stars
Harli Lotts (not her real name) knows her audience better than just about anyone I've ever met in online media. In just two years, the bubbly blonde from El Paso, Texas, has gone from manager of a rent-to-own store to rising internet starlet by making personal connections with a loyal online audience. She arrived at our interview on a sweltering Friday morning in a hotel suite on the Las Vegas strip with a small entourage of two other budding social media influencers, Amber Vixx and Stefanie Joy (also not their names). NSFW Warning: This story may contain links to and descriptions or images of explicit sexual acts.
Copyright troll lawyer is finally disbarred for fraud
While it is illegal to download copyrighted files from file-sharing sites, it is also against the law to extort downloaders. John L. Steele, a Chicago lawyer who pled guilty to perjury, fraud and money laundering resulting from alleged "honeypot" schemes, has just been disbarred by an Illinois court. Both Steele and his law partner, Paul Hasmeier, were indicted last March for uploading porn videos that they acquired through sham companies in the West Indies and then suing whomever downloaded them, resulting in a staggering $6 million in settlement fees. That's quite a honeypot.
How the Digital Economy Act will come between you and porn
As we approach the snap general election on June 8th, the UK government has had to get through as much important business as possible before Parliament shut down earlier today in preparation for the vote. Last week, MPs and Lords working on the Digital Economy Bill opted to forego much of the usual "ping pong" process of debating amendments and wording amongst themselves in order to get the thing passed. That "good enough" approach meant the bill became law last Thursday after receiving immediate Royal Assent. The Digital Economy Act introduces a new requirement for porn sites to verify the age of visitors, rules regarding the capping of mobile phone bills and it should help stop ticket touts from bulk-buying online. But there's a lot more to it, so here's everything you need to know.
Crafty prisoners hid DIY computers, committed identity theft
In what sounds like a plot line from Orange is the New Black, a pair of Ohio prison inmates took decommissioned computers, used them for nefarious purposes and hid them from guards by stashing the machines in a ceiling. According to regional news site Cleveland the two inmates, Adam Johnston and Scott Spriggs, pilfered computers that were supposed to be torn down and recycled and instead used them to connect to Ohio's Department of Rehabilitation and Correction network. They then created access cards for restricted areas.
Lawyer in copyright-trolling porn shakedown pleads guilty
Copyright issues typically follow big companies legally challenging folks who upload protected content without their say-so. But the two lawyers behind Prenda Law took file-sharing infringement to a bizarre level when they uploaded porn videos and laid in wait to sue anyone who downloaded them, raking in an incredible $6 million in extracted settlement fees. Both John Steele and Paul Hasmeier were indicted in mid-December for perjury, fraud and money laundering, and yesterday Steele pled guilty to the latter two. A porn troll has fallen.
The Engadget Podcast Ep 28: Disconnection Notice
On this episode, managing editor Dana Wollman and senior editor Devindra Hardawar join host Terrence O'Brien on to debate the value of reviving dead products and really dig deep on the value of unplugging. First they'll look at three things primed to come back from the dead: Verizon's unlimited data plans, nudity in Playboy and the Nokia 3310. Then, fresh from a weekend reading by a fireplace and drinking whiskey in the woods, Terrence talks about the importance of unplugging -- even if only for a few hours -- every week. We're more connected than ever and that's a good thing. But even too much of a good thing can be bad for you.
Porn doesn't need a XXX hologram
In December, the internet exploded with news of a XXX hologram. CamSoda, a small adult-cam site was bringing a holographic cam girl to the 2017 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. I had to see it for myself. Decades of work have gone into the pursuit of true, full-color video holograms as sophisticated as Princess Leia's cry for help in Star Wars. I didn't expect a porn conference to be the place where more than a half-century of scientific research would bear fruit. But two weeks after CES, I was on my way back to Las Vegas for porn's premier event. I was fully expecting an industry stuck in the past, but hoping for something more.
The Engadget Podcast Ep 23: Leaving Las Vegas
Editor in chief Michael Gorman, executive editor Christopher Trout and managing editor Dana Wollman join host Terrence O'Brien to give you one last update from the ground in Las Vegas. They talk about the history of sex at CES, it's quiet reemergence and all the most absurd gadgets from the show floor. Plus they settle once and for all who is the Flame Wars champion, and who will have something to prove in 2017.
Iran censored porn so hard it broke the internet in Hong Kong
If you had trouble visiting explicit websites in the last few days, the fault may have come from an unexpected source: Iran. According to a new report from The Verge, a recent attempt to block pornography websites in the country's borders hampered access in Russia, Hong Kong and other nations in the region. What happened? Apparently, Iran's national telecom abused the honor system.
Porn is back at CES, but good luck finding it
In the far reaches of the Las Vegas Convention Center's South Hall, beyond booths full of off-brand robots, massage chairs, power strips and hoverboards (presumably not the exploding kind), is a row of conference rooms, marked only by white placards with red numerals signifying you're in the right place. Just beyond the sign reading "S115" is the first porn company to have an official presence at CES since the departure of the Adult Entertainment Expo in 1998.
Ron Jeremy predicts porn's ... present?
When I met porn superstar Ron Jeremy for the first time, he was driving a Saturn Ion and sporting a flip phone. He carried a cassingle for his 1996 rap collaboration "Freak of the Week" and talked excitedly about the 1980s like they were yesterday. Ron was living in the past, but that didn't stop him from predicting the future -- or something. His vision isn't so far off from the one being pushed by futurists, analysts and the media. He sees big-budget porn making a comeback, VR-connected male masturbators and sex robots with holographic faces that allow you to choose your own bedroom adventure. Sex robots haven't completely materialized, but we're well on our way to anatomically correct automatons, and while our sex toys aren't tethered to our VR headsets, we've done that too. Oh, and Ron, didn't you spend more than ten years acting in and producing big-budget adult films? Ron may be a few years late to the party, but a sex robot with an interchangeable holographic face? That we can get behind. Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.
Sex at CES: An uncomfortable coupling
When I arrived at the Las Vegas Convention Center in January 2012, CES was a sexless desert of 4K TVs, second-tier smartphones and (yawn) Ultrabooks for days. I'd heard stories about scantily clad porn stars commingling with the same dumpy tech dudes who continued to stalk the show floor, their oversize polo shirts tucked into ill-fitting khaki pants. Tech veterans recalled days spent rubbing elbows with adult-film stars and nights stuffing dollar bills into G-strings. But from where I was standing, in a sea of brightly lit displays and airborne illness, there was nothing sexy about the world's biggest technology showcase.
Britain's film board to enforce online porn age checks
The UK government is inching closer to a new piece of legislation that will require porn sites to introduce age checks. Such an idea has been kicking around for well over two years, but finally the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) seems ready to implement it. An amendment to the Digital Economy Bill will give the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) the power to block sites that fail to abide by the new rule. Should they find a porn provider breaking the law, they'll be able to contact ISPs, including mobile networks, and request that they restrict access.
California's Prop 60 would make it legal to harass porn stars
California voters will decide this week if they will be able to become online condom cops, with the ability to out porn performers and get paid for it. That's the bottom line of Proposition 60, whose proponents were busted this week by San Jose Mercury News fact-checkers who caught pro-60 commercials lying about the measure's privacy implications. Meanwhile, porn performers and sex workers, and a long list of medical and political organizations, oppose the proposition.
Artificial intelligence won't save the internet from porn
"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ["hard-core pornography"], and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that." -- United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart In 1964, the Supreme Court overturned an obscenity conviction against Nico Jacobellis, a Cleveland theater manager accused of distributing obscene material. The film in question was Louis Malle's "The Lovers," starring Jeanne Moreau as a French housewife who, bored with her media-mogul husband and her polo-playing sidepiece, packs up and leaves after a hot night with a younger man. And by "hot," I mean a lot of artful blocking, heavy breathing and one fleeting nipple -- basically, nothing you can't see on cable TV.
Porn sites blocked California users today to protest proposed law
Several porn websites have a new tactic to alert their electorate living in California: Blocking them. On the ballot next month is proposition 60, which would require adult performers to use condoms for all videos made in the state. If they don't, the law would allow any citizen in the state to sue producers and distributors of prophylactic-lacking porn. In protest, popular sites Vivid, Evil Angel and Kink, among others, have pop-ups urging visitors with California IP addresses to vote 'no' on the proposition come election day. If it passes, some are considering blocking those users entirely to protect themselves from litigation.
Increased encryption will help keep porn browsing private
Thanks to boosts in visibility when it comes to search and web browsers, you've probably noticed more websites (like Engadget) switching to HTTPS, which uses encryption to secure the connection between browser and server. Despite benefits to privacy and security most adult sites, even larger ones, haven't rolled it out across their domains, but the Washington Post points out there's a new industry push to change that.
Yahoo open-sources machine learning porn filter
Yahoo is the latest tech company to open source its computer vision code. The beleaguered outfit's application for it? Filtering porn. Yahoo hopes that its convolutional neural net (CNN) will empower others to better guard innocent eyes, but admits that because of the tech's very nature (and how the definition of "porn" can vary wildly), that the CNN isn't perfect. "This model is a general purpose reference model, which can be used for the preliminary filtering of pornographic images," a post on the Yahoo Engineering Tumblr says. "We do not provide guarantees of accuracy of output, rather, we make this available for developers to explore and enhance as an open source project." The code is available on Github at the moment, and if you need any testing material, well, there isn't exactly a shortage of it on Tumblr. Just ask Indonesia.
