Cyberpornographia cuseemeata

A Field Guide and Management Strategies

by

John Becker aka Moazogotl

ABSTRACT: A short field guide to the known varieties of pornography and erotica thus far spotted on CU-SeeMe video reflectors is presented. Sighting techniques are described, as well as the best times and locales for observation. Comments are offered toward deciding whether the species should be considered beneficial or a varmint. Also discussed are possible management strategies.

While not quite so infrequent as yeti sightings, it is not every day that one is able to connect to a reflector and see Cyberpornographia cuseemeata. Therefore, this brief field guide describing the various locales, times and methods of observation, should help the vigilant detect the more plentiful varieties of this illusive species. Clearly, first-hand sightings are necessary if one hopes to make intelligent decisions about effective management strategies for this form of wildlife.

DESCRIPTIONS

Observations thus far indicate that Cyberpornographia is usually found in groups of two ("couples"), or as solitary individuals ("exhibitionists"). There are, however, variations on the basic theme. Thus far, no groups of three or larger have been spotted. Other sightings, for instance, still GIFs, camera shots of magazine centerfolds, and transmitted VCR tapes, are considered by most authorities to be either decoys used by predators to lure Cyberpronographia into range, or perhaps a less-robust mimic species.

Solitary Sightings

Exhibiting Males

There are several reflectors on which the clientele is primarily gay males, interspersed with those visiting just because they've never seen such a thing before. At times, the activity consists of -- as one IRC observer put it -- "just a bunch of guys without shirts sitting around complimenting each other." Other times, the place might be a mushroom farm: several video windows in which a male is fondling his flaccid member. Such behavior can persist for an hour or more. Therefore, we'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to visit such reflectors as Shout, IDS, or the University of Hallam and make observations personally.

Of a different ilk are those male exhibitionists intent on displaying to women. These individuals show up on the busier reflectors from time to time. One flasher, seen on multiple occasions usually between the hours of 1:00 and 6:00 AM EST is fred (a.k.a. "me" a.k.a. YOU LIKE) (204.120.164.5x). Particularly interesting is the fact this exhibitionist not only regularly displays his genitalia, but also shows his face and provides a tour of his dorm room.

Female Displays

Shower Cam (204.181.45.254) -- Although sightings of most exhibitionists are quite unpredictable, Shower Cam appears somewhat regularly between 1:00 and 1:30 AM EST from a location somewhere in Florida. What we have here is an attractive, well-proportioned, young female taking a shower. She is visible from the knees to the neck, and most often is facing the camera. Occasionally, she bends over far enough that a portion of her face is also seen. The PC video is a bit lacking, the Kbps is low enough to cause severe pixelation at times, and she does nothing more erotic than take a normal shower. Nevertheless, the reflector never fails to fill to capacity with lurkers within seconds of her connection. It has been suggested, we might note in passing, that the young lady may not know she is "on camera." That is, perhaps her husband or boyfriend has planted a video camera next to the shower. Shower Cam's appearances are irregular enough to make this a real possibility.

EroticDuo (204.117.218.105) -- Easily recognized by her pendulous, cone-shaped breasts and her glabrous pudenda, the woman in the EroticDuo window is never seen other than completely naked. Most often she prefers close-up shots of herself from the waist down. Ultimately, however, the presentation is more a curiosity than anything erotic. The fact that the only other living being ever seen in the video is a small lapdog, makes one wonder what she means by "EroticDuo".

Angel -- Easily one of the most talked-about sightings of Cyberpornographia, the physical attractiveness of the woman in the video window labeled "Angel" is without dispute. Well-proportioned, suntanned and voluptuous, this is a window to observe rather than capture. The low bandwidth available to this connection ensures that any screen graphics will be heavily pixelated. Interestingly enough, although the star of this event is Angel, it is readily apparent that this is a production by a couple. The room in which it takes place is easily recognized when image processing lightens the background of the darkened room.

Couples

ABC (Cyberpornographia cuseemeata fuckeliana) -- One of the most famous sightings occurred on May 30, 1995, when a video window named "ABC" opened on the Cornell reflector around 2:00 AM, and a young couple from Japan (202.242.235.202; ppp259.st.rim.or.jp) were seen in the act of copulation. The entire performance, towards the end of which fellatio occurred and the female's face was visible, lasted less than five or six minutes. During this time, the camera was moved about strategically by the male, brought in for tight shots, and remained in sharp focus throughout. The Kbps were also high, and no blocky pixelation intruded. During ABC's connection, silence erupted in the Talk Window. And although there were perhaps 15 or so users on the reflector at the time -- all adults and several of them females -- there was no talk of making complaints. The appearance of Cyberpornographia on this occasion was so unexpected, that none of the observers managed to make screen captures. Thus some critics have expressed doubts about the validity of this sighting. As a witness to that event, however, I can assure you it took place and was indeed live. Unfortunately, at the time I was a Macintosh neophyte and unaware of the mighty command-shift-3, so am unable to provide any corroborating screen images.

LadyV (204.156.153.192) -- A second fornicating couple, sighted on several occasions in a window entitled "LadyV," was a pair in their mid-twenties who made an attempt to add a "story line" to their performance. As the window opens, the male is seen sitting at the keyboard. He is visible from the neck down only. Shortly thereafter, the woman, naked from the waist up, appears in the background. She is a bit overweight and wearing what are apparently his boxer shorts; they are white, and emblazoned with gaudy devils images (the boxer shorts, that is). As the scene "develops" -- a term we must employ loosely here -- they move to the floor and engage in intercourse. The focus was good, the lighting was adequate, and the frame rate fair. The couple was even responsive to suggestions from the talk window audience: "Move the camera in closer"; "Try another position"; "Do something different -- this is boring." Nevertheless, the production was not destined for a long run. Critics agreed that the feminine lead should have been played by a more slender ingenue, and that the direction was weak. The whole affair could have proceeded at a quicker rhythm and the plot could have been less predictable. Luckily screen captures were made of the LadyV sighting. Unluckily, the files were combined in an encrypted zip file by my secretary, who now tells me she has forgotten the password.

ACouple -- The one screen capture of ACouple that was obtained is rather disappointing. The couple is clearly no longer in the prime of life, and appears to be afflicted with ennui, a condition that takes a great toll on this species. Nevertheless, for the sake of completeness the screen capture is included:

Party Nights

Perhaps the most fruitful time to go afield is Friday or Saturday night. A party atmosphere prevails at such times, and fueled with a bit of intoxicating refreshment, the female of the species is more likely to display evidence of her gender and good nature. Also evident is the anonymity-be-damned attitude of a number of these females. The displays often last a half hour or so -- one is reported to have gone on about four hours, and the female involved gave out her campus address and insisted that her viewers be sure to write.

On another occasion, two young, partying females both shared a striptease. Proceeding from the mildly titillating to the intimately indecent, it's said that several male viewers took up their challenge. Of course, while these pleasant nymphets were amply endowed, there are also displays by those amply endowed to the excess.

Direct Encounters

An individual of my acquaintance related this story of a one-on-one encounter with Cyberpornographia cuseemeata carra:

One night I was reflector hopping. It was slow as hell everywhere. Lots of PC lurkers staring at my video, but nobody else was transmitting. Nor was I getting any conversation in the talk window. I had connected to the University of Texas reflector. It was the same there. I was about to disconnect when a video window entitled "Carra@UBR" popped up and the PC user typed "Direct?" on the black background.
"OK" I typed back.
"Got my IP?" Carra typed.
"Yes," I answered.
After jotting down the IP, I then disconnected, and while entering the number in the Connect dialog box, I received a request for a connection from Carra's IP. I hit the Okay button. Up popped Carra's blank window again. She typed:
"Here we are in the dark."
While I was composing a witty reply, Carra disconnected. A bit aggravated, I then initiated a connection to her of the cyber kind, and she accepted. This scene was repeated a couple of times. "Carra is either shy, coy, or a male," I was thinking. Finally, Carra began transmitting video, and much to my delight, it was a she!
Although everything that Carra transmitted was posed, and with the video on Pause, I was convinced it was not faked. The background, the poses, picture quality, composition -- and especially the fact that her face was never visible -- argue that this was a live female.
Hoping to learn more about my new-found friend, perhaps to even see her face, I typed "Talk?" This turned out to be a mistake. Carra was not the talk-to-me type female. She disconnected. There was no further response from her IP.

Luckily, as you can see from the above graphics, my friend had the presence of mind to make several screen captures of the encounter. One thing is obvious: Carra may well have been live, but she probably wasn't alone. In order to put the video transmission on Pause, the user must move the mouse cursor to an exact spot on the screen and click the icon. Because Carra's hands are clearly nowhere near the keyboard in two of these three shots, we must conclude that a live Carra posed, and somebody else manipulated the mouse.

A little work tracing Carra's IP revealed who this somebody might be. Carra was connected via a modem pool. Thus the last octet of the IP varies, but she always connects with the rest of the IP the same; i.e. the connection is from the same subnet. Others using the same network provider can connect to the Internet from that subnet, and in turn connect to a reflector. One such person was a young man named Frank, with whom I talked. Frank transmitted only a black video window, although he claimed his girlfriend was laughing at him and urging him the use the equipment that cost him so much money. When I asked if he knew a Carra, he said "no" but claimed to know several other people locally who used the CU-SeeMe software.

Discovering another individual connected from this same subnet, I went direct with him and was greeted with a video transmission of a female's posed face. Very attractive, and obviously GIFs or from a magazine. The window was entitled "------". A third connection, "pc in calif," from this subnet was also seen. The video showed the crotch of a guy wanking. Other times his face was shown with the same title, and he is now a frequent visitor to reflector sites. Clearly, all of these connections could have been from the same user. Carra could have been Frank's girlfriend. When Carra's not around, we have Wanking Frank. There's only one way to be sure: Carra? Talk?

My friend, incidentally, could have made the direct connection more quickly had he realized that he didn't need to type in Carra's IP in the Connect... dialog box. If he had simply clicked her video window, when he open the Connect... dialog that IP would have been already in the IP field. If the focus is not on a video window, then the Connect... field is filled with the IP of the last reflector. Essentially it is a Reconnect To Last function.

Such hit-and-miss direct connections are not the most prevalent of the erotic one-on-one sightings. There are, in fact, a growing number of individuals and couple who solicit sexually oriented contacts. One young lady has posted her Email address and requested the pleasure of revealing herself to the appreciative. In another case, a husband submitted a thank you Email message to a number of individuals (and the CU-SEEME-L list) for their favorable response to his wife's nude pictures. Said the husband: "You all have made her hornier than ever and Im lovin it!!!" The pictures he spoke of were posed, but the lady di show up live a t a later date.

The ICU Reflector Diary also carries descriptions of one-on-one sexual encounters of this type. (See URL below.)

Invading Species

In October of this year, reports started circulating about direct connections to Leena. A number of thorough researchers connected to the IP, and discovered that Leena was a buxom female and professional porno star who was chatting with users and displaying her wares. Also at this site, and a few neighboring ones, were Kathy and Krista. The latter of these professionals, while displaying other points of interest, told users that she had made 150 movies.

The connection, however, was extremely slow most of the time. While data did come in at rates as high as 56 Kbps, most often it was down around 8-12 Kbps, not really high enough to sustain decent video -- especially when the person in front of the camera was moving around as these ladies were. In addition, it always took a long time to make the connection; very close to the time out period. And, users reported that connections were always terminated by *Disconnected* rather than *Timed Out*. Obviously, these professionals were not doing this for fun; somebody was sitting there with refmon controlling the length of the sample connections. To further underline the nature of the operation, Kathy indicated that she at one point had six users connected simultaneous -- but nobody reported seeing any other window except hers. What this means is that an unusual reflector configuration is being used to allow private video connections to multiple users. A 900 video party line! What a boon to the sex business!

Scouting a number other responding IPs in the range turned up a reflector that directed you to a web page for "connection information." As it turns out, the operation is Sex Parlor out of Anchorage, Alaska. Perhaps when you think of Alaska your hormones don't start throbbing, but that's where this operation originates. Their shows are scheduled between 4 PM and Midnight PST on Tuesdays through Saturdays. A subscription costs $25/month.

A second professional operation has also surfaced. That is NetMate which operates between the hours of 8 PM and 12 AM EST and charges $4.95/minute. Thus far, there have been no reports of NetMate giving out free samples on any of the reflector sites, so the nature of their presence is unknown at this time. However, considering the economics of the situation, the deal at Sex Parlor would seem far less extravagant. NetMate's network provider is Network 99, Incorporated out of Phoenix, AZ.

Still a third outfit, The Voyeur Company, has set up shop in cyberspace and is offering an even better rate. On the first day of November, one Laura Sands of that organization posted a message to the CU-SEEME-L list announcing that The Voyeur Company would open for business at 6:00 PM. "Experience live nude videoconferencing in the privacy of your own home!" the message enthused. Interested parties were told to call 714-288-9660 or send E-mail to details@sexlive.com to schedule an appointment. This sounds like a one-on-one connection, rather than a reflector operation. The "special beta test pricing" was $9.95 for 30 minutes, or $18.95 for an hour. One Laura also some rationalization in defense of pornography, but only one subscriber to the list took the bate and responded, thus allowing her to post another message.

VCR tapes, GIFs and Still Shots

Because the input signal from the camera or camcorder is NTSC, this also means that the output of a VCR can be fed into the capture hardware for video conferencing. This has several obvious uses, such as broadcasting video feeds from events that don't take place locally, or educational presentations of recorded events. That also means that users may can transmit porno flicks. With their communication quite limited by the lack of a talk window, this is a common occurrence with PC users -- those who have a video card. The material may be presented as a means of luring real specimens of Cyberpornographia out of hiding. It's success is not noteworthy. Transmission of porno tapes also seems to occur as a way to relieve the boredom of seeing nothing but lurkers and blank windows.

On occasion it is difficult to tell if the sighting is of live subjects or a re-transmitted tape. The Jennifer set of screen captures was typical of this situation. The model was attractive and in good physical shape; composition was excellent; the image was always in focus; the camera man was never seen in the mirror; the scenes took place in two different rooms (bedroom and living room); the shots were up close and far away; the only communication on the screen was "type to me" which was essentially revealed nothing. All of which speaks of a film professionally filmed and edited, rather than a spontaneous production by the low-end video conferencing camera found in the average geek's apartment. A camcorder could have been used, but the other attributes argue against it.

The user going by the window title Beelzebub [sic] is transmitting in a fashion that probably won't be seen anymore. The transmitted image was a negative of the original movie. The Reveal video capture cards for the PC exhibit this behavior. This problem has since been remedied in software, so such strange images are not likely to appear any longer. (Here, image processing software was used to produce and inverse image.)

Also transmitted, although only by newbies, are GIFs, magazine pages, and other types of still images. Interest in these is minimal.

Miscellaneous

The Rubber Vagina and the Dildo -- "Miscellaneous" is perhaps not as accurate as "pitiful" when describing the sighting of the window in which appeared what at first glance seemed to be a close-up of a woman's crotch engulfing a large. deeply-inserted dildo. Naturally, a second glance was warranted. Close inspection at once revealed that rather than a flesh-and-blood model, the entity in the window was a life-size, rubber vagina. As hard as it was to imagine some joker shelling out the bucks and ordering this mock organ and dildo from an adult toy catalog, he was displaying his pitiful proclivity to the world. A return to the same reflector a half hour later showed our puppeteer still hard at it. But apparently few others were so affected because the audience of lurkers was seriously depleted. Needless to say, precious bytes were not wasted on a single screen capture.

Sleeping Roommates -- Occasionally, someone appears on camera without realizing it. This can happen when one person "forgets" to tell the other person about the camera, or the unknowing person just doesn't realize the range of the camera. One gentleman, quite intent on his new video toy, was fondled lovingly by his very-buxom mate who was trying to get him to come to bed one evening. Finally, several individuals suggested via the Talk Window that he take care of business. Another individual tried to seduce his sleeping girlfriend on camera -- she bolted from the room. A rather common occurrence is the Sleeping Roommate Phenomenon. This is most often a college dorm situation. But sometimes not. In the figure below, it's clearly not a college dorm room. However, if you can tell the sex of the sleeper, you were probably the one who pointed the camera.

SIGHTING TECHNIQUES

One of the first problems one encounters when going afield is knowing the correct locale in which to seek out Cyberpornographia. Extensively transient, the species is constantly on the move from reflector to reflector, displaying itself wherever it finds both safe haven and appreciative audience. There are few public reflectors that offer haven for this melange of video visitors -- at least not officially. One was the no-longer-available CUSEESEX Reflector at 198.245.24.1. (This reflector may have been so named only to attract sufficient connections for testing purposes.) In addition, there are several privately run, inaccessible preserves maintained for couples or individuals of similar kinks. Most of the sightings, however, are about as predictable as earthquakes. Subjects move from reflector to reflector, seeking crowds and bandwidth. What's easier to predict is where Cyberpornographia won't be found. This includes the receive-only reflectors such as the NASA TV reflectors, and reflectors on which their presence has aroused opposition. A few of these latter reflectors now appear to be protected by rumors of legal consequences following the last gathering of the cyber-promiscuous. With the exception of an occasional flasher, usually a male exhibitionist, the busier reflectors are not good hunting grounds for sightings. The sighting of "ABC" described below was one significant exception.

Curiously enough, a locale in which Cyberpronographia puts in few appearances are those reflectors set up specifically to accommodate females willing to transmit, hopefully in the nude. Information about these, as well as an invitation to connect, is spread on the IRC #cuseemesex and #cu-seemesex channels. The procedure is self-defeating in two ways. First, as soon as the IP is given out the reflector fills up with users hoping to catch their first glimpse of Cyberpronographia. Most of these are lurkers. Consequently, the object of attention is rarely able to connect. Second, those who do manage to connect often find themselves among an enclave of IRC acquaintances. Then, apparently, amidst one's friends a sense of modesty prevails.

Therefore, the best bets seem to be the well-known, but moderately busy, reflectors. You're probably well aware which reflectors this includes if you've paid your dues as a CUSM neophyte. If you haven't, it's time you did. In any case, connecting to IRC and saying: "Hello, All! Where are the hot reflectors?" will get you more grief than useful information.

Time is also a critical factor. The most productive times to go afield during the week are between the hours of 10 or 11 PM and 3 AM EST. During the weekend -- especially Friday nights -- these hours are extended in both directions considerably due to mating rituals that often take place. Holidays and party gatherings of the younger members of the species also provide opportunities for more frequent sightings.

The usual behavior of Cyberpornographia is to connect to a reflector as a lurker first, and then come out of hiding and display when it feels safe. To this end, many observers have adopted the practice of lurking themselves and paying close attention to arriving connections. A clue to the nature of the visitor can often be found by recognizing the IP or the more-obvious nature of the window titles; e.g. Hugh G. Rection, PennyPenisEnvy, M4M, ShowUsYourH**ters.. There is usually an obvious indication in the window's title as to the gender or sexual orientation of the connection.

If you do happen to be there when Cyberpornographia puts in an appearance, your connection will determine the quality of the image. At 14.4K, anything but a gray screen is a gift and decent updates are hopeless. A 28.8K connection begins to afford decent images, but true quality is only available with an ISDN or network connection. On a modem, set your rate such that Maximum Send [MaxCap on a PC] is less than your connect rate. Even though you've got that nice shiny 28.8K or 33.6K modem, you're probably not always connecting at that speed. Some lower rate -- 26.4K or 24.0K -- is more common. (PC users can check connection rate in their Winsock window.) Start by setting maximum rate about 2K under your connect rate to avoid timing out frequently. You can try pushing it up closer to your connect rate to learn what your maximum really is. Keep your minimum rate at 10K on a modem.

You can speed things up under all conditions by reducing the amount of data sent to you by the reflector and the way your machine handles it. Close all but the target window; put your video on Pause; close the participants window; turn off audio; and keep the target window small. An enlarged window takes much longer to update -- unless your connection is exceptionally fast. And if you capture the smaller images, the better quality will also be reflected here.

On occasion, it helps to assist the quarry in presenting the most becoming video image. Learn what you can do to transmit the best image and pass that information along to the game. Given the assumption that neither the motion in the video image nor other forms of data (audio, text, slides) are excessive, the most significant factor will be assuring that the image compression parameters are set correctly. In the event that audio transmission is necessary, set this to 16 Kbps encoding at 50 or 100 ms; avoid the 32 and 64 Kbps modes.

Unless the image is being viewed in the large video window, high resolution transmission does not benefit image quality. Much higher frame rates are possible with standard resolution. To optimize the parameters on a Macintosh, perform the following steps: With the Refresh Interval set to at least 100, move the Change Tolerance up until the image begins to corrupt; then back it off slightly. "Corruption," in this case, means that movement in the picture causes the image to stratify or tear off. The value of Change Tolerance can be determined without transmitting, but is dependent upon the input: camera, digitizer, and lighting. Lighting is particularly significant, and Dorcey (1995) describes a way to test for this:

Frame rates will also be reduced the more each frame is different from the preceding. This will occur naturally if there is a lot of movement in the scene, but can sometimes be a spurious result of lighting effects. To assess this possibility, connect to self, and then change the size (zoom box) of the second "received" video image. A change in window size will cause the video to go gray, and then to fill in, only as the changing parts of the image are updated. Parts of the image that are supposedly static should only fill in gradually, as the "Refresh Interval" (how many frames are allowed to elapse before an unchanged portion of the picture is forced to update) expires (for the purpose of this test, you might want to increase Refresh Interval to a large value). If background is being unnecessarily updated, you try increasing the "Change Tolerance," or try changing the lighting or background (e.g., fluorescent light cycles can cause spurious "motion"). As an interesting example of the kind of unexpected phenomenon that can occur, someone alerted me to the fact that my data rate would rise dramatically at night, when my office was completely dark. Apparently, the digitizer or camera was increasing its sensitivity to the point that it was detecting random noise in the image (that was introduced by some other part of the system).

Pragmatically, this means that even with no "real" image change, unpredictable factors in the system appear to mistake noise for change. "You should expect," adds Dorcey, "to reduce bandwidth usage by reducing contrast in the image, i.e., more pixels will appear to be similar to other pixels (both spatially and temporally), which will help compression." But, also, in the example screen captures included below, notice the better quality of the brighter images. CCD cameras are also more sensitive to the infrared portion of the spectrum, so users can enhance the image by adding an "IR spotlight" -- a small array of IR emitting diodes -- near the lens. Ultimately, experimenting with the hardware, lighting conditions, and software parameters will be necessary to optimize the image quality.

Remember also that video conferencing is still in its infancy. Full motion video is not yet with us. Therefore -- especially on a modem connection -- one must "pose" for the camera as if for a still shot. Make slow artistic movements rather than dazzling action sequences. This gives times for proper image updates.

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Redeeming Social Value!

Media Hype

Media coverage of Internet pornography has been extensive. Some writers have accurately characterized the situation, but most have been inappropriately alarmist. Last summer's Time cover story, "Cyberporn," was especially damaging to the Internet's image. The magazine's large readership was regaled with a sensationally written article based on the flawed Carnegie Melon Martin Rimm study. So poorly received and soundly thrashed was the Time article that Philip Elmer-DeWitt, the author of the piece and Time's principal reporter on on-line issues, promptly apologized in print.

"In point of fact," as Mike Farren said in posting to The Well BBS, "on-line porn is a pale shadow of the 'real' things. Nothing I've seen was anything that I couldn't find, much more easily, and with much higher quality, off-line. And none of it wasn't anything I hadn't seen by the time I was eighteen, either." Michael J. Miller, writing in PC Magazine, has observed that finding pornography on the Internet is more analogous to choosing to enter a specific adult bookstore than being the victim of broadcast media.

Unfortunately, this last piece of reasoning is not always true for CU-SeeMe. Yes, you can seek out reflectors known for a sexually explicit transmitters. But there are at least two ways that the sexually-oriented can come to you uninvited. In the first case, sexual material can be transmitted on a public reflector run by a university, corporation or individual. In the second case, an individual can connect to you uninvited and begin transmitting offensive images before you're aware of his purpose.

The Pissing Contest

Because Cyberpornographia cuseemeata, like its relatives in all other realms of human endeavor, is here to stay, it would be a mistake to waste resources trying to eliminate it in every environment. In fact, where possible, Cyberpornographia should be left alone in its own territory to heighten the probability that it won't be driven into inappropriate environments. Although it may have happened, I have never witnessed sexual activity being broadcast at any time that there were children connected to a reflector. In almost every instance of offensive sexual transmissions, the apparent targets were young, adult females, usually well past puberty

In such cases, what we have is a pissing contest. A male has invaded the social environment and displayed his genitalia, inviting the females to sexual activity, and challenging the males to defend their territory. Or he has or simply tried to shock people. Social status and the territorial imperative are at issue. Such behavior would not be tolerated by any social group off-line, and no research is needed to explain why it's offensive on-line, too. I suspect that such individuals are socially inept and frustrated.

There are a number of approaches to managing Cyberpronographia when the species strays from its natural habitat. The simplest -- and some would say the most simplistic -- is to ignore the window and hope that it will go away. Sometimes it will go away when no attention is paid to its antics. Other times, the brevity of its appearance owes more to fear of identification, knowing full well that the IP is traceable to it's connection. Also effective on-line are the same tactics used in the real world: aggression and ridicule by the offended parties. On-line, however, these tactics are executed in slightly different forms.

Preferences Setting

Female users especially should have the correct settings in Preferences to prevent uninvited one-on-one connections. Make sure that the first two boxes in the Preferences are unchecked. This way, whenever somebody grabs your IP and attempts a direct connection, you will be presented with his window title and asked to okay the connection. If the connection was uninvited it may be best to reject it.

Reflector Control

Several methods of thwarting Cyberpornographia's appearance in improper forums is exercised by reflector operators. The degree of success varies. One method is the use of a strongly-worded Message of the Day (MOTD) that the reflector presents when a user connects. An excellent example of this approach can be seen at the reflector of Ohio State University (128.146.116.8), where university authorities threaten to contact the service provider of those caught transmitting offensive behavior. Good intentions aside, however, it's doubtful if anything effective will happen when a provider is contacted. A second method being used is to record the IP of offensive users and deny that connection in the reflector configuration. A number of reflectors avoid the problem entirely by requiring the correct conference number before a connection is permitted. This usually keeps out all but those specifically invited.

Another form of regulation is Lurker Overload. As more and more observers go afield to observe Cyberpornographia, their very presence is having a limiting effect on the species. Cyberpornographia is rare enough, but as the reflectors fill up with lurkers -- either newbies with high hopes and no camera, or the more-sophisticated user who lurkers for other reasons -- the quarry itself is driven out of its niche. Its numbers are thus kept low. Cyberpornographia cuseemeata is also know to practice several forms of self regulation (not to be confused with "self-abuse.") This is accomplished primarily through the IRC #cuseemesex and #cu-seemesex channels, where the word is spread to avoid the .edu and .gov reflectors.

Parental/Employee Control Software

Control from the other direction, Parental Control Software, as it is called, can also be used with some success. Reviews of this software are cropping up in the computer magazines. The products use several approaches, usually denying resident software access to known pornographic IPs. None of the methods are foolproof. Note also that this software is being used by employers to prevent employees from wasting time netsurfing when they should be working. For details see the Parental Control Software resources below and articles (Galvin; Gilliom; Richard; Snider) in the bibliography.

In the end, parental control software is only effective when the child is young and computer illiterate, and the parent is attentive and more sophisticated than its offspring. One problem with such software in the context of the video reflectors is that while a parent might prevent a child from accessing a known porno reflector, there's nothing to stop Cyberpornographia from visiting a reflector considered "safe" or even connecting to the child's machine itself. None of this software can distinguish facial features from genitalia -- but no doubt the child can.

Professional Sex Services

Control of the professional sex services, most likely, will be unnecessary for the simple reason that they will control themselves quite efficiently. After all, they risk an on-going business operation by straying into the wrong territory and offending anyone. Because they must advertise and are therefore easily identified, the sex services must be careful. Right or wrong, the simple act of defending themselves legally could nullify any profits. One sex service, Sex Parlor, has even made the wise PR move of selling Parental Control Software in their Sex Shop. Note, however, that the Sex Parlor ladies were also reportedly displaying their talents on the University of Texas Reflector (128.83.108.14), where there might conceivably be some objections. So, we may have to wait to see if self regulation does in fact suffice.

Enter DigiCash?

When word first spread that professional porno stars were distributing displaying their wares on the reflectors, the question that immediately came to everyone's mind was: "What's the scam.?" At about the same time, another piece of net news surfaced and suggested a possible answer. On Monday October 23rd, 1995, DigiCash announced "ECash," its live electronic cash trial with a $1B+ St. Louis bank, calling it "the first real money electronic cash ever deployed on the Web or anywhere else in the World." Maintaining that the Net needs ECash to progress and thrive, the press release says the web's future will be much more compelling when real money is available.

ECash is intended for transactions of less than US$20, and is as secure -- they say -- as a $100 million S.W.I.F.T payment. ECash is a bearer instrument which shares three important properties with the cash in your pocket: finality, privacy, individual-to-individual use. In our current context, it's easy to see how ECash could be used to pay for cybersex. According to the PR: "Buyers know from whom they are buying, but the payment does not identify the buyer to the merchant or to the bank." Because no special status is required to used ECash -- you need not be a MasterCard or VISA merchant -- this could also evolve into the realm of "I'll show you my tits for $5 ECash." (DigiCash also suggest that ECash could be used for games payouts or as incentives for people to fill out forms or surveys. On-line gamboling can't be far away.)

As it turned out, the professional porno venders are not as advanced as this; they want their payment via your MasterCard or VISA account. Nevertheless, it doesn't take much imagination to realize that if cybercash can pay for one commodity, it can pay for any commodity. If you're interested in being ready, you might consider applying for a real ECash account at the Mark Twain Bank of St. Louis.

Let Us Now Praise Erotica

Surely, if you've read this far and viewed the included graphics, it would difficult for you to argue that everyone with an interest in eroticism is a pervert. It is in fact easy to point out a number of the positive aspects of Cyberpornographia. We can point out that it helps overcome computer phobia; it stimulates interest in video conferencing; and sometimes simply relieves boredom. The hunt for Cyberpornographia has also served to establish a sense of camaraderie among devotees, both on the reflectors themselves and on the IRC channels. Social connections are also strengthened among those (mainly) males who swap screen captures of sightings. If no other positive statement can be made about Cyberpornographia, a visit to some of its stranger haunts will at least underscore your sense of normality.

Psychologically, Cyberpornographia is rich fodder. Psychologists and students of media should be heads-up here. Already there are two professional psychologists among the habitués des reflectors. One is even seeking a grant for research. A masters candidate in the Department of Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Roger W. Vogts (vogtsr@uwwvax.uww.edu) is conducting a 25-question survey regarding one's perception of the video conferencing experience. Surely, all must be asking the same questions about this phenomenon. What is it deep down in a person's psyche that induces him or her to perform sexual acts in the presence of dozens of viewers, the identity of which one is unable to know with any certainty? Is the idea of "sexual performance" taking on new meaning? Is this simply a reincarnation of the stripper mentality? Is this a symptom of the greater distancing and degradation of humans by the technological culture, or of man's yearning to escape that technological hazard and return to the primal drives of guiltless sex?

Mammiferous Trundles of Avoirdupois

The real problem is that eroticism at 160x120 pixels is stretching it a bit. Right now, CU-SeeMe is to eroticism as roadkill is to fine dining. The real lure of Cyberpronographia cuseemeata is its immediacy. The low frame rates, poor resolution, and brief appearances don't do justice to the art form that cyber-eroticism could be -- and hopefully will be at some future time. To see just how inadequate 160x120 stimulation is, just compare it to a well-done erotic scene in a movie; perhaps the scene in The Name of the Rose. Until videoconferencing can achieve at least the resolution, audio, and full motion of the TV screen, the major component in CU-SeeMe eroticism will be the viewer's imagination.

But eventually CU-SeeMe will overcome a number of technical problems and become a media with the potential for portraying the lustier elements of life. This will follow a great tradition: the pagan festivals, passion plays, Shakespeare, and an immense number of authors and artists throughout the ages. One of those authors that comes to mind is Henry Miller. After cutting my reading teeth on Edgar Rice Burroughs and James Fenimore Cooper, I jumped -- my hormones be praised -- to Peyton Place. Eventually, I discovered Miller's Tropic of Cancer, and was off and running. Lusty was his writing, but most of all I was enthralled by Miller's incredible vocabulary. At age fifteen, probably the age at which I read Tropic of Cancer, Henry had first visited a burlesque show and seen naked ladies. As he relates in The Books in My Life:

From the minute the curtain rose I was trembling with excitement. Until then I had never seen a woman undressed in public. I had seen pictures of women in tights in childhood, thanks to Sweet Caporal cigarettes, in every packet of which there used to be a little playing card featuring one of the soubrettes of the day. But to see one of those creatures in life on the stage, in the full glare of the spotlight, no, that I had never dreamed of." (Miller, 1981)

"In terms of the atmosphere and style of Miller's best books," says Ferguson, one of Miller's biographers, "this adolescent experience of the burlesque is a much more persuasive influence than the Goethes, the Ibsens, the Aristophanes and all the tomes and classics of antiquity he was so proud of having read." One of Miller's earliest submissions to a magazine was "a sketch based on a 'mystical experience' he once had had upon entering a burlesque theatre one evening." John Cowper Powys, in his Autobiography, also elaborates on his fondness for burlesque, an art form he called America's 'grand rent and outlet for the repressions of a puritanical public." Ferguson feels that burlesque taught Miller "much about the difficult art of entering the taboo areas of human experience, and the equally difficult art of getting back out again." (Ferguson, pp. 56-59)

The potential for Cyberpornographia cuseemeata to evolve to a form of erotica is obvious. There are a growing number of individuals who delight in openly displaying their body without hiding their face. Whatever the psychological reasons, as more people come online with ISDN, T1s, and 27 Mbps-connections via the cable companies, there should be artistic standards of excellence in place. In the experimental period of any art form, there will be much that is garbage and thankfully ephemeral. It would be a shame if we had to endure ten more years of the "SHOWH**TERS" lurkers.

We should make reasonable efforts to nurture the erotic maturity of the Internet along with the other forms of artistry now appearing. Welcoming sensitive, artistic, creative portrayals of the erotic into the media known for removing users from the real body will perform a great service for society. A measure of creativity will be required in deciding how to attain this goal. One suggestion I've heard is to set up a CU-SeeMe cam on a nude beach in Rio de Janeiro. The best idea put forth is to institute a Miss Erotic CU-SeeMe Pageant. Along with beauty and deportment, a hopeful candidate would be judged on her ability to portray live eroticism, the nature of which would be up to her. I'm sure the number of endorsements offered to the winners would be ample reward along with the little statuette that could be presented. The winner, of course, would have to compete against Miss Erotic Virtual Reality.

© Copyright 1995 by John Becker

becker@nmc.cit.cornell.edu

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I'd like to thank a number of people who relayed information, sent graphics, or suggested ideas. It would have been impossible for me to have had all the connections described here, so I certainly appreciate their contributions. Most of those people, however, prefer to remain anonymous. What can I say? It's a dirty job. I'm glad I had their help.

REFLECTOR LISTINGS

PARENTAL CONTROL SOFTWARE

SEX SERVICES, ETC.

BIBLIOGRAPHY