Globally aware online pornography? That's the concept behind proposed porn site Come4.org, a free, not-for-profit, crowd-sourced porn site that would link uploaded porn to a selection of reputable charities and raise money for various causes, CNET reports.
Developed by Marco Annoni and Riccardo Zilli, the Milan-based company is trying to get off the ground with the help of Kickstarter-like fundraising site called Ulule.
Come4.org's Ulule's tagline reads: "My favorite charitable act? A handjob." The description states the site aims to revolutionize "[online] pornography with ethics."
[Online] pornography generates around 100 billion dollars in yearly revenues. Faced with all the current world problems that we are aware of today from 'world poverty to ecological catastrophies' [sic] we think that there is nothing wrong in using part of this enormous amount of resources to a better end. Just imagine, if we collected just 1% of the money made by the porn industry, how many great things could we finance with a billion? What would you do with this money?
Come4.org's relatively simple business model is explained in a quirky promotional video. Users would set up accounts to either watch or post content, and those accounts would be connected to one of the site's social causes. Professional porn companies would provide a "pot of money," while also potentially uploading their own videos or buying other online advertising on the site.
Other porn sites have attempted to use their audiences to help charitable causes.
Popular purveyor Pornhub.com's new breast cancer awareness promotion launched this October. In a press release, the site said it would donate 1 cent for every 30 views of its "Big Tits" or "Small Tits" videos, “meaning the more boobs that are viewed, the more money that will be showered upon the Susan G. Komen Foundation." However, Komen later said it would not be accepting donations from the site, and demanded the website stop using the name "Komen," according to Jezebel.
The ecologically minded Fuckforforest.com has had better luck mixing targeted activism with explicit sex. It raised $100,000 for rain forest protection through the sale of paid memberships in its first year alone.
So far, Come4.org has raised just under $5,000 of the $12,000 the founders say they would need to launch the business. With 23 days left in the fundraising, Annoni and Zilli are hoping they can find a few more sponsors willing to give "porn with heart" a chance.