Porn Piracy Continues to Cripple Adult Studios

Friday, 6th January, 2012

Most Internet savvy surfers are aware of the huge amount of illegal downloading that happens through peer to peer files sharing using networks such as Bit Torrent and the amount of problems this causes the music and film industry. However, although less publicly vocal, the porn industry has been hit even harder and it is starting to fight back.

The main issue that differentiates the unauthorized sharing of porn DVDs is that the films never go to general cinema release so whilst the big Hollywood studios may lose a significant amount of money through people downloading films instead of buying DVDs, at least they have their cinema ticket revenue to fall back on, which even in these difficult days of recession, is still a considerable amount of money. In addition, the amount of money the mainstream studios derive from each DVD sale is significantly smaller than the porn studios make, again because the margins (and prices of DVDs) must be higher because this is the only way adult movies make money.

The adult studios are now starting to use the technical and legal tools available to them and interestingly, they have a secret weapon the mainstream studios don't - the embarrassment factor. The way it works is the same as what is known in the US as "John Doe" lawsuits where a company is employed to track the IP address of an illegal file sharer and because potential illegal activity has been detected, the Internet Service Provider is forced to hand over the customer details relating to the IP address and legal action is taken against the customer. This is normally in the form of a demand for a fixed sum to be paid as a form of compensation to ensure the case does not go to court. There are several ways it can develop from here depending on the action of the alleged downloader but here is where the secret weapon of the porn industry comes in.

Do you really want to be taken to court over downloading an illegal porn DVD or would you just quietly prefer to pay a few hundred Dollars/Pounds/Euros for the whole thing to go away? How would you feel if the content and the title of the download was something particularly embarrassing relating to some exotic genre like She Males or Bondage? This is the embarrassment factor the studios are counting on and it is the studios that specialize in the most exotic and therefore potentially red face inducing content that are at the forefront of the new initiative.

Of course the industry would rather not have to resort to legal measures to recapture some of its lost revenue but with current estimates suggesting 80 - 85% of porn available for free on the Internet is not legitimate, there is a feeling that something has to be done to stop the rot before the ship sinks. The initiative is expected to be ramped up in 2012 so watch this space, things could get interesting.