The BBC’s sweet, innocent fantasy world
Ah, bless them. The BBC have commented on the fact that it appears Internet Explorer 8 may contain new privacy features in the browser, to make it easier to clear your browsing history, to reduce the amount of data you leave behind on sites you visit, and so on.
Why could anyone possibly want to do this?
Users may wish to turn on the privacy mode if they are planning a surprise party, buying presents or researching a medical condition and do not want others users of the same computer to find out.BBC News: Web browser to get ‘privacy mode’
Ah, right. So it’s nothing to do with pornography, then?
I mean, I’m sure that there are some people who plan surprise parties, buy presents and research medical conditions. In the dark, one handed and with their trousers around their ankles. You know, on a left-handed website.
Now I understand that the BBC is a family-friendly kind of thing, but it’s hardly reporting the news if it seems to be entirely unaware that — shock, horror — there are pictures of nudey ladies available online (or nudey gentlemen, according to personal tastes).
So, was it a deliberate decision to pretend we live in a sweeter, more innocent world? Was it simply that the author of the article is sweet and innocent and either wasn’t aware of, or couldn’t bring themselves to talk about rude things? Or are they just thick?
After all, it’s been obvious — like it or not, I’m not making any moral calls on it — that new technologies have been driven by pornography for some time:
As one senior industry figure put it: ‘For years it has been a dirty secret that one of the key drivers of new consumer technology is sex, pornography. The need to make 3G technology work - and work fast - is exposing that secret.’[...]
The camcorder and video machine you use to capture those memorable family moments - baby’s first steps, weddings, holidays - use VHS tapes. US pornographers’ decision to adopt the cheap convenient VHS - rather than rival Betamax - when the two systems were introduced in the 1970s killed off Betamax while sales of pornographic films drove take-up of video recorders.[...]
the Online Computer Library Centre’s annual review of net use last year found 80,000 ‘major’ adult websites, which generated profits of more than £1bn - more than any other e-commerce sector.
The Observer, 3rd March 2002: The dirty secret that drives new technology: it’s porn
You can approve of it, disapprove of it, or be hypocritical about it by using it but pretending to disapprove of it: I don’t care. Your sexual tastes are no concern of mine. Only don’t pretend it doesn’t exist.
Hello. I am 
vs Google’s sweet, innocent fantasy world:
http://blogoscoped.com/google-chrome/23