Looking for porn?

A survey of internet browsing habits has seen people's interest in online sex fall as business, travel and job searches supplant the search for smut.

The project, led by a researcher at Pennsylvania State University, tracks the subjects that web surfers type into the Excite internet search engine.

The first such survey in May 1997 found 16.8 per cent of users looking for sex or pornographic content, but by May 2001 the figure had fallen to just 8.5 per cent.

Searches for employment opportunities, commerce, travel and the economy rose from 13.3 per cent to 24.7 per cent over the same period.

However, internet usage patterns have changed so much over the four years since the 1997 survey that the data can't be taken as an indicator that internet users' interest in porn has fallen.

Given the growth in the number and reliability of ecommerce services such as travel and job seeking, it's hardly surprising that the popularity of these services has increased.

The demographics of internet users have also expanded beyond the early adopters who were using the web regularly in 1997.

They tended to be male and therefore, arguably, more likely to be interested in pornography.

However, a survey in July found that 42 per cent of UK surfers are now female.

It could also be that people looking for porn are finding it through other means than search engines.

The survey was published in the March edition of the Institute or Electrical and Electronic Engineers journal, IEEE computers.