From the very dawn of the world wide web, the internet has been used for sex - and not just the pornographic kind. Whether lusting after a one-night stand or looking for true love, it didn't take long for people to cotton onto the concept of going online to arrange offline liaisons.
But lately, with adultery-arranging site Ashley Madison hacked and 'swipe-right-to-like' app Tinder accused of commoditising dating, companies in the business of arranging encounters have been thrust, excuse the pun, into the spotlight. Is the industry facing a backlash of inch proportions or merely ripples of discomfort from society getting used to more liberal ways of living?
It's mid-afternoon on a Friday and a dozen or so people are active on Heaven Social, the decidedly retro think Facebook's first iteration social network of Heaven Circle, a two-and-a-half-year-old company that throws 'elite' sex parties.
A couple of chat boxes pop up. Wearing a mask and brandishing a plastic sword as a fancy-dress assassin. I explain I'm a journalist.
They admit to being disappointed in their search for a bisexual woman to 'play with'. A man, who insists on Skyping to check I'm real, says he's had success arranging private offline encounters - and prefers Heaven to online competitors like FabSwingers and AdultFriendFinder. For people into things that still aren't a topic of polite conversation, the internet is, unsurprisingly, brimming with possibilities.
