I was listening to NPR this weekend and out of the blue there was an interview with the Sex editor of Wired Magazine. She was talking about Web 2.0 and the porn industry.
The gist of the interview was this: historically, sex and porn have been technology drivers. But for some reason, the porn industry seems to be lagging in Web 2.0 options.
The first premise is obviously true. Nobody with half a brain seriously thinks that the internet and broadband would have developed as quickly as they did were it not for porn demand.
But you can go back even further. Porn was a major driving force behind VHS and home movies (privacy and secrecy) – guys didn’t have to go out of their homes to get a porn fix.
The fact is that porn has driven technological advance. I say that without a moral judgment. It’s just a fact.
So why might porn be lacking in Web 2.0? Well, a few answers were given:
1. The porn industry has historically relied on static, easily produced, non-changing content that is passively consumed.
2. There are major legal issues with giving users full control over content development (age restrictions, etc.) Policing content is notoriously hard to do.
3. Web 2.0 would decentralize and potentially destabilize a multi-billion dollar industry
4. Porn has historically been a “fleecing of the lambs” industry that caters to basic instincts and doesn’t need complexities
What would Web 2.0 porn look like?
It would include mashups, user provided soundtracks, user created content, social voting to highlight the best content, etc. All of this takes power of delivery away from the money makers and holds them accountable to the product they are producing. That, and the legal issues, are the main repressive forces that are causing the lag.