More Than Porn

I was watching an interview of Justin Timberlake the other night. Rove McManus was doing his usual "20 bucks in 20 seconds" routine, and JT was being flippant (manic might be closer, given his tour schedule) immediately after complaining about his flippancy having already gotten him into trouble over saying that he had to cancel a gig because he had a hangover. The question that started me thinking was probably something like "What do you use the internet for?" and the answer was "Porn."

If you're not in the industry, you go "OK". If you're in the industry, you go "There's more to it than porn - there has been for years!" and you could get either of these responses out before he looked into the camera and said "I'm kidding!"
But did he mean it?
I've been working with online development for a long time, and I've been to interviews where a company will describe its history as having survived on the back of porn, or having a porn-related aspect, and I've just taken this in my stride, accepting that the internet is just like that - porn is a big money driver.
How can I accept that? I don't use the internet for porn. I've never developed software that was porn related (and there isn't much, as it relies on general stuff like streaming video and online shopping). I don't know anyone who's done any porn. I've been involved in online gambling, dating, and advertising, and known people in lingerie, adult products, and religion, all with their own taint of moral dodginess (all justifiable, mind), but not porn.
It is, however, still the case that online porn is a big money spinner, and the cynical section of the population who know little about the web think that porn is a driver (and why they let their kiddies loose on the web thereafter, I don't know).
If you know any history of the internet, or have been around long enough, you will know that it was always an academic tool - a way to share scholarly work (thus ftp, wais, gopher, ...) and keep in contact (email, talk). All of this had to get commercialised to 'offer better services to the greater populace' - that is, a buck had to be made. This meant that the less desirables were allowed free reign on the pure sanctuary that the web was. Thus you had marketers, advertisers, online shopping, site membership with a fee, etc. That spells porn.
Initially, porn was being really clever about arranging characters on the screen artistically to make it look like a picture. There was a beautiful art associated with that, but it was the shape of porn.

In a way, I'm rather glad that my grandmother died before she realised what industry I was working in. She'd probably never seen a computer (or at least not noticed what one was) let alone used one. The 'public knowledge' of the web, from her perspective would be that it's a nasty, evil place where kiddie-diddlers swap filth or stalk the unwary (she used to watch 'The Bill'). These undesirables well be the same people who would happily use the post or else personal interaction to do likewise, and they may live next door, but bringing it to the internet means not only can they do it over greater distances, but they can do it in your home. Scary stuff.
It's the same with gambling - 'lose your house without leaving it' was the catch-cry of some fool who put an end to online gaming in this country. It's no different to walking down to your local club and putting your weekly wage through the machine - except that the web-based casino has limits, and you can be barred from it at the tap of a key. Evil, I tell you.
What about those nasty advertisers who flash credit card and mortgage deals across your eyes while you're trying to read the latest news about which celebrity has had a nip and tuck (and last week they told you she was pregnant)? I just re-read that after being distracted, and I couldn't work out whether I meant online, in a print magazine, or on TV. All three can have mixed messages in one sensory-input-full of content. Only radio escapes this one - they have to segment time into ads and non-ads (they just don't have to tell you which is which).
I think my point is that your access to questionably-useful content is being supported by questionably-useful advertising. If that story about the surgery scars wasn't there, you wouldn't be any the poorer for not knowing. You might have fewer trashy things to talk about after tennis or in the office tearoom, but you certainly wouldn't be a lesser person. I'm not sure if you benefit very often from hearing about the cheapest mortgage available - unless you intentionally seek to change your loans often, in which case you can be better informed by directly dealing with the various mortgage providers.
Suffice to say that the internet for the majority is something that does nothing - a perpetual self-gratification activity that may make you feel better in the short term, but does nothing useful.
It's ... kind of ... like ... porn.