# On searches and Internet traffic **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 7, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-searches-and-internet-traffic/325226 "2005-10-07T17:56:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-searches-and-internet-traffic/325226/21 "2005-10-10T13:58:47Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > …I consider traffic = bandwidth…I also just noted another flaw in Cecil’s analysis. Most of what is on porn sites is behind password protection. Google can’t access that. Thus search engines will make it seem like there is a lot less porn than there really is. But search engines don’t measure quantity of _traffic,_ just _content._ ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-searches-and-internet-traffic/325226/22 "2005-10-10T14:08:09Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > But search engines don’t measure quantity of _traffic,_ just _content._ Correct. As for a cite, look at **Measure for Measure’s** post. P2P is at least 60% of traffic, and VOIP 5%. This doesn’t include bandwidth from commercial porn sites, Usenet, etc. The vast majority of all Internet traffic is binaries. The still open question is how much is actually porn? People exchange Disney films on P2P also. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-searches-and-internet-traffic/325226/23 "2005-10-12T08:09:13Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > But search engines don’t measure quantity of _traffic,_ just _content._ A bittorrent search engine might track downloads of seed files by category. Seed file size should be roughly proportional to the size of the actual files, on average. Bittorrent downloads are probably representative of other P2P download patterns. I think that we could get another handle on this question (and I hypothesize that the Master’s conclusions would not need modification, at least qualitatively). (MODS: Linking to a bittorrent search engine/ search engine forum is a no-no, right?) ---
**Author:** ![Abe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f1d935/32.png) [@Abe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-searches-and-internet-traffic/325226/24 "2005-10-12T12:52:23Z")
[quote=Measure for Measure] … coming in Asian nations with high broadband penetration rates … > [@Askance](#): > > Yeah, there’d be a lot of that. Indeed there are quite a few. According to the [International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Broadband Statistics for January 1, 2005](http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/ITUs+New+Broadband+Statistics+For+1+January+2005.aspx), Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and Singapore are all in the top 20 by broadband penetration (they are also all ahead of the US and many European countries). Korea is number one, followed by Hong Kong. But broadband penetration rate is probably not as relevant a figure as number of broadband connections and users. Mainland China, with a lower broadband penetration rate than Austria, nonetheless generates far more Internet traffic thanks to the high number of Chinese Internet users. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-searches-and-internet-traffic/325226.md?page=1)