If Porn Is Bad Why Is It The Net’s Billion Dollar Industry?

Take for instance the New York Times Magazine: It ran a cover story recently called “Naked Capitalists: There’s No Business Like Porn Business.” Its thesis: Pornography is big business–with $10 billion to $14 billion in annual sales.The author, Frank Rich, suggests that pornography is bigger than any of the major league sports, perhaps bigger than Hollywood.

There were only a few things selling on the Net in those days — books, some information, a product here and there, but far and away the biggest seller on the early Internet was porn.

Yes, the adult entertainment industry was dominant from almost day one. The Net’s ability to bring an unlimited horizon of information and entertainment directly to the privacy of your home made it the perfect vehicle for anyone ready to buy adult entertainment.

The huge demand for porn was not lost on corporate America. One of the only studies into where money flows in the porn industry revealed that many of America’s biggest mainstream entertainment companies were secretly behind the financing and distribution of porn. That’s right, the same companies that make G-rated movies available at Wal-Mart were also bringing adult entertainment to stores, mail order firms, and online sites.

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