Image via WikipediaEver since the raid on the Osama bin Laden compound, more and more has been revealed each day about what was found during the raid. We have heard about all of the computers and flash drives that were taken. Then there was the news of bin Laden's handwritten journals. Yesterday, we learned that they also found a stash of pornographic material.Who knew? I suppose their might be some that would be surprised that bin Laden would be an aficionado of pornography. It doesn't surprise me in the least for a couple of reasons. The first is my recollection of a news story of internet search trends and the second is from personal experience; both of which I will share below.
About a year or so ago, there were a few stories published about top search terms on the internet. In one story, it was revealed that according to Google trends, 7 of the top 10 countries that searched for sex on the internet were predominantly Muslim countries. Leading the pack among countries looking for online pornography was Pakistan. Those were just little nuggets of information that stick in the back of my mind because I find them amusing or titillating.
The second is from personal experience, so it amounts to a bit of a confession. Several years ago, I had a collection of adult oriented DVDs that I wanted to try to sell because I was in need of some money. They were just sitting in the basement collecting dust, so if I could get a few dollars for them it would be no loss. I was searching the internet for a place to sell them. I came across a site that would set you up with your own online store to sell adult toys and movies. Since the online adult entertainment industry was a multi-million dollar industry, I took the plunge and bought a sight. I lost my shirt.
When I had that site, I used Statcounter as my hit counter to see how many visitors I had, where they came from, and what keywords they were using. At the time, I was surprised to see some of the locations that showed up as visiting my humble store. Here are some of the predominantly Muslim locations that showed up in my stats; Tehran, Iran; Islamabad, Pakistan; Saudi Arabia; Iraq; and Indonesia. Just another of those little nuggets that stuck in my mind.
