Yahoo! quietly gets into the porn business

[mayor]

Not posting this to start controversy.. just thought it was interesting.. they are probably in worse shape than imagined if they are doing this...

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April 11, 2001
Web posted at: 9:02 AM EDT (1302 GMT)

SANTA CLARA, California (AP) -- Internet company Yahoo! Inc. has begun selling pornographic videos online, company officials have confirmed.

Yahoo!, whose Web pages are viewed by about 185 million people a month, has opened an online store selling thousands of hard-core video tapes and DVDs. The company earns a share of the sales.

Yahoo! officials declined to talk to the Los Angeles Times about the pornography sales. In a written statement Tuesday, they said that "under stringent control, adult products have been available through Yahoo! Shopping for more than two years."

The company has expanded efforts to block underage shoppers, requiring buyers to register an e-mail address and enter a credit card number. The card is checked to verify shoppers' ages.

Analysts told the Times that the sale of porn may alienate companies that advertise with the company. Yahoo! is expected to report its second consecutive quarterly loss today.

Other major Internet companies, including America Online (AOL) and the Microsoft Network, have stayed away from pornography sales. (AOL Time Warner is the parent company of CNN.com.)

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[LocaChica]

It's all about the benjamins, baby. They gotta stay in business and the porn industry is big bucks.

*yuck*

[luvmetender]

I just heard this on the news tonight and couldn't believe it! They must be in big trouble to stoop to that.

[mayor]

Actually, Amazon.com traffics in porn as well on some of their foreign sites.. oh well..

[sweetcindy]

I heard this on Dr. Laura yesterday...ugh...I have an email at yahoo...I want to cancel it...

[blueaguave]

I get a lot of cool free services, like awesome email, my own resume web site, they're career management center, "my yahoo" customized news and information daily. As far as I'm concerned, let the perverts subsidize me getting free email, quality resumes, etc. I'm breathing easier, because I was concerned about Yahoo lately, and I think this is a sound move that will keep these services free.
I know some dudes that are addicted to pornography. Its pretty expensive. And now they can't get real women, because they have all these sick tastes acquired through these videos, and most normal chicks spit in their faces. I dated an exotic dancer chick, she was very unhappy. The sex industry uses people and spits them out. OH well, the business of America is business!

[smhop1]

What is the big deal? So what.
"Porn" has been a business since victorian times and before.
So long as thre is a demand, there must be a supply.
Yahoo offers great services free, this sure doesn't bother me at all.


Marie

[blueaguave]

Don't these dudes know that the Victoria's Secret catalog is free, anyway!!!

[bassmount]

Blue and Marie,
I couldn't agree with either of you more.

[miriama59]

No problem for me either. It's a choice for the adults to make. And I can choose whether or not I want to purchase adult products. If this helps yahoo stay in business, more power to them. It's kind of like the religious posts, etc that we talked about before. Ignore what doesn't pertain to you or as my daughter says, "whatever floats your boat".

[alrightmommy]

Well, I've always kept neutral about my opinion on this. Until I realized the insidious power it holds.
I couldn't even feel it creeping up, then over what seemed like no time at all, it punched me in my gut, knocking the wind out of me, still trying to catch my breath. Blue said it well, in time, it can disrupt normal sexual tendencies to an extreme level, and it's manifestations are those of any other drug addict, heroine, et al...
What seems like a benign tumor at first, suddenly widespread malignancies spread throughout ones spirit, eventually leaving it for dead.


[Edited by alrightmommy on 04-12-2001 at 11:27 PM]

[JenniferC]

Is how easy our children can have access to it. I read an article in Yahoo magazine on how parents were shocked to learn their children were accessing porn. Even an 11 year old has accidently gone to porn sites thinking she was going to one website that turned out to be something else. A friend told me her son was trying to get information on zelda nintendo game and typed in zelda . com and was taken to a porn site. There should be a way to keep this from happening but unfortunately there really isn't. Even those programs that block it, can't block all of it. Children should be able to be children in a world where they have to grow up fast enough as it it.

[doglover22]

I personally know someone that works for Yahoo! and he says that customers have always been able to access porn from their search engine. All they have done is add it as a shopping portal. There is also a disclamer that says you must be 18 to enter the sites. While I know that any child can click on a button that says they are over 18, at least they are making some sort of effort to keep kids out. Of course, parents need to be keeping an eye on what their kids are looking at. I know I do. After all, Yahoo has always had x-rated chatrooms open to the public.

I read this too and was rather upset by it. The thing that bothers me is that Yahoo used to be such a kid friendly site, even sponsoring the pepsi points, etc. I am very amazed that they really decided to stoop to this.

[netwrx]

Anybody have coupons for yahoo?

YAHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!