We take a look under the hood at how these streaming services tackle video quality, security controls, and more.

Pornography websites aren’t just places for people to watch sexual content. They’re also major operations that work similarly to streaming services or social media enterprises like YouTube.

Hosting these websites involves keeping data secure, allowing for usernames, processing credit card information, dealing with censorship laws worldwide, and, sometimes, moderating comments. Some adult streaming sites also feature live content, and many more have sponsors or run ads. 

So, how do they work?

Processing credit card information

According to ComputerWorld, websites require the following things to process credit card payments:

• A business bank account.
• A virtual terminal or payment gateway approves or denies payments depending on a person’s balance.
• Payment processor: This acts as a messenger between the website and the customer’s issuing credit card company or bank. The processor also ensures the authenticity of information on the user’s end. It declines if fraud is suspected or if there’s not enough in the person’s balance. 
• E-commerce or software system that allows for the sale of products and/or services. These can be custom-made for any type of website. 

Adult entertainment sites face specific challenges when getting paid, such as policy changes from financial services companies, or pressure to host less sexually explicit content at the detriment of NSFW content creators.

Username and password creation controls

You’re probably familiar with password creation protocols demanding a “strong” password with certain requirements. Sites like Pornhub have relatively easy requirements—only six characters or more.

These experiences can vary. Sites with requirements such as longer character lengths, numbers, capital letters, etc., tend to enforce these rules to prevent fraud or hacking. According to Auth0, one of the ways username and password creation can work is: 

• Users create their username, which is then compared to other usernames in a site’s database to ensure it’s not taken. 
• Once the user creates a unique login, they must create a password that adheres to the site’s rules.
• Once these are created, a process called “hashing” ties a username to a password using an algorithm that takes plain text and anonymizes it. 
• Password resetting. These are links sites can use to help you reset your password or provide hints so you can log into them if you forget your original password.

Upload and streaming optimization

We can learn a lot about how pornography sites deal with so many uploads and streams by looking at how YouTube handles its operations. 

Some adult entertainment websites show professionally shot videos, animation, and amateur porn. All of these have the potential to be shot in different formats, lengths, and sizes. Videos are generally processed to decrease in size and quickly load online. By the time a user is watching a video, the video uploaded is much smaller than the original file size. 

But what about actually watching a video? 

YouTube can also teach us something about this. They have a concept called adaptive bitrate, which allows the size of the video clips you’re watching to change quickly. This can be especially helpful if your internet speed changes, you use a shared internet connection, or you download something while watching a video. 

Sites that don’t have this type of technology can have more buffering if their videos are uploaded with a higher quality or resolution.

Navigating legal issues

All websites nowadays have a disclaimer of some sort, but this is especially important for adult streaming sites. Though imperfect, many sites also ask viewers to verify their age before viewing videos. 

In countries such as the United States pornography is a protected—but often debated—form of free speech. Other parts of the world restrict or completely censor pornography.

In countries where adult content is partially or completely legal many sites allow users to flag inappropriate content. Sites allow users to flag pornography in instances such as:

• Videos shot without a person’s consent.
• Illegal activity.
• Videos that include a minor or missing person. 

Though not every service does this, some sites volunteer to report missing persons to the authorities and have safeguards in place to take down revenge porn and illegal content.

Image sources: ThisIsEngineering

The post How Adult Entertainment Sites Scale for Massive Demand appeared first on Future of Sex.

Whether you keep or delete your apps, there are steps you need to take to keep your data private.

When the United States Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion in June 2022, activists, advocates, and people who can get pregnant became fearful for their rights.

There was speculation about whether or not to delete period-tracking apps. After all, these apps collect, store, and sometimes sell your information to third parties per their terms and conditions.

How these apps are handling your data

Apps you download can use your data to make a profit, especially if the apps themselves are free. A few ways apps typically use your data are: 

• Collecting and storing
• Sharing your data with third parties (such as companies it wishes to sell the data to)
• Marketing products and services to you
• Tailoring your experiences within an app

The fine print, aka terms and conditions, often explain whether or not an app will collect your information and how they will use it. Sadly, period apps tend to be some of the least secure. 

An investigation by Mozilla found that 10 period trackers and 10 pregnancy apps were very insecure. Some of their more worrying practices included: 

• Allowing weak passwords
• Collecting large amounts of data
• Unclear terms and conditions about the potential for collaborating with authorities 

In 2019, Flo, a popular period-tracker, was found to have shared sensitive data with firms such as Google and Facebook. Data shared included dates of the user’s periods and potential pregnancy plans.

RELATED READ: Top Period Tracking Apps–Ranked by Privacy Settings

Where the real risks lie

According to The Cut, a mother and daughter from Nebraska are being charged because of an alleged at-home abortion. The daughter, then 17-years-old, said she’d given birth to a stillborn baby and told her mother. They allegedly put the remains in a bag and buried the body with the aid of a 22-year-old man. 

Detectives were then able to get a warrant for Facebook messages that allegedly prove the mother, Jessica Burgess, was able to procure abortion pills for her daughter, Celeste Burgess. The abortion occurred more than 20 weeks after conception, and Jessica Burgess is facing up to 5 criminal charges for assisting her daughter. 

This case illustrates why reproductive health activists have sounded the alarm about the right to an abortion has continued to come under threat in the United States.

Though reproductive health apps were uninvolved, the fact that messages were used as evidence is seen as proof that people who can get pregnant need to take measures to better protect themselves in this political climate.

If you want to keep tracking your reproductive health

Find apps that don’t sell your data

One such app is Euki, created by Women Help Women.

Read the terms and conditions

Always read the terms and conditions before installing an app on your device. This will help you know how the app uses the data they collect.

Look for clues that an app has weak security

Accepting weak passwords, past data breaches, and negative reviews from other users can provide information you can use to make a wise decision.

Try going offline

One example is the calendar method. This involves simply circling dates on a paper calendar for when you’re on your period. You should see a pattern emerge after a few months.

If you decide to delete your account, you’ll need to contact the company to remove your data

Deleting reproductive health apps from your phone will only prevent you from adding new information, but it doesn’t mean the app’s creator no longer has your old data.

Users can contact an app’s creator and request that this data is formally removed from their system. According to the Washington Post, some states have privacy laws requiring apps to honor this type of request. These include California, and will also include Virginia and Colorado in 2023.

Due to pressure from these laws, some major companies are already preemptively honoring data deletion requests. Per Washington Post, Uber, Twitter, and Spotify, are among them.

Keep in mind that data deletion is a new right and may not work perfectly even in states that have enacted laws to protect consumers. Private tech companies, including apps meant to help people monitor their health, may still use the lack of privacy protection laws to neglect your request or decide not to delete your data.

Still, it never hurts to ask given the current climate.

Image sources: Adrienne Andersen

The post Here’s How You Can Protect Yourself While Using Reproductive Health Apps appeared first on Future of Sex.

These resources may validate your experiences and help you feel more comfortable in your body.

If you live in the United States, you’ve probably heard the term “purity culture” at some point.

Purity culture consists of sexual and gender norms many Christian denominations expect their members to adhere to. It encourages complete abstinence and may discourage many types of sexual behaviors or acts that are perfectly normal, such as masturbation and sexual thoughts. Some preachers or denominations even discourage things as benign as dating, spending time alone with a significant other, or holding hands. 

A few other common beliefs in purity culture:

• Women must dress modestly to avoid tempting men
• Sex must be only between heterosexual married couples
• People who acquire sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are being punished for their sins

Evangelicals also have a strong presence in elections and government, which has allowed them to influence sex education in the United States. 

According to the University of Southern California’s Department of Nursing, only 13 of the country’s 50 states mandate medically accurate sex education. This means a majority of students in the United States aren’t given accurate information on safe sex, informed consent, or how to deal with potential grooming and abuse.

Christianity isn’t the only religion in the world that propagates unhealthy attitudes about sex or negates bodily autonomy for women, nonbinary people, and the LGBTQ+ community. However, it’s prevalent in countries such as the United States, which create influential media that reaches the world.

How social media can help 

Social media has provided a platform for compassionate people to speak about the harms of purity culture, its iterations, and effects on our culture as a whole. 

These are only a fraction of the resources out there that may validate your experiences, help you discover ways to feel more comfortable in your body, and find others who understand you. 

Talk Purity To Me

Run by Erica Smith, Talk Purity To Me is an Instagram account that helps people who dealt with purity culture growing up. Smith talks about her personal experiences, posts resources, memes, political updates, and funny content to help followers continue to deconstruct feelings of shame and guilt associated with purity culture.  

Afrosexology 

Afrosexology posts resources specifically tailored to Black followers who are dealing with their sexual health and pleasure journey. Their culturally sensitive content includes art, tips for exploring pleasure, and resources meant to help followers continue their healing and education. 

Cindy, Latinx Sexpert 

Latinx Sexpert is run by Cindy Luquín, a certified sex educator whose mission is to destigmatize sex education for Latinx immigrants. In this Instagram account, you can find information for LGBTQ+, immigrant, and first-generation people in all walks of life, including parents who want to have inclusive conversations about sex education with their children.

A Single Serving Podcast 

A Single Serving is run by Shani Silver, who was raised Jewish. She interviews guests from all walks of life, and because being single after a certain age (whether one is sexually active or not), is often seen as taboo in purity culture as well. Silver’s guests offer tips on how to embrace singlehood and embrace yourself—a great message for anyone unlearning shame associated with purity culture’s teachings.

Your Diagnonsense 

Your Diagnonsense is run by Todd Baratz. A licensed counselor, Baratz provides information on forming relationships and unlearning shame associated with sex. This Instagram account is a great resource for people looking for digestible health, dating, and relationship information from a secular source.     

Starting your journey

If you’re working on challenging past beliefs that caused you harm, these accounts are a way to start your healing, find like-minded people who can relate to your struggles, and find additional resources as well.

Image Sources: alleksana

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