Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Yahoo Pushing Porn

Kristine Loosley (kris_at_concentric.net)
Wed, 22 Oct 1997 16:16:54 -0700

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At 05:56 AM 10/22/97 -0800, BULMASH.COM Sales wrote (in part):
>
>I've known for some time that Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com) has
>adult-themed links. What I didn't know was that they were selling ad
>space and keywords to hardcore porn sites.

Contrary to how Greg feels, I'm a lot less concerned about this.

I'm not suggesting that all the key word choices are appropriate for sale,
but the reality is that key word sales is a viable online ad model for
Yahoo and for the other search engines.

(As an aside: A test of some nasty key words on Lycos returned
adult-oriented ads, as did Excite. I stopped checking other search engines
when the CEO walked into my office and I didn't want to explain what I was
doing!)

Look, this is a free market. Who would suggest that the Internet be any
less? This is an issue similar to the one that asks: Should we own stock in
a tobacco company because smoking kills? Should we boycott Nestle because
they sell baby formula to third world countries and discourage healthy
breastfeeding? Should we boycott Thiokol Corp. because one of their
division builds weapons?

You vote with your clicks on this one, Greg. If you don't like Yahoo's ad
acceptance policy, use a different search engine.

One other thing. Yahoo has taken a responsible approach in the sense that
they have set up Yahooligans. You can't even find web sites with dirty
words on that search engine. (A search on "butt" brought up a series of web
sites about butterflies and butterball turkeys and a Disney ad!).

Kristine

Kristine Loosley
Director of Online Services
Concentric Network Corporation
408 342 2808
kris_at_concentric.net

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