It's not so much that people feel an entitlement to online porn as they do an entitlement to online services in general. Other than your ISP charges, the internet for the most part is totally free.

People have a hard time accepting that an online product should actually cost money. Especially when there are so many free offerings of the same. News, IM services, TV listings, message boards... porn. Free? You got it!

The problem stems much further than the availability of pirated content. This goes right back to the image we have created ourselves. That in most cases, porn is free. The effect of this has been the same as it has on every other type of website; an unwillingness to pay for what is offered for free in abundance.

I do not believe there is any real difference between the two types of chronic freeloaders. You've got those who limit themselves to authorized free content, and those who take part in unauthorized trading. Either way, they are freeloaders and of no worthwhile value to the industry in terms of what we are currently offering and/or the way we currently offer it. Nor do they cost us money out of pocket.


Anyhow.... Piracy isn't something the average website needs to worry about. It's primarily the DVD sellers. You VERY RARELY see made-for-internet content being traded unless we are talking the top quality couple sites in each niche. But for a surfer to think that before actually buying a membership he can check around for unauthorized content from XYZ studs, forget it.

As for suing porn traders, it won't have the effects of the RIAA lawsuits (that is, if they've even have an effect). The music industry is huge and it was a news story worthy of great coverage for them. However, nobody gives a damn about a gay porn company suing filesharers. News that doesn't get out can't become a deterrent.

Another thing that gay producers need to be prepared to accept is the fact that some people who they sue will be closeted men and teens, and the PR results of that within the gay community. If you did get news coverage, this would be it.