Google helps judge define 'obscene'
Strip search
A CUNNING DEFENCE lawyer is apparently planning on using Google search data to sway jurors with hard facts; people are more likely to search for the word “orgy” than for “apple pie”, and therefore sexually explicit content is not obscene, it is socially acceptable.
Lawrence Walters, council for the defence in a trial scheduled for July 1st, intends to befuddle the jury by showing that online interest in sex is actually greater than online interest in other things, ergo it is normal and socially acceptable. But of course, we at the INQ have known that for ages.
This, Walters hopes, will get his insalubrious client, Clinton Raymond McCowen, off the hook for prostitution, racketeering and distributing obscene material through a Web site. Sounds like a long (money)shot to us.
“Time and time again you’ll have jurors sitting on a jury panel who will condemn material that they routinely consume in private,” tut-tutted Walters. In the US, something can be deemed obscene based on a 1973 law put in place under a fundamentalist evangelical president. The legislation requires all unwholesome interest in sex to pass the litmus test of “contemporary community standards”, hence Mr. Walters’ ploy.
Knowing that a bird in the hand is better than one in the bush, Walters has also decided he will not just rely on Google Trends to show up the naughty habits of Santa Rosa County residents, he has also subpoenaed Google for more specific search data. The subpoena hopes to get all the ins and outs of the actual number of searches for certain sexual topics performed by local residents.
The Florida state prosecutor, Russ Edgar, doesn’t seem impressed though. Still said to be weighing whether or not he should block the search data’s use in court, Edgar, in true Republican fashion noted “how many times you do something doesn’t necessarily speak to standards and values”. Must be how America can continue to maintain they are a peace and freedom loving country then. Or how so many Republican male senators can sleep with men but not be gay.
Still, Mr. Edgar may not really have cause for distress just yet. According to the New York Times, “Nascar,” “surfing” and “Nintendo” all beat “orgy” in online searches in Pensacola. µ
Comments
Community Standards
I'm not sure what the prob was here. Was the bloke not up to size; The New York Times says the community was being asked to use a yardstick (why was not a rhythmic metric used)?Speaking to web obscenity distribution, it seems that would be a world wide community, unless a local intranet is the source. Is he being tried with a jury of his punters? So if the legislation requires all unwholesome interest in sex to pass the litmus test, was Clinton a salty dog, or on acid? or a little of both? Why are heterocyclic organic compounds given preferential favor over homocyclic? If his hosting service provider was not local to Penisacola, do they even have jurisdiction? If I'm obnoxious and show my ass on a website in/from another country, will my [home] village come at me with fertility tools? If the villagers down the way are more randy, and frequently indulge in apple-pie orgies and smoking fags, then why is my pursuit of happiness being condemned? Which of apple-pie gluttony, or smoking, or even NASCAR sponsored consumables, is the most insalubrious? Wasn't NASCAR responsible for promotion of STPs? Does the Florida state prosecutor, Russ Edgar, assume the position that the quality of the sex is more important than the quantity of proxies? What of 'variety is the spice of life'? Doesn't the Pope condemn one in the hand over one in the bush? They must be pushing a whole lotta Rosie in Santa Rosa. Do these charges depend on what the definition of 'is' is? Why didn't Clinton contract Denny Crane? He's never an artful dodger.
Google helps a prosecutor here as well
A chief prosecutor in Turkey is trying to shut down a political party which came out with 47% support from the election last year and formed the government for the second time. The prosecutor made his move to start a closure lawsuit and is making most of his accusations based on (so called) evidences gathered from the web and especially from google. Almost everyone felt an irony when they saw "google cache" written at the top of every document(web page) filed with his indictment. Yeah, all those "evidences" were erased or modified(mostly becouse of falsified information) long ago and the only way to obtain them is through google caches. And there is a claim of video evidence which was taken from youtube. But online access to youtube from Turkey was officialy banned by court decision. That's right, we can't access youtube right now and it's against the law even if we can. In fact, by using my own DNS server I am able to access youtube. There is a high probability that our bright prosecuter did the same thing as we do (by breaking the law?!). The media started calling this closure lawsuit as google lawsuit.It doesn't matter who is right or who is wrong atm. And I don't know if google wil be subpoenaed by the court of constitution or not. But I'm sure google will be blamed by the many, if a political and an economical instability rises from these events. Can't believe how google is integrated with our lives? Will our courts judgement be based on web pages cached by google? Will mankind come to an end becouse of google? Will google be an instrument of doom? (I wish I had an answer for the last one) I think I'll move to a quiet and peaceful place where I can't reach google. But is there a place where google can't reach me? (Maybe afterlife, but I'm unsure of that. I mean, I can't guarantee it)
Please stop it, Sylvie
Sylvie:I really don't think it is your place to condemn American politics. We run our country as WE see fit, and quite frankly, why should we care what you, or any other euro-peon thinks.
After all, it is due to the stupidity of the English government that the people in colonial America decided to break from the U.K.
Also, who was it that saved Europe from itself during TWO major wars in the last century? And then after the second, donated vast resources towards rebuilding?
We may have our faults, but kindly look in a mirror at your own country's history and your own government before you pass judgement on ours.
The INQ certainly is no place for political commentary, being a hotbed of Marxist socialism.
Ginsburg anyone?
Another fine example of do as I say not as I do.........................The courts tried to rule that the writing of Alan Ginsburg was obscene. However I wouldn't get up in class and recite any.
Wargo ferrago
Yawn. Saved us in 2 world wars? Hmm Started 2 world wars more like for fear of world revolution. And then fiddled while Rome and the rest of Europe burned. While we're at it, the yankee's didn't do too much for Sylvie's Volk. By the time they turned up some 7 million had already burned in the fire of hell. Stick to tech Rich. Your politix stink..
Well Rich Wargo you're wrong
Rich,If you're going to harp on about how great the biggest polluter in the world is, a country so insular in its outlook everyone might not exist, then you must get your facts right.
America ONLY came into the second world war when Pearl harbour was bombed. Up until then your beloved country sat on the fence rubbing your hands. Then the USA did a deal with us to help in the second war called "lease lend", so instead of acting like an ally to defend the free world Amercia chose to make it a commercial business opportunity.
There was no "donation", Amercia profiteered on the back of the war and used its position to ensure that it became the worlds dominant economy. The terms of the "lease-lend" from Amercia were so crippling and loaded in Amercicas favour it took until 2002 to pay the USA back.
Thats not the behaviour of an ally. Your statement is factually incorrect.