Porn Sites Collect More User Data Than Netflix Or Hulu (qz.com) 70
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Quartz: The biggest and perhaps best source of data about what people like to watch on the internet and what they would pay for doesn't come from streaming giants like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Hulu. It comes from porn. While consuming porn is typically a private and personal affair, porn sites still track your every move: What content you choose, which moments you pause, which parts you repeat. By mining this data to a deeper degree than other streaming services, many porn sites are able to give internet users exactly what they want -- and they want a lot of it. [...] MindGeek is the world's biggest porn company -- more specifically, it's a holding company that owns numerous adult entertainment sites and production companies, including the Pornhub Network. Like other streaming giants, MindGeek's sites analyze user data, but the company has an edge when it comes to producing tailor-made content in-house. With at least 125 million daily visits, MindGeek has a massive range of users to draw data from and create content for.
The average user can watch as much porn as they'd like without so much as making an account, let alone paying, but in exchange for meeting desires that can't always be met elsewhere, companies like MindGeek access user data because the user more willingly lets them. And it eventually pays off, when users decide to pay for premium content and the habits of paying subscribers become even clearer. What's more, Pornhub, in particular, operates one of the most sophisticated digital data analysis operations that caters primarily to users and not advertisers. Pornhub Insights provides transparency into its data collection -- on the most intimate of subjects -- by making research and analysis from billions of data points about viewership patterns, often tied to events from politics to pop culture, available to the public. It offers more than many other tech giants do.
The average user can watch as much porn as they'd like without so much as making an account, let alone paying, but in exchange for meeting desires that can't always be met elsewhere, companies like MindGeek access user data because the user more willingly lets them. And it eventually pays off, when users decide to pay for premium content and the habits of paying subscribers become even clearer. What's more, Pornhub, in particular, operates one of the most sophisticated digital data analysis operations that caters primarily to users and not advertisers. Pornhub Insights provides transparency into its data collection -- on the most intimate of subjects -- by making research and analysis from billions of data points about viewership patterns, often tied to events from politics to pop culture, available to the public. It offers more than many other tech giants do.
More morality... (Score:5, Funny)
at any porn company than at Google and Facebook combined.
Ban cyberstalking (Score:1)
Ban cyberstalking-based businesses. Shut down Creepy Facebook, Big Brother Google, and the rest. Jail Zuckerberg, Pichai, and similar villains.
BAN CYBERSTALKING NOW!
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Wow, I never new Facebook's negative morality score was enough to cancel Googles positive morality score when you combine them.
Mathematics reveals interesting things when you use it like that!
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Googles positive morality score
I wouldn't think Google has a positive morality score. On the contrary, IMO Google is worse even than Facebook. Facebook are clumsy and obvious in their shenanigans, while Google is more subtle, and fights hard to keep a benign appearance. Mutatis mutandis, it's like comparing alley mugger Facebook to Mafia boss Google. Let's not forget that Google has pretty much invented the "invade people's privacy" business model. They're the main factor that shaped the permanent surveillance world we now live in, and w
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While consuming porn is typically a private and personal affair, porn sites still track your every move:
Not much to track there, just one or the other hand moving back and forth repeatedly, then stopping suddenly.
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At least porn companies primarily collect data on adults. Facebook and YouTube spend a great deal of time specifically targeting children.
Incognito mode? (Score:2)
I always figured that most people use Incognito mode when they visit porn sites to keep spouses and partners from seeing their history. Though maybe people with spouses and partners are not the biggest porn users.
Re:Incognito mode? (Score:4, Insightful)
I always figured that most people use Incognito mode when they visit porn sites
Incognito mode may keep spouses/parents from seeing what sites you visited, but it does not keep those sites from tracking you. They can identify you from your IP address, and even from the pattern of your mouse movements.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
"and even from the pattern of your mouse movements." Nope, just the mouse wheel data which is passed. Scrolling rates, speeds, etc. Not mouse movement. Much more ID'ing is getClientRects.
It's usually a better unique-ID than browser canvas which is fixed unless 3rd party spoofed.
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I thought everyone used browsers in fullscreen mode to avoid getClientRects fingerprinting.
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I have a strong hunch that this is an invalid assumption.
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Why would someone's spouse give a crap if they watch porn?
Because some spouses don't like to live up to unrealistic expectations created by porn.
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Yep, but those spouses are making so many invalid assumptions that you should take that as a warning flag and get out.
Point is what the other AC said about communication. Invalid assumptions wouldn't be made if people just talked out their issues.
Hey hon. What are you watching?
Porn.
What exactly?
A scene with twelve people and a midget in a shower.
Now don't you start getting any strange ideas.
Of course not. Just think of how uncomfortable that many people would be crammed in the shower. It's just a fantasy.
.
.
.
.
Hey hon. Have you ever thought about remodeling the bathroom?
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It really would depend upon whether they are visiting 'porn' sites or 'pron' sites (free porn is pron). Obviously straight up, porn sites want credit card or other payment details, pron sites do not require any form of registering. So incognito for pron but not for porn.
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Few spouses mind.
In fact, many spouses would worry if you didn't.
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All the more reason to get this content via tribler [tribler.org].
Naked bittorrent is very trackable. Tribler on the other hand...is a step or two away from that.
That reminds me ... (Score:5, Interesting)
What content you choose, which moments you pause, which parts you repeat.
A few years ago, before TV went digital only, you could piggyback off someone's on-demand viewing in your neighborhood by knowing the channel ranges your provider (Cox, in my case) used for that and tuning to one of the channels -- it was either blank/static or showing something. Sure, *you* had no control and were only along for the ride, but a free movie it was. Sometimes, someone would be watching porn and you could see them pause, rewind and replay the movie -- sometimes over and over again. A few times, I wanted to go outside and yell, "Get on with it!" but discretion prevailed. Nice glimpse into what your neighbors are into though.
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Nice glimpse into what your neighbors are into though.
Yes, you sound like a great neighbor. They surely deserve you.
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Nerds, we face a challenge (Score:2, Funny)
We must take down these faceless corporations, people!
1. Facebook
2. Google
3. Cable companies
Challenge accepted
Q. What about Mindgeek?
A. Let's go over this again...pay attention
Re: Sophisticated Analysis (Score:3)
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I'd blame the CDN because my experience is the dead opposite. Xvideos is painfully slow in comparison.
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Probably pornhub is just more competent and thrilled to something approximating the bitrate. They aren't clever enough to detect multiple YouTube-dl sessions, thankfully.
Doesn't work (Score:2)
Let's flesh this out a bit by poking around in it. (Score:3)
Someone needs to probe deep into this digging to the bottom, checking the proper crevices and getting the hard facts no matter how long they may be or who gets stiffed in the end.
PR stunt by porn guys? (Score:1)
Let solve one of the biggest human mysteries (Score:2)
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Mine that data to determine what women (really) want!
RTFA, it's right there in the pornhub insights blog entry. Especially look for "Most searched terms by gender" and "Most viewed category by gender".
In summary, (pornhub viewing) women are into lesbian, japanese, threesome and gangbang.
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That's... That's... (Score:2)