This morning’s Observer column. Sample:

Online porn is a huge business which exists for one reason only: there is a vast market for its products. All the internet has done is to reveal the true extent of the demand by lowering the ‘shame threshold’ that must be crossed in order to access the stuff.

But instead of talking about this insatiable demand, and what it tells us about human nature, we focus instead on the technology. We never ask, for example, whether the lust for porn reveals something rotten in the heart of many human relationships, or if it tells us something about a desire to have pleasure without commitment.

The answers to such questions will probably make uncomfortable reading, which of course is why we avoid asking them. By going ahead with the .xxx domain, Icann could do something to stop this hypocritical rot. But I’m not holding my breath.