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Log inThe Google Ogle Defense: A Search for America's Psyche
The Google Ogle Defense: A Search for America's Psyche
by Outspoken on Thu Jul 03, 2008 5:15 pm
The Google Ogle Defense: A Search for America's Psyche
By Monica Hesse
Washington Post Staff Writer
Question: Do you think your Google habits -- your random, untethered wisps of thoughts manifested as search terms like "unexplained hives" and "Kate Beckinsale single?" -- can be bundled together to paint an accurate representation of your morality?
This was the question floating around the periphery of a recent obscenity case, in which a Florida attorney planned to argue that Google records of pornographic searches were an indication of community values.
The trial was to have begun on Tuesday; last week mainstream media speculated on its outcome. Instead, the case settled out of court with defendant Clinton Raymond McCowen -- who had also been charged with racketeering and prostitution -- agreeing to three to five years in prison.
So the viability of a Google defense remains untested, but the 21st-century psychological implications remain:
Are we what we Google?
(Dear God. Hope not.)
Our story begins online, as many lurid things do these days, with the pornographic Web site of McCowen, a Pensacola area man who produced X-rated material for Internet purchase.
Our story develops through the creativity and tech-savviness of his lawyer, Lawrence Walters.
Obscenity charges hinge on the vague concept of community standards -- whether allegedly obscene material would fall under the public's definition of decency. Walters found traditional barometers (skin flick selection in local video stores, etc.) bogus. "What we really do in our bedrooms is much different than what we admit to doing" in public, he says.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/02/AR2008070203623.html?wpisrc=newsletter
By Monica Hesse
Washington Post Staff Writer
Question: Do you think your Google habits -- your random, untethered wisps of thoughts manifested as search terms like "unexplained hives" and "Kate Beckinsale single?" -- can be bundled together to paint an accurate representation of your morality?
This was the question floating around the periphery of a recent obscenity case, in which a Florida attorney planned to argue that Google records of pornographic searches were an indication of community values.
The trial was to have begun on Tuesday; last week mainstream media speculated on its outcome. Instead, the case settled out of court with defendant Clinton Raymond McCowen -- who had also been charged with racketeering and prostitution -- agreeing to three to five years in prison.
So the viability of a Google defense remains untested, but the 21st-century psychological implications remain:
Are we what we Google?
(Dear God. Hope not.)
Our story begins online, as many lurid things do these days, with the pornographic Web site of McCowen, a Pensacola area man who produced X-rated material for Internet purchase.
Our story develops through the creativity and tech-savviness of his lawyer, Lawrence Walters.
Obscenity charges hinge on the vague concept of community standards -- whether allegedly obscene material would fall under the public's definition of decency. Walters found traditional barometers (skin flick selection in local video stores, etc.) bogus. "What we really do in our bedrooms is much different than what we admit to doing" in public, he says.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/02/AR2008070203623.html?wpisrc=newsletter
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
