What's obscene? Google could have an answer
The defence in an obscenity trial plans to use Google search data to try to persuade jurors that their neighbours have broader interests. Build yourself as a brand on web
Judges and jurors who must decide whether sexually explicit material is obscene are asked to use a local yardstick : does the material violate community standards?
That is often a tricky question because there is no simple, concrete way to gauge a community���s tastes and values.
The internet may be changing that. In a novel approach, the defence in an obscenity trial in Florida plans to use publicly accessible Google search data to try to persuade jurors that their neighbours have broader interests than they might have thought.
In the trial of a pornographic website operator, the defence plans to show that residents of Pensacola are more likely to use Google to search for terms like ���orgy��� than for ���apple pie��� or ���watermelon .��� The publicly accessible data is vague in that it does not specify how many people are searching for the terms, just their relative popularity over time.
But the defence lawyer, Lawrence Walters, is arguing that the evidence is sufficient to demonstrate that interest in the sexual subjects exceeds that of more mainstream topics���and that by extension, the sexual material distributed by his client is not outside the norm.
It is not clear that the approach will succeed. The Florida state prosecutor in the case said the search data may not be relevant because the volume of internet searches is not necessarily an indication of, or proxy for, a community���s values.
That is often a tricky question because there is no simple, concrete way to gauge a community���s tastes and values.
The internet may be changing that. In a novel approach, the defence in an obscenity trial in Florida plans to use publicly accessible Google search data to try to persuade jurors that their neighbours have broader interests than they might have thought.
In the trial of a pornographic website operator, the defence plans to show that residents of Pensacola are more likely to use Google to search for terms like ���orgy��� than for ���apple pie��� or ���watermelon .��� The publicly accessible data is vague in that it does not specify how many people are searching for the terms, just their relative popularity over time.
But the defence lawyer, Lawrence Walters, is arguing that the evidence is sufficient to demonstrate that interest in the sexual subjects exceeds that of more mainstream topics���and that by extension, the sexual material distributed by his client is not outside the norm.
It is not clear that the approach will succeed. The Florida state prosecutor in the case said the search data may not be relevant because the volume of internet searches is not necessarily an indication of, or proxy for, a community���s values.
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But the tactic is another example of the value of data collected by Internet companies like Google, both from a commercial standpoint and as a window into the thoughts and interests of their users.
���Time and time again you���ll have jurors sitting on a jury panel who will condemn material that they routinely consume in private,��� said Walters , the defence lawyer.
Walters last week also served Google with a subpoena seeking more specific search data, including the number of searches for certain sexual topics done by local residents. A Google spokesman said the company was reviewing the subpoena.
Courtesy: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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