real nature of their content. "There are people who buy hundreds of domains," Cutts said, a practice known as "pornnapping."
While combating unwanted porn, Google makes millions of dollars annually on pornography ads displayed alongside search results. One out of every four requests for information on Google and other Internet search engines involves pornography, according to a 2004 study by Family Safe Media, a watchdog group. That statistic suggests that Google fields tens of millions of requests for pornography daily
Google Image Search, the tab above the search box on the homepage, displays graphic sexual content for free. On the right-hand side of the results pages is a string of paid ads that appear every time a computer user enters a search term for adult content. "Google generally allows ads containing adult themes, such as explicit sexual content," the company states on its Web site. Because of these policies and features, and its position as the largest and most popular search engine, Google is one of the largest single gateways on the Internet for pornography. The company does not disclose how much money it makes from pornography or any other single business category. But the anonymity and the relative ease of accessing pornography has obvious appeal to some adults and underage adolescents, since they can avoid engaging in conspicuous consumption, the 2004 study said
Computer users searching for pornography online may be mistaken in concluding that they are viewing it anonymously and privately. Google maintains electronic records of all searches, which can be traced back to specific computers. If someone has a Gmail account or has registered for any other Google service, the firm's electronic records could be used to trace porn searches to specific individuals
