As a writer and editor of books, most of my thoughts on Apple’s new iPad were centered on its capabilities as an ebook reader. The industry is abuzz about the coming showdown between Amazon’s Kindle and the iPad. But in the end, the ebook discussion, while important, will not be the deciding factor in the iPad’s rocket ride to success.
What will?
Porn.
A great article (warning: there are some risque pixilated images, but no nudity) in Fast Company hits it on the bulls eye.
Its laser-like focus on cash has given porn an edge in technology development history. And it’s a business that’s always looking for new and novel ways to deliver its product through systems that appeal to its consumers–the one who gets there quickest gets the biggest share of the booty. Pornographic Web sites test drove online payment systems as ways to make quick bucks while everyone else bit their nails and waited years for PayPal. Broadband crushed slow dial-up in part due to users’ hunger for speedy, sexy data…porn. Going back further, porn was thriving at the dawn of cable TV and photography itself. One of the first popular uses of the printing press was to publish pornographic writing and imagery.
Today it’s a multi-billion dollar industry powered by the human psyche and high technology. It’s hard to put a finger on it precisely, but the U.S. porn industry alone is probably worth a long way north of $10 billion per year. Remember the famous adage: “If all the porn was clensed from the Internet, then there’s just be a single Web site in the world. It would say–’bring back all the porn!’” Porn has always been with us, and probably always will in one form or another.
Continuing:
But if there’s one single industry which is agile–aggressively so–and ready to quickly adopt a new technology fast in order to make a quick buck, it’s the adult content industry. You can bet many sites’ll be wrapping video content in iPad-friendly code before too long, and charging visitors handsomely for the privilege (or embedding the sites with ads, and making a profit this way.) Then, because HTML5 video is also compatible with desktop browsing too, Flash might well go the way of Betamax and HDDVD.
As we all know, porn is a huge industry and a huge problem for the church. Not only our young men and women, but also our pastors and leaders are being aced out by addictions to porn. Marriages and families are being torn apart. Churches are being devastated.
The rise of access to porn on devices like the iPad should be of great concern. One, because just as with the iPhone, there will be a significant lag between access to content and porn filtration software development. Two, because access to this content will become that much easier for both people in the church and for pastors.
This furthers the need for the church to provide a holistic healing of the mind and spirit when it comes to porn. While blockers are great, they are merely a stop gap. Our minds, and the minds of the people in our churches must be transformed to the point where we can overcome temptation rather than just manage it.
This will also create a greater need for openness and accountability among brothers and sisters in Christ.
If you’re not praying for the sexual health of your church, I encourage you to do so. We’re in a war and new weapons are being deployed every day.
i am planning to buy an iPad since it looks lighter than a regular desknote and i don not use much of the features of a laptop.:”:
[...] There’s also been huge coverage about Steve Jobs clamping down of porn with the iPad, but the reality is that anyone with an iPad can access porn through the Safari browser. And the lack of accountability software will only make porn that much more accessible. I wrote about that here, Why the iPad will be a smashing success…porn. [...]