Adult Entertainment in the Digital Age

Common lore tells us that porn drives technology. From the paperback book to home cinema to online payment systems, the adult industry has influenced new media adoption and pioneered technological innovation. True to the song "The Internet is for Porn", our new architecture for distributing information has caused an explosion of adult content online. But in an era of digital files and content aggregators, how is this socially stigmatized industry dealing with copyright protection issues?

Kate Darling is an IP Research Specialist at the MIT Media Lab and a Ph.D. candidate in Intellectual Property and Law & Economics. After surviving law school, she went on to pursue her passion for innovation policy at the intersection of law and technology. Her work focuses on economic issues in copyright and patent systems. She also writes and lectures about robot ethics.