As reported by: Chronicle Herald

When the Internet took off in the 1990s, it was demonized as a steaming cauldron of porn.

It has certainly made pornography more widely and easily available than ever before.

The online porn industry is difficult to measure, but was valued at $1 billion in 2002 by America's National Research Council.

Google, which publishes its ""zeitgeist" list of top search queries, revises sex-related terms from the rankings for fear of causing offense.

But the popularity of pornography is clear from figures compiled by companies that track user ""clickstreams."

Last year about 13 per cent of Web site visits in America were pornographic in nature, according to Hitwise, a market-research firm. For comparison, search engines account for about seven per cent of site visits.

Yet the Hitwise data suggest that sex sites are now being dethroned.

In Britain search sites overtook sex sites in popularity last October the first time any other category has come out on top since tracking began, says Hitwise.


Article By: Chronicle Herald