Bob CollinsA defense attorney in an obscenity case in Florida is trying to use Google search statistics to prove that the “community standards” are all about porn down there. If everyone is searching for it, the attorney is suggesting, it must be acceptable.
The chart measures the words people are entering in the Google search box in Florida. The defense attorney picked three: surfing, orgy, and apple pie.
The chart shows that the people of Florida search for “orgy” (the red line) more often than they search for a recipe for “apple pie.” (the orange line) Surfing (the blue line)? Apparently it’s more fun that I thought. (Disclaimer: This would also include searching “Internet surfing,” which conjures up all sorts of questions on its own.)
Naturally, News Cut’s first reaction (after “nice try, pal!”) is to figure out what the same statistics say about us?
We’re not that interested in surfing — or orgies — apparently, although when broken down by cities, St. Peter has some explaining to do.
Let’s replace “surfing” with “fishing.”
No contest. Take that, Florida perverts!
