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Judge, Jury, And Google Trends
David Utter
Staff Writer
2008-06-24
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A Florida trial will serve as the venue for an interesting defense: determining if searching for adult content is mainstream enough to get a defendant out of an obscenity charge.
 | | Judge, Jury, And Google Trends |  |
Divining that means turning to a relatively new tool to delve into the general search habits of a community. It also means Pensacola, FL, could get a lot more attention nationally if it works out that the locals prefer searching for MILFs over Mother's Day.
The New York Times said the trial of Clinton Raymond McCowen on pornography charges includes a defense the lawyer, Lawrence Walters, has tried a variation of previously. This time around, he plans to use Google Trends to show how people search as much or more for obscene material as they do for other topics.
Walters' idea hinges on showing the court how adult material receives enough attention privately that it represents a "normal" interest. If there is enough interest, then McCowen's distribution of porn via a website isn't outside the norm and therefore not obscene, the report noted.
Walters also dropped a subpoena on Google for more information regarding local searches for adult material. The Times said Google's still looking over that request.
View All Articles by David Utter
About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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