Internet Piracy and Porn

[burningdragoon]

As hypocritical as it may be, I simply don't care about the porn industry. I do care about games, movies, music um... other stuff that could be pirated that I can't think of right now, so I don't pirate that stuff.

I also don't even download porn / barely use it as is.

 

[Hiken no Ace]

I think that the porn industry as a whole makes so many billions of dollars per year that they don't care enough about internet piracy to actively pursue legal action.

 

[Fwee]

i just don't get porn its just soo stupid...and im fucking 16 and male. the perfect audience for porn

We're all totally judging you right now, you learner's permit shredding LIAR!
Just messin' with you, bro.

 

[Something Amyss]

They are an industry and in fact have historically had a huge impact on media. VHS vs Beta was decided by the porn industry, as was the public release of DVD and Bluray tech.

False on both accounts. The "family standards" of Betamax meant not just porn, but also many other videos were left out.

Similarly, the earliest HD support in porn was HD DVD. People were using the same "historical fact" you are to declare HD-DVD the winner....And we all know how that turned out.

More accurately, Disney and Warner Bros decided the fate of the HD war.

 

[brodie21]

The thought of sailing up to a porn studio on a pirate ship and pillaging it for its porn makes me giggle.

arr! give me all your booty!

 

[Rayne870]

They are an industry and in fact have historically had a huge impact on media. VHS vs Beta was decided by the porn industry, as was the public release of DVD and Bluray tech.

False on both accounts. The "family standards" of Betamax meant not just porn, but also many other videos were left out.

Similarly, the earliest HD support in porn was HD DVD. People were using the same "historical fact" you are to declare HD-DVD the winner....And we all know how that turned out.

More accurately, Disney and Warner Bros decided the fate of the HD war.

HUGE impact, not sole decision maker. There was a notable delay in upgrading from dvd to HD format as there was concern for porn not being as appealing since we would now be seeing more flaws in the skin.

 

[kasperbbs]

I honestly don`t care about the so called 'porn industry' ,you can wank off to a damn picture if you need to. I wonder how are they even making money these days, all you need to do is type one word into a search bar and you can find anything you ever dreamed of, for free. Only reasonable explanation i can think of: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/loadingreadyrun/2970-Columbus-of-the-Internet

 

[Pilkingtube]

I think one of the reasons people don't care might be that we already have as much porn as we'll ever need. It's not like it's necessary to produce new porn flicks all the time. If the porn industry was to go down, we would still have all the porn we'd ever need floating around the internet. It's not like we'd be missing any new compelling stories.

It's only really necessary to create new porn when we've invented a new piece of technology for displaying it, or a new position to show people

Of course we need new porn. So much of it is crap, you really have to search to find the good stuff. It would be nice if the industry focused more on quality than volume though.

The problem of most porn being crap won't be solved by producing more porn.

But we've all got 3D systems now! It all needs to be digitally remastered and the industry should borrow some of James Cameron's 3D Avatar cameras to film new stuff! We need to see things poking out at us... so to speak.

Also, speaking of story, do you think there is actually a writer for that stuff somewhere in the world? I'd love that job!

 

[superbatranger]

Wasn't there adverts about different porn stars saying piracy was hurting the industry or something like that a few months back?

 

[Gunner_Guardian]

Meh, whatever. Personally I hate what i call professional porn. It looks really REALLY fake. Because it is obv, but anyway, i prefer to watch amateur porn. No, not pro porn actors and actresses pretending to be amateurs, but actual stuff filmed by people at home and stuff. Much more erotic.

I agree with this.

I find ironically the more low-budget porn is, the better it is as industry porn is so fake it turns me off sometimes.

As a result a lot small "couple" videos and other sites created by some college students or something are chewing away at most porn industries cause they can provide better porn for cheaper.

 

[KeyMaster45]

snip

And I can certainly differentiate between porn and art. Art vs. entertainment can be argued ad nauseum, but if I'm going to watch a season of Nurse Jackie or the new Christopher Nolan film, or play the new Call of Duty or listen to the new Black Keys album without paying for it, I'm going to feel bad because artists poured their hearts out into those projects. Though an argument could be made that cinematography, editing and performance have improved the visceral-ness of porn, the end result isn't a master work of storytelling - it's simply a greater state of arousal. I don't think masturbation, as fun as it is, should ever be held in as high esteem as enjoying an album for the first time or discovering a new filmmaker.

I won't argue the first part of your post, I think the issue of companies making oodles of money as an argument for stealing something has been argued to death already and we'd get nowhere dragging that ugly corpse into the conversation.

That last paragraph though is that part that really bothers me, and partly the reason why I made the thread in the first place. It's that mentality that because porn is, well, porn; that it's not entitled to the same rights as other forms of entertainment. The people that work in porn are still doing work; it's their job. Some of them are actually quite proud about what they do, and enjoy what they do.

Yes, it is very hypocritical to say it's not okay to pirate games, movies, and music; then turn around and say it's okay with porn because you don't think they deserve to be compensated for their work. It's a very twisted way of thinking one that most if not all of us are guilty of.

If we're going to fight to protect one area of entertainment then we need to protect them all. By saying it's okay to steal from one but not the others you end up making the whole campaign for the others pointless; that's the way I see it.

 

[funguy2121]

snip

And I can certainly differentiate between porn and art. Art vs. entertainment can be argued ad nauseum, but if I'm going to watch a season of Nurse Jackie or the new Christopher Nolan film, or play the new Call of Duty or listen to the new Black Keys album without paying for it, I'm going to feel bad because artists poured their hearts out into those projects. Though an argument could be made that cinematography, editing and performance have improved the visceral-ness of porn, the end result isn't a master work of storytelling - it's simply a greater state of arousal. I don't think masturbation, as fun as it is, should ever be held in as high esteem as enjoying an album for the first time or discovering a new filmmaker.

I won't argue the first part of your post, I think the issue of companies making oodles of money as an argument for stealing something has been argued to death already and we'd get nowhere dragging that ugly corpse into the conversation.

That last paragraph though is that part that really bothers me, and partly the reason why I made the thread in the first place. It's that mentality that because porn is, well, porn; that it's not entitled to the same rights as other forms of entertainment. The people that work in porn are still doing work; it's their job. Some of them are actually quite proud about what they do, and enjoy what they do.

Yes, it is very hypocritical to say it's not okay to pirate games, movies, and music; then turn around and say it's okay with porn because you don't think they deserve to be compensated for their work. It's a very twisted way of thinking one that most if not all of us are guilty of.

If we're going to fight to protect one area of entertainment then we need to protect them all. By saying it's okay to steal from one but not the others you end up making the whole campaign for the others pointless; that's the way I see it.

It's not that I don't think they deserve to be compensated for their work. It's that they are very well compensated for their work, particularly when they decide to be business savvy or seek advice from other performers who've been in the business for a while. If porn is still taking in over a billion dollars a year and the performers and producers are still living upper class lifestyles, then I don't think they're actually being hurt. Free porn-and free music-can actually help performers. It may appear that there's less money in their pockets but if someone discovers a comely redhead on a free site and follows the link to the paysite, they may well be willing to fork over the c.c. fees for a month to download as much of the star as possible (and apparently they are, as porn keeps on truckin'). Similarly, if I DL a Yeah Yeah Yeahs track for free on piratebay, just as if I stumble across it on youtube, I may fall in love with the band and go out and buy all their CDs.

I made this point on another piracy thread today. Dave Matthews Band used to let fans plug directly into their equipment to "bootleg" their shows. When they discovered that some opportunists were selling their music and not compensating them, the band started putting out their own live albums for sale (Red Rocks is still the best available version of "Warehouse.") They never sued anyone and they let the technology aid in increasing their fanbase (although probably not nearly as much as MTV).

Now, stealing of media WILL hurt musicians and possibly porn stars and companies that aren't yet established, if they aren't savvy enough to translate popularity into sales. And I can understand anyone, from Metallica to Jenna Jameson, being upset with people for enjoying their work and refusing to pay for it. But I never felt bad when I recorded "For Whom The Bell Tolls" onto cassette from the radio when I was 15, and I really didn't feel bad when I used 2 VCRs to record Jenna Loves (Um, somebody) a couple of years later when I rented it from a video store.

I also went into an adult video store with a girlfriend as an adult and picked up a DVD. It cost me nearly $60 after taxes. It had very little in the way of bells and whistles. It was roughly an hour and a 1/2 of spank material, and most every DVD in the store was that price or higher. No way I would have spent that much cash just to jerk off if I was single.

Your final point is quite hard to argue with. Perhaps if I were more financially established, I would pay for one of those sites so that I'm "contributing." Then again, I also would stop shopping at Wal-Mart for good and I'd be donating to charities. Right now I don't have much of a choice. I will add, however, that since my last computer crash I'm unwilling to go to streaming sights for fear of malware, and the free torrent site I used to go to (and it's sister sight) inexplicably disappeared last February, so of late I've been limited to what I haven't yet deleted from my hard drive.

 

[funguy2121]

Damn, am I verbose today! Sorry for all the blabbing!

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Wow. I don't think I can comment in this thread.

I mean, this is Mod Bait on so many levels.

OP - yes, I agree that you are on to something. I would comment further, but fear of mods prevents me.

The mods really don't care about your sexual interests. One can confess to liking lolicon (of the drawn variety) with no chance of mod wrath.

What? Eeww, no, I hate lolicon. Ick. I prefer large (reasonably so, not the huge pillow ones) breasts personally. Just like IRL.

I meant the piracy. No way to get mod attention faster than to support or admit to piracy.

Which... yeah. Takes me back to that whole can't comment thing. *whistles innocently*

Edit: Oh, wait, there is something. Amateur porn - made by open minded adults, for open minded adults. Great stuff.
Although it occurs to me that my comment is pretty out of context. Ah well.

 

[Gindil]

Wasn't there adverts about different porn stars saying piracy was hurting the industry or something like that a few months back?

That's the most hilarious comedy to come out of the porn industry ever.

Lessee the problems...

1) Porn stars preaching morality
2) Porn stars getting paid to have sex
3) Porn star (women) have alternatives to video
4) No mention of how they get paid, just "downloading videos are bad"...

I could go on but... That was too funny.

 

[Jonluw]

I think one of the reasons people don't care might be that we already have as much porn as we'll ever need. It's not like it's necessary to produce new porn flicks all the time. If the porn industry was to go down, we would still have all the porn we'd ever need floating around the internet. It's not like we'd be missing any new compelling stories.

It's only really necessary to create new porn when we've invented a new piece of technology for displaying it, or a new position to show people

Of course we need new porn. So much of it is crap, you really have to search to find the good stuff. It would be nice if the industry focused more on quality than volume though.

The problem of most porn being crap won't be solved by producing more porn.

But we've all got 3D systems now! It all needs to be digitally remastered and the industry should borrow some of James Cameron's 3D Avatar cameras to film new stuff! We need to see things poking out at us... so to speak.

It's only really necessary to create new porn when we've invented a new piece of technology for displaying it

Also, speaking of story, do you think there is actually a writer for that stuff somewhere in the world? I'd love that job!

Naaah... I think the director just makes it up on the spot or something...

 

[ScorpSt]

Porn is protected by the First Amendment (in the US anyway). Unfortunately, that's about all the protections they get because of the stigma attached to them. This has placed the porn industry (yes, it is an industry, just like people say "entertainment industry") in the position of having to make piracy work for them.

Many porn companies/sites will place samples of their videos on piracy sites but jealously guard their full products. This places the pirates in the position of having to either purchase the full product (be that a movie or website subscription) if they want everything or be satisfied with what they manage to get without paying.

I have also heard rumors that some companies deliberately share products that are infected with viruses. This is technically illegal, but who's going to say they had to wipe their computer because they got a virus from illegal internet porn. It'd be like getting caught spending stolen counterfeit money.

 

[OrokuSaki]

In all fairness, porn was declining before piracy even became involved. Since the advent of webcams amateur porn has been on a rise, so even if people WEREN'T ashamed of buying porn (which they are) the amount of porn that would be available for free far outnumbers professionally done pieces.

You know, even though they have an industry, porn does seem like a very broad term. There's no..... qualification to be called porn. For instance, a movie has to be something that's done at least semi-professionally and be at least an hour long. Everything else is a "video", but porn can be two half-naked people humping for 20 seconds and as long as there's a naked girl, it's porn. Technically they don't even need to be having sex, turn on HBO at night and there'll be naked women and NO SEX WHATSOEVER and it's still porn. There need to be some rules.

Anyways, yes piracy effects porn, but mostly people don't talk about it because people are ashamed of their "filthy" habit/addiction. That and they're two completely different protesting audiences; piracy generally being protested by industries/artists and their fans, and porn by mothers who don't want their children to see "such horrible exploitation of women and humans as a whole." and they don't often overlap. (Mind you, not saying they NEVER overlap, just saying that you rarely see a mom protesting the piracy of the latest GTA game)