In defending the website cumonherface.com from obscenity charges, attorneys are leaning on Google Trends to prove their case. What can make porn illegal — being classified as obscene material, for one — is its bucking of "community standards of decency." This is just the first instance of lawyers showing up in court with some Google-gleaned data to demonstrate that curiosity about ejaculation in and around the cheeks and mouth is as American as apple pie.

Google is complying with the defense's subpoena to further tease out the specifics of what sexual topics the average Floridian is searching for, as the publicly viewable Google Trends data isn't limited to the jurisdiction in question, Pensacola. If the defense prevails, it won't just be a victory for the folks behind cumonherface.com, but a shift in how "community standards" may be applied to a community as vast and diverse as the Web, with those in the search business recognized as the unintended experts on the racing pulse of American desire.

(Infoporn via Reason)

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