There’s a widespread notion that pornographers eagerly jump on new technology long before it goes mainstream, but with Apple Computer’s new video-playing iPod, the adult industry is largely staying away.
With a couple of exceptions, porno producers are in no hurry to provide stag movies for the iPod, thanks to fears of a public outcry and a government crackdown.
“We can’t blindly walk into this,” said L.R. Clinton Fayling, president of Brickhouse Mobile, a Denver company that is licensing adult material for mobile phones.
“We want to be conservative in investigating the opportunity of the iPod, to see how we can make money, what are the specifications, and what kind of safeguards are in place,” he said.
When it comes to the iPod, Fayling said there are few rewards and many risks. Fayling emphasized the pitfalls of combining a device designed for younger audiences with content they are prohibited from viewing.
“There’s already a public perception that we (in the industry) are preying on youth,” he said. “Without safeguards you open yourself up to more scrutiny from government and parents’ groups.”
To avoid such scrutiny, and litigation or legislation, Fayling said the industry will likely follow three guidelines regarding porn for the iPod: Customers will be age-verified through a credit card, no content will be offered for free and the material will be copy-protected so it can’t be shared.
All of those measures are being studied now, Fayling said, but he declined to speculate on when the companies Brickhouse deals with — including Wicked Pictures and some of the biggest names in American porn — would be ready to release product for the iPod.
In the past, the porn producers have not been so shy about embracing new technology. VCRs, DVDs and the internet were all targeted early on by the industry. But the industry’s skittishness about adapting to the iPod suggests that porn may follow, rather than lead, the video iPod revolution — despite the device’s obvious suitability for watching racy content.
Regardless, some smaller companies are jumping right in.
Last week, povPod.com started offering several downloadable videos “shot from the male porn star’s point of view.”
And a racy but less explicit site, SuicideGirls, is offering a weekly video podcast of “sexy short-form entertainment” for the video iPod.
“We see technology as a way for our community to be early adapters,” said the co-founder of SuicideGirls, who goes by the name Missy Suicide. “We are excited by this technology and we see it as revolutionary.”
By Larry Buhl
