Recession, sharing videos hurting porn industry

Updated

Always thought of as an industry that can withstand a recession, the pornography business has seen a drop in sales in the past year as more people share their porn online as songs were once shared on Napster.

The piracy on "tube sites," which emulate YouTube, offer snippets of free porn from longer films or amateur footage, and the illegal and sometimes legally pirated video is hurting the business, according to a San Francisco Chronicle story.

DVD sales at Vivid Entertainment of Los Angeles dropped 30% in the past year, which founder Steven Hirsch attributes to the poor economy and the increase in free porn sites, according to the story. Hirsch sued a free porn site for illegally using his company's material.

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