
Find His Porn: Evil Website of the Week - jzb
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/find_his_porn_evil_website_of_the_week.php
======
citricsquid
Well, here goes... I'm "investing" $20 for the rest of HN to find out how
accurate it is.

Okay so it's scanning... it has found a bunch of development things, gifs from
my website work which isn't porn -- recycle binned stuff -- okay watching
this, it's just bringing up every single file that contains a list of
extensions; it's included under "videos" things like "DVDMaker sample" which
certainly aren't porn. I don't think "passwordField.png" located in
programData/skype is pornographic.

The websites it has found don't appear to be any I have ever visted, although
some are (and they're popular sites) about half aren't. Either it's
fabricating the websites or I've visited sites that embed data from these
other sites? Plausible I guess.

What an awful product, albeit effectively marketed.

~~~
allwein
I'll admit it's probably finding a lot of false positives, but I could make an
argument for many of the files you said it flagged.

Contains "ass": ui-bg_glass_55_fbfgee_1x400.png

Path contains "x", contains "butt", "up" could indicate up-skirt: combo-
button-up.png

Contains "stroke", contains "16": stock-selection-stroke-16.png

Contains "cock", contains "x": xlr_pro_mortal_cocktail.png

Contains "hole": whole.png

So basically anything with an x, a possible age, and any number of flagged
words/slang/abbreviations, etc could be causing these to be flagged.

~~~
CWuestefeld
That's plausible, but suggests that the creator never tested it on real-world
data. Either way, it's really bad development work.

~~~
seiji
Methinks you misunderstand. This is a money-at-all-costs gambit, not a
pinnacle-of-science-and-engineering product.

It could have been made by someone following popular HN advice: a.) target
women by b.) preying on a weakness (here, a sense of insecurity) then c.)
extract money.

~~~
scoot
I'm not so sure the advice is popular, so much as it get's repeated ad-nauseum
by an individual with little else to offer.

~~~
statictype
_it get's repeated ad-nauseum by an individual with little else to offer._

You've been on HN for less than an year. I'm not sure you're ready to start
passing judgement on how much one of the most helpful contributors has to
offer.

------
simonsarris
Of course installing Picasa desktop and asking it to index the whole drive's
photos will do pretty much do this exact thing for free.

In my dream world this website would be setup so that when someone clicks
"Buy" it would simply go to a static page that reads: _Congratulations! We've
empirically determined that you need more communication in your relationship._

~~~
jzb
But do they still get the $20?

~~~
pavel_lishin
$20 is pretty good for relationship counseling.

------
mxavier
This service may serve a purpose for men as an early indicator that their SO
has communication issues. I cannot speak for anyone else but I for one would
not want to be in a relationship where my SO was spying on me like she was my
probation officer.

~~~
thomasgerbe
Not to mention is watching porn while in a relationship that big of a deal?

~~~
codabrink
It depends on what kind of relationship you have. Traditionally, and what
seems right to most people is a relationship with a level of commitment
towards the other. I'm not saying this is always true, but that level of
commitment does have benefits, usually resulting in a stronger relationship
because of the trust developed.

~~~
xpaulbettsx
Associating watching porn with lack of commitment sounds like something out of
the 50s. Nobody(*) contemplates leaving their SO for some person on a website
(or in a movie, or on TV), and porn isn't an exception.

~~~
bitops
> on a website

I'd qualify that to be "non-dating website".

But actually, I wouldn't be surprised if somebody broke off an existing
relationship to pursue someone they were fantasizing about online. If they're
unhappy in their current relationship, online fantasy is a form of escape and
leads to eventual idealization. By comparison, the real person can't compete
as their flaws are evident.

Dime-store psychology perhaps, but on these topics nothing surprises me.

------
raganwald
My current agreement is, “You can look at anything on my computer you want,
_just ask me first_.” Looking without asking is a game misconduct. My failing
to disclose something when asked would likewise be a game misconduct.

It’s just like allowing the police to search, but asking for a warrant first.
Agreeing that we have to ask first puts up the hurdle of triggering a
conversation.

~~~
rgraham
Why not 'I trust you' and if something is an issue or a potential issue we can
talk about it and try to reach an agreeable resolution?

------
itmag
People really have girlfriends who won't let them watch porn in peace?

Hell, where I live, most chicks watch more porn than do the guys.

~~~
tlrobinson
Out of curiosity, where do you live?

~~~
itmag
It's called Sweden, buddy.

:)

------
solutionyogi
It feels like this guys' read Patio's blog and decided to create a product
which appeals to women. I would love to know the kind of money these guys are
making.

~~~
vaksel
Not much

Alexa ranking is 11 million, that means it get something like 100 hits a month

~~~
r00fus
And I wonder how many of those who buy are actually porn-watchers who want to
go the extra step to ensure their stash is invisible to their SO?

------
Revisor
Find my porn? Why, it's right there in the folder called Porn next to Movies
and Music. And not only does my SO know, we talk about what appeals to us.

To be honest about it to each other and above all to myself belongs to a
healthy and open sexuality.

~~~
ianferrel
Mine is in a directory called "Not Porn", which accomplishes all the same
things, and is also a fun joke.

~~~
larrys
Had a customer a few years ago, a non-profit in NYC. They had a link on their
site which said either porn or nude women. When you clicked the link you
brought up their donation page.

------
abstractbill
I'm genuinely curious - how many people in this day and age still feel the
need to hide porn? Doesn't that seem a bit infantile?

~~~
jjcm
I hide mine in the folder on my desktop labeled "porn". Neither myself or my
girlfriend have any problems with it, but I know plenty of my friends who
would be offended if they saw it. On my laptop I keep it in a truecrypt folder
with a password I share with the girlfriend (because she adds to it and uses
it, not because she wants to spy); that way if I have any stuff I need to do
at work with the laptop I can be comfortable knowing it's not going to pop up
in a presentation. I think what's changed since I was 16 and had a deeply
hidden folder is that I'm no longer embarrassed about it, I just worry that
I'll accidentally offend someone else.

~~~
JohnLBevan
<http://xkcd.com/981/>

------
bilbo0s
They could make a fortune selling the list of names of women who bought this
software.

Then bill that service out as something like 'Girlfriend Screening'.

------
sequoia
I thought the author's pointing out of the supposed untruth that you don't
have to download anything because you have to have Java to be a bit silly.

'Youtube _claims_ you don't have to download anything to watch videos.... but
AHA! You have to have Flash installed! Thought you could put one over on us,
ehh?!?!'

Not really... Java and Flash are extremely common browser plugins.

------
slig
RWW is linking to that site without a rel="nofollow".

No such thing as bad PR, eh?

~~~
jonmwords
OOH. Good point. I'll update the post.

------
tdfx
I've found, from personal experience as friends/neighbors/family's unofficial
tech support person, that there's a surprising number of women that look at
porn. Whereas guys might blush when their viewing habits are exposed, women
would probably live the rest of their lives in shame.

Maybe "Find Their Porn" would open up a greater market? Most guys laugh at the
prospect of their girlfriends/wives being mad about looking at porn, but they
would probably fall into a spiral of insecurity if they found out their
significant other was looking at other guys for sexual pleasure.

------
bryanh
Private browsing mode, available in all leading browsers.

Wouldn't that effectively hide all traces of any browsing history locally, be
it nefarious or otherwise?

That kind of response begs the question, if you have to hide it, is it wrong
or not? Or is it more you don't want to be showing person Z some funny video
and it autocompletes... something rather embarrassing.

Regardless, these guys have hit a nerve, can't see why they won't be printing
money in the coming weeks with all the exposure they'll get.

~~~
safeaim
I might be talking out of my ass, but I'm not sure if all browsers clear flash
cookies, even in private mode.

------
loire280
$20 for a one-time scan? Assuming their SEO is as honest as their business
model, this site must print money.

~~~
jonmwords
Totally. With that name, they probably don't have much SEO work to do at all.

~~~
slig
Fuck SEO. With a tool that does exactly and trivially what the costumer is
looking for and appeals to a target niche so perfectly, and $20 a pop, I bet
they can pay to be the top ad.

~~~
_delirium
If this report is accurate: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3301295>

then it might be closer to say a tool that _pretends_ to do exactly and
trivially what the customer is looking for, and bilks a target niche out of
money without actually doing it.

------
twodayslate
There was a free checker like this a while back that used CSS :active links to
check which sites were visited. Looks like these guys just monetized it.

~~~
Tobu
What the internet knows about you (inoperant in current Firefox and Chrome):
<http://wtikay.com/xxx>

------
gfodor
Of course, my first reaction to this is to figure out a counter-business to
beat the detector. So it goes.

~~~
wanorris
So go register hidemyporn.com or something and get to work.

For bonus points: secretly build both types of services and sell to both sides
in an arms race. You could even offer an extra premium tier of each that
defeats the non-premium tier of the other.

~~~
philwelch
This comment reminds me of my radar detector, which is vulnerable to a police
radar detector detector, but which itself has a radar detector detector
detector.

------
namank
Woah...thats what everyone's worried about? The fact that it doesn't
accurately find porn?!

I can't even get past the fact that I'm supposed to allow a website to go
through the contents of my disk!

For crying out loud, it doesn't even have SSL or any other third party
verfiers!

------
hornbaker
Hmmmm, I think I'll launch IsSheASpy.com and sell spy-software detection
software.

~~~
rgraham
It'd be better to sell the software to clean up evidence in the first place. I
bet you could sell it. It might not be a terrible business idea. Sigh.

------
leeoniya
so _that's_ where my porn is! AWESOME! (brb)

------
jcromartie
Two things:

First: As a society, we should really examine the kind of impact internet porn
is having on the lives of our young men. There is a growing body of knowledge
around porn-induced ED in 20-somethings, among other myriad ways it negatively
impacts the health and productivity of individuals and relationships.

Second: Who actually saves porn anymore?

(EDIT: it's not a "huge body of knowledge"... yet, it's growing)

~~~
theBobMcCormick
I'd like to see some references to this supposed "growing body of knowledge",
because it sounds like the kind of complete BS put out by anti-porn religious
zealots.

As a society we need to move past this ridiculous idea that the enjoyment of
sex, including sexual fantasization and pornography, are something to be
ashamed of or feared. Sex and porn are normal parts of a healthy, adult
sexuality.

~~~
jcromartie
> ... porn [is a normal part] of a healthy, adult sexuality

This is the kind of statement that should really be carefully evaluated.
Smoking was "normal" once, too, along with many other unsavory bits of culture
we have now moved on from.

See: [http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cupids-poisoned-
arrow/20...](http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cupids-poisoned-
arrow/201107/porn-induced-sexual-dysfunction-is-growing-problem)

~~~
5hoom
I followed your link and could not find any studies cited in the article that
back up the claims made (not saying there aren't any, just that I couldn't
find any in the article). Most of it hinges on a self reported survey
conducted once in Italy.

Basically, show some solid evidence. Otherwise it would seem that you are
taking a moral position on this, not a scientific one.

------
Shenglong
Detecting porn eh? This reminds me of China's Green Dam initiative, which
ended up banning Garfield, claiming that it's porn.

[http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-06-15/green-dam-it-
chinese-s...](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-06-15/green-dam-it-chinese-
software-blocks-garfield/1714266)

------
huuleon
I think you should reduce the price and get feedback to increase the quality
of your product. $20 is quite expensive for just some invalid information.
Maybe charge somewhere form $1-$5. Get more people to test it and find more
ways to better your product.

------
tlrobinson
I'm going to create "Find Her Porn Finder". It will detect when this piece of
crap is installed on your machines and email you with the suggestion to break
up with them immediately.

~~~
gwern
Part of the point of OP was that you don't even get a thing to install.

------
Jgrubb
Well this is sure to put a stop to guys watching porn when their women aren't
looking.

~~~
jzb
Well, as long as they're on Windows, anyway...

~~~
jzb
I think this comment was widely misinterpreted. The product only runs on
Windows. That was the point.

------
rokhayakebe
But who downloads porn on their pc?

