December 15, 2012 | Online

Finding porn on Google not so easy

As of Thursday, it has been a more difficult to find porn pics using Google's image search in the United States. The company has tinkered with its search algorithms, resulting in fewer adult results. The reason: Google wants to make sure people not looking for XXX material don't accidentally find it.

"We’re not censoring any adult content, and want to show users exactly what they are looking for," explained a Google spokesman. “But we aim not to show sexually-explicit results unless a user is specifically searching for them.”

However, as some users have pointed out, Google has completely removed the option to select the level of filtering you prefer. Before, users could choose SafeSearch Off, Moderate (recommended), or Strict. Now, SafeSearch is the only option.

Users in other parts of the world, including the UK and Canada, can still opt for different settings,as long as they do not go through google.com or google.us.

As one angry surfer posted on Reddit: "What is this? communism?! BRING BACK THE PORN!"

"We use algorithms to select the most relevant results for a given query," added Google. "If you're looking for adult content, you can find it without having to change the default setting - you just may need to be more explicit in your query if your search terms are potentially ambiguous. The image search settings now work the same way as in Web search."

In other words, 'cock' might result in images of a rooster. 'Huge pre-cum dripping penis' might yield better results.

Searching for porn using Google Images? It might be about to get harder... [The Independent]