(H/t Tim) – Obscenity law revolves around the elusive notion of “community standards.” MSNBC has a story up on a lawyer who planned to defend an obscenity case by using Google statistics to determine what our community standards *really* are; as opposed to what people *say* they are. The story points out some obvious defects in this sort of metric; but it’s still an interesting notion. A sense of shame and false notions about our proclivities versus those of our neighbors probably skews the “community standard” to a level more prudish than is actually prevalent. For example, long ago, I used to be under the laughable impression that masturbation was something rare in human society. Turns out, not so much.
That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.
Seriously, the standards of an anonymous search engine used in the privacy of your own home should be used to evaluate the public standards of a community? They’re two entirely different things.
Uh… and, you know, I like my strip clubs and porn shops in seedy areas. It’s just not the same next to the Wal Mart in the strip mall . ;)
There must be a difference between public and private standards with the use of the internet.
We see people acting different in their private worlds within the four walls of their home. If this attorney could (and courts allowed) get Google to release the information I would bet you a slice of gum that the data would change over 6 months. Lets face it people can perform and act anyway they want in cyberspace if they feel that they will not be held to a public standard. If the courts (never going to happen) took away the privacy and made your search entries public knowledge then the internet would crash to a snail crawl.
Heck I may even need to go buy a newspaper (first time in 6yrs) so I could read things without being labeled.
I suppose, then, the answer is to make the contents of the store “private”. Call it Joe’s Tea House, put a tea vending device out front. Then have a “private” door that leads to the real purpose of the store.
Would that solve the issue of people claiming one set of standards in public while living by another in private?
Double standards? Sure, but we all have our alternate motives. No matter what you’re doing on the web, it’s all about self-justification. Even if you’re posting a blog, you have a motive for driving traffic. Privacy or not, you’re working withing the “machine.”