4 ms·

This is total BS. The issue is with blackmail, extortion, and sexual exploitation, all which are already highly illegal. Prosecutors should do their jobs instea

by 4ad 4y ago

This is total BS. The issue is with blackmail, extortion, and sexual exploitation, all which are already highly illegal. Prosecutors should do their jobs instead of trying to pass the buck to some hosting company. In fact, bringing PornHub into it is a total moot point, just as well it could have been YouTube or FaceBook or SnapChat.

cmrdporcupine 4y ago
Like any other business: if you're profiting off a market, you need to recognize your responsibility to maintaining the health and ethics of that market. If you allow user contributions, you now own the responsibility of moderating it. Saying "I'm just a platform" can not be an excuse anymore. Not once you start making coin from it. You're not just a platform, you're a market. And you're right, could have been Facebook or YouTube, and they'd be just as responsible. Except the content can't and won't last on those platforms, because they explicitly prevent it. I'm sorry: If you're profiting from something, you are now responsible. The world of pornography streaming sites allowing free mostly unmoderated upload of content is just a bit insane.
- jeroenhd 4y ago
  This is the verification process listed on Pornhub's website which you must complete before you're allowed to upload anything: Before you are able upload Content on the Website, you need to verify your identity. In order to do so, you need to submit to us high-res images or scans of a minimum of one to two information documents, containing your date of birth, expiration date of the ID, your photo, your full legal name and your address. This could be, for example, your driver’s license (in countries where a national ID is not mandatory), international passport, citizenship card, state ID, national passport or your national ID card. The other form of identification may be a utility bill. If all the required information is set out on your government-issued photo ID, you do not need a second document. We may, in our sole discretion, require you to provide us multiple forms of identification to establish proof of adulthood and identity. Facial verification and an assessment of the authenticity of the aforementioned documents is also required in the context of our verification of your identity. Our collection, use and disclosure of such information and documentation is governed by our Privacy Policy. Now, I obviously haven't gone through the process and I don't know how well these rules are enforced, but I don't see what more they could require except for actors/actresses to come to their offices for a direct interview. There are tons of shady and seedy websites that will explicitly reupload content banned elsewhere, but Pornhub is actually one of the few companies that seems to have their ethics in check. They've removed the majority of their library and switched to a verified-only system, wiping out over a decade of porn in one fell swoop. There are many websites that need to be kicked off the web and the owners of which should be arrested. I don't believe Pornhub is one of them. Pornhub is the most famous company, though, and it makes an easy target for the explicitly ban-all-porn organisation that's featured in this article.
  - cmrdporcupine 4y ago
    I agree that Pornhub is one of the better actors here. I think, though, you have to recognize they came to that position (of verification,e tc.) essentially by force. That is not where they started. And they lived in an ecosystem of a whole bunch of other similar "tube" sites (most of which still exist, wild west) and they just happened to become the biggest. They've made steps. They probably need to go further. I think this article probably focuses too much on Pornhub (also too uncritical of this Xian anti-porn group, too)
yieldcrv 4y ago
I agree with this, reinforced by my reading of this article. There are victims because several individuals chose to coerce or chose to do additional things without someone's consent. This article and others have seemingly resigned away from investigating uploaders because of the assumption that theyre using a VPN, yet a criminal case is all that is necessary to get logs more often, or this entire article should be about the VPNs “profiting from exploitation” if thats the standard being used for Pornhub. Skipping straight to Pornhub critique really seems to neglect a lot.

by 4ad 4y ago

cmrdporcupine 4y ago

Like any other business: if you're profiting off a market, you need to recognize your responsibility to maintaining the health and ethics of that market. If you allow user contributions, you now own the responsibility of moderating it. Saying "I'm just a platform" can not be an excuse anymore. Not once you start making coin from it. You're not just a platform, you're a market. And you're right, could have been Facebook or YouTube, and they'd be just as responsible. Except the content can't and won't last on those platforms, because they explicitly prevent it. I'm sorry: If you're profiting from something, you are now responsible. The world of pornography streaming sites allowing free mostly unmoderated upload of content is just a bit insane.

jeroenhd 4y ago
This is the verification process listed on Pornhub's website which you must complete before you're allowed to upload anything: Before you are able upload Content on the Website, you need to verify your identity. In order to do so, you need to submit to us high-res images or scans of a minimum of one to two information documents, containing your date of birth, expiration date of the ID, your photo, your full legal name and your address. This could be, for example, your driver’s license (in countries where a national ID is not mandatory), international passport, citizenship card, state ID, national passport or your national ID card. The other form of identification may be a utility bill. If all the required information is set out on your government-issued photo ID, you do not need a second document. We may, in our sole discretion, require you to provide us multiple forms of identification to establish proof of adulthood and identity. Facial verification and an assessment of the authenticity of the aforementioned documents is also required in the context of our verification of your identity. Our collection, use and disclosure of such information and documentation is governed by our Privacy Policy. Now, I obviously haven't gone through the process and I don't know how well these rules are enforced, but I don't see what more they could require except for actors/actresses to come to their offices for a direct interview. There are tons of shady and seedy websites that will explicitly reupload content banned elsewhere, but Pornhub is actually one of the few companies that seems to have their ethics in check. They've removed the majority of their library and switched to a verified-only system, wiping out over a decade of porn in one fell swoop. There are many websites that need to be kicked off the web and the owners of which should be arrested. I don't believe Pornhub is one of them. Pornhub is the most famous company, though, and it makes an easy target for the explicitly ban-all-porn organisation that's featured in this article.
- cmrdporcupine 4y ago
  I agree that Pornhub is one of the better actors here. I think, though, you have to recognize they came to that position (of verification,e tc.) essentially by force. That is not where they started. And they lived in an ecosystem of a whole bunch of other similar "tube" sites (most of which still exist, wild west) and they just happened to become the biggest. They've made steps. They probably need to go further. I think this article probably focuses too much on Pornhub (also too uncritical of this Xian anti-porn group, too)

yieldcrv 4y ago

I agree with this, reinforced by my reading of this article. There are victims because several individuals chose to coerce or chose to do additional things without someone's consent. This article and others have seemingly resigned away from investigating uploaders because of the assumption that theyre using a VPN, yet a criminal case is all that is necessary to get logs more often, or this entire article should be about the VPNs “profiting from exploitation” if thats the standard being used for Pornhub. Skipping straight to Pornhub critique really seems to neglect a lot.