Porn Surfing 101

Just a guess, but we assume you probably prefer to keep your online sex life private. Most everything you do online, whether it's visiting a website or sending e-mail, leaves a trail of personal information. Some of it remains on your computer and some is transmitted to third parties. Here are some steps you can take to protect your privacy.

Anticipate your nude photos will be shared

Anything you post on the Internet, whether it's to a personals site, an amateurs site or your own personal site can easily be copied, reproduced and disseminated all over the Net. Webcam sessions can also easily be recorded by cyber-tricks. Therefore, before you post any revealing photos or get naked in front of your webcam you should ask yourself whether or not it would matter to you if a boyfriend, family member or business associate or client were to see them. If you forsee a potential loss of or irrevocable damage to a relationship that's important to you, it's best to be cautious and save the nakedness for in-the-flesh encounters. Alternatively, make sure you either have your face in a photo or your exposed dick - not both together.

Don't mix business with pleasure

Don't conduct any sexually related Internet activities on company time. In most jurisdictions your employer has the right to access your computer's files at any time, to monitor your web surfing and to read your e-mails. Most company's will tolerate a little web surfing and e-mailing for personal business, but have zero tolerance for sexually related material, as it's considered inappropriate in a work setting. Depending on your company's policy, if you're caught punishment can be anything from a reprimand to dismissal.

Keep your e-mail private

If you're going to partake of matters sexual via e-mail, you should use an e-mail address that is separate from your regular work and home e-mail addresses and that doesn't include your real name as a part of the address. You can set up a separate free e-mail account with any number of Web-based e-mail services.

Usually when you sign up for one of the Web-based e-mail services, you will be asked for some personal information which the service guarantees to keep private. Some of the more popular of these are MSN Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail

A directory of over 1000 Web-based email services can be found at theFree E-mail Address Directory

Computer Security

Make sure you have a good firewall

If you have high-speed Internet access such as DSL or cable-modem, your computer is a target for hackers. Make sure you either turn on your Windows Firewall or install a third-party firewall.

Get an antivirus program

If you download and run software from the Internet, or receive e-mail attachments, there's a good chance of being attacked by a computer  virus. There are also instances where hackers find vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer and are able to plant viruses on a computer from a Web page.Virus protection programs scan your hard drive for viruses and delete them.

The programs below offer firewall and virus protection:

Norton Internet Security 
McAfee Internet Security
Zone Alarm

For more information, see Microsoft's Protect Your PC site.

More on Electronic Privacy and Security

Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) is a project of the Fund for Constitutional Government, a non-profit charitable organization established in 1974 to protect civil liberties and constitutional rights.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan organization working in the public interest to protect fundamental civil liberties, including privacy and freedom of expression in the arena of computers and the Internet. 
   

AEN (Adult Entertainment Network): a membership in an AEN provides access to thousands of small porn sites for an annual fee (and to more content for a much higher monthly fee.) Previously known as Age Verification Services (AVS).

Affiliate Program: An agreement between a pay site and a referring site to pay a commission for referring a sale to the pay site.

AVI (Audio Video Interleaved): a Windows movie format that will play in your browser window

AVS (Age Verification Service, Adult Verification Service, Age Verification System): see Adult Entertaiment Network

Banner Ads: advertising in the form of banners on a web page.

Banner Farm: a Web page that is predominantly banners as opposed to content.

Bitrate: the "speed" at which digital data is transmitted per unit of time.

Blind Links: a link that looks like it will send you one place, but sends you somewhere else entirely.

Broadband Connection: a high-speed connection to the Internet, via cable, DSL or satellite.

Browser: a program, such as Internet Explorer or Firefox that is used to access websites.

Browser Window: A browser displaying a Web page; several browser windows may be open at once.

Cache: an archive of the Web pages you have recently visited.

Cancellation Clause: The clause in a Terms and Conditions Agreement detailing the subscriber's cancellation obligations.

Chat: real-time communication with another Internet user.

Circle Jerk: see Mouse Trap

Content Plug-In: Video clips, photo archives, live sex feeds or e-zines that are leased from content providers and provided to subscribers of a pay site. Also referred to as a "content feed."

Copyright: the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish or sell media.

Cybersex: sex between two or more people over an Internet text, voice or video chat system.

Dialler: a program that reconfigures your dial-up connection so it calls a toll number and online service charges appear on your phone bill.

Digital Rights Management (DRM): a copyright protection technology for digital media whose purpose is to prevent illegal distribution of paid content over the Internet.

DivX: an MPEG-4 video format that compresses video files and allows for full-screen, high-quality playback.

Download: save video, images or another type of file to your computer.

DRM: see Digital Rights Management

Embedded Player: video displays on a section of a web page without a media player opening up in a new window.

Exclusive Content: original video or images that are either created by the site itself or licensed exclusively to it.

Exit Console: see Pop-up

E-zine: A content plug-in with a magazine format.

Feed: see Content Plug-in

Frame Rate: the number of frames per second delivered by a video (30 frames per second is television quality).

Free Site: a small porn site, usually with 50 or fewer photos, for which there is no charge.

Freehost: A Web service that hosts other sites for free, in exchange for placing their own advertising banners on the site.

Front-End see Tour

Hardcore: depictions of two or more guys having sex.

"Hidden" Cam: A voyeur web cam which broadcasts the daily routines of its subjects, which occassionally includes nudity and sex.

Internet Addiction: a disputed concept loosely defined as overuse of the Internet to the point of compromising real life relationships.

Internet Billing Company: a third-party service for billing and cancellation of online memberships.

Java: a computer language that allows applications, including chat and streaming video, to be run in your browser window.

JPEG: Joint Photographic Experts Group, the common format for pictures on the Web.

kbps: (kilobits per second) the rate at which digital data is transferred; one kilobit = 1,000 bits.

Link List: a directory of links to free, AEN and pay sites.

Live Sex: a live web-cam broadcast of one or more performers having sex.

Mirror-type tour: when the free area of a site replicates the membership area.

Mouse Trap (Circle Jerk): a navigation trap in which new browser windows keep popping up, forcing the user to close down their browser to escape.

MOV: QuickTime movie format played with the QuickTime player.

MPEG: (Moving Pictures Experts Group) - a movie format played with the Windows Media Player

Niche: a specialty market. Gay sites are often characterised as niche.

Non-Recurring: a one-time charge for one month membership to a website.

900 Number: you can sometimes pay for a porn site membership by having a one-time charge added to your phone bill.

Partner Program: see Affiliate Program

Pay-per-view: a video site that charges per minute or by scene or full-length video, as opposed to a monthly membershipl

Pay Site: a site that requires a paid membership.

Plug-in: see Content Plug-in and Software Plug-in.

Pop-up: a new browser window that "pops-up" when you click on a link or attempt to leave a site. More pop-ups may appear when you close the first (see Mouse Trap).

Progressive Download: video starts to play immediately while the file downloads to your temporary Internet files folder.

Public Domain: the end of a term of copyright; no porn images are in the public domain.

QuickTime: a popular video format (extension .mov) that is played with the Quicktime player.

Rebill: the automatic renewal of a membership at the end of a trial or monthly membership.

Real Media Format: A popular video format (extension .rm) that is played with the RealPlayer.

Review Site: a free site that reviews membership sites.

Save: download video or images to your computer.

Screen Capture: an image that reproduces a Web page.

Secure Transaction: an Internet protocol allowing confidential information to be sent from one party to another.

Streaming Video: video that plays without downloading to your computer. Sometimes "progressive downloads" are called "streaming."

Softcore (Solo): Depictions of a single model.

Software Plug-in: a free program which allows your browser to display specific types of media, such as Real Player or QuickTime.

Terms and Conditions Agreement: The contract between you and a pay site.

Thumbnail: A miniature version of an image which, when clicked on will open the full-sized image.

Thumbnail Gallery Post (TGP): A free site that posts many free galleries each day; there are always blind links on these sites.

Top List: A site that keeps track of which websites send it the most visitors and lists them in order.

Tour: the free preview area of a pay site. Some companies create several different tours for the same site.

Traffic: Web surfers

Trial: A low-cost, short-term membership for the purpose of evaluating whether to join for a longer period.

Video Capture: an image that is derived from a video, as opposed to being taken with a camera.

Video on Demand: a video site that charges per minute or by scene or full-length video, as opposed to a monthly membership.

Webcam: A camera which broadcasts live over the Internet.

Windows Media Format: a popular video format (extension .wmv) that plays in the Windows Media Player.