By Wil Forbis -
[Email]
By now, any of you hardcore followers of the Internet have
probably heard about the lawsuit recently filed by several college athletes
who claim to have been secretly videotaped in the buff and then had the
images appear on a host of pornographic web sites. The lawsuit makes the
claim that this sort of thing is happening all across the country, and
any attractive, well muscled young man stripping down in a gym locker
room could find themselves victims of such voyeurism. Obviously, I was
highly concerned when I read the allegations. After all, I visit a gym.
If people were willing to empty their credit accounts to peruse images
of college football heroes, they’d probably trade in their grandmother
for images of my finely tuned physique.
Instantly, I began an online search to track down any unauthorized
photos of me in my birthday suit. I checked the obvious places, Hotdudes.com,
Adonis.net and got more specific to someone of my endowments at the
LongJohnson site and hugepenis.com. After a brief perusal of the free
galleries, I came up empty. However, wouldn’t pics of my naked pecs
be snuggled away in the pay only section? I pulled out my Mastercard
and began a more thorough investigation. After spending several thousand
dollars on the top homosexual sites on the Internet I became sure of
one thing: There are no nude photos of me on the web. (However, if you’d
like to buy some of my early Playgirl pictorials, contact me after the
column.)
This isn’t to say that I don’t think these sorts of voyeur cams aren’t
a problem. Clearly if America’s athletes are too busy worrying about
whether they may be the next Jeff Stryker, they can’t concentrate on
more important things like sacking quarterbacks or date raping cheerleaders.
And it’s definitely troubling how quickly the cottage industry of digital
voyeurism has grown on the web.
Interestingly, that’s a big part of what I like about the Internet.
It exposes us for who we really are. The blindsiding success of pornography
on the web let's us know that we are a nation of pervs. The advent of
voyeurcam-ism exposes us as a nation of Peeping Toms. When we surf the
web, we embrace a mob mentality, masking ourselves in the anonymity
of the experience. With all the recent hullabaloo surrounding computers
containing hardcoded ID numbers that can be matched to people’s names
you have to wonder what people are more afraid of: having their shopping
habits deemed open season by e-marketeers, or their nightly porn binges
becoming the source of amusement for some 17 year old hacker. (Wouldn’t
it be great if you found out your high school principal was a frequent
visitor to youngandjuicy.com?)
What makes things more interesting is the fact that while there are
plenty of people who like to peep on the web, there are also plenty
of people who like to be peeped at. How else can you explain the torrent
of authorized-voyeurism sites, such as the infamous jennicam.com, where
site owners invite you watch their daily activities such as playing
on the computer, folding socks or walking around naked. Some do it for
art, others for commerce, but it’s another curve ball thrown at us by
the world wide web.
You have to wonder where this is all going. Will parents
arrive at work, log-on and check the videostream to see if their kids
are doing their homework? Will swinging singles start offering downloadable
infomercials promoting their "assets?" Will we find ourselves in a world
where every pen, every phone, every doorknob is a potential camera,
broadcasting us above Times Square? I’m certainly no Neo-Luddite, but
even I become fearful if these devices are used too freely. Or if the
iron hand of government curtails things too forcefully. I certainly
don’t have any answers (as usual) but cannot help to sit and ponder,
with an Asimovesque gleam in my eye, about this strange new world.
Wil Forbis is a
well known international playboy who lives a fast paced life attending
chic parties, performing feats of derring-do and making love to the
world's most beautiful women. Together with his partner, Scrotum-Boy,
he is making the world safe for democracy. Email - acidlogic@hotmail.comVisit Wil's web log, My So-Called Penis, and receive complete enlightenment.
