[IP] Re: good read -- Porn in the USA: Conservatives are biggest consumers

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>
Date: March 2, 2009 11:38:25 AM EST
To: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
Subject: Re: [IP] good read -- Porn in the USA: Conservatives are  
biggest consumers


> 2.  Conservative states are less computer-savvy and thus less likely
> to use file-trading networks, so people pay for porn in those states
> rather than getting it free.
> 3.  Conservatives buy less porn but their consciences require that
> they pay for it; liberals are more likely to ignore copyright
> restrictions, so their consumption doesn't show up in an analysis of
> credit card payments.

Dave,

I would agree that it's difficult to draw any, uh, firm conclusions
about overall porn consumption based on purchase patterns at this
stage.

There are such vast quantities of generally legal free porn (ranging
from amateur to professional) on the Net -- available on ordinary Web
sites without file trading -- that the porn industry per se has been
suffering a significant downturn.  This is not a matter of small
notice even to mainstream media here in the West San Fernando Valley,
the acknowledged porn production and distribution center of the U.S.,
if not the world.  It's been traditionally very common out here to
have neighbors at home or the office who are somehow affiliated with
the porn industry, in front of or behind the cameras.  And in fact,
most of the time these folks seem completely average -- with some
notable exceptions.  Ah, good ol' L.A.

Anyhow, the point is that porn *purchases* now would appear to be more
in "specialty" categories from die-hard fans of particular genres.
It's unclear to me how well this scales to overall interest in porn.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
  - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
  - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
  for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com




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