Akademik

n.

The scrambled signal of a pornographic cable channel as seen by a nonsubscriber.

A colloquial term for the often grotesquelydistorted images and "assorted orgiastic moans and groans" that are transmitted as a result of inadequate scrambling technology is "Picasso porn."

—Barton Beebe, "Parental initiative in the age of signal bleed," Yale Law Journal, December 1, 1999

I know I'm not alone in my fascination with scrambled porn, because nearly everyone I encounter brings it up in conversation at one point or another. It amazes me, in fact, how many times recently I've heard someone wonder aloud where those lurid fragments of Freaks Of Leather went, and then felt the kind of comfort I imagine a support-group member must feel as others excitedly offered the explanation that the porn channels have "gone digital."

So widespread is the cult of scrambled porn that these heaps of heaving images have even been given a hip name: "Picasso porn."

—"I cry for the many pleasures of scrambled porn," Toronto Star, July 21, 2001

In Arizona it has given rise to a new teenage pastime called "Picasso Porn." Like a video game challenge, children watch the inadequately scrambled picture intently to see just how much they can see.

—"Nominations—July: hearings before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation," United States Congress Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, January 1, 1989 (approx)