In the tech world, porn quietly leads the way

[Elmore Furth]

People are quick to point out how NASA has stimulated technological breakthroughs in our everyday lives -- but the porn industry as a cutting edge technology?

(CNN) --

One of the world's biggest porn companies claimed it had created a way to stream its videos onto the IPad, skipping the Apple store and its restrictions on salacious content.

The announcement illustrates a widely acknowledged but seldom-spoken truth of the technology world: Whenever there's a new content platform, the adult-entertainment industry is one of the first to adopt it -- if they didn't help create it in the first place.

On the internet, streaming video, credit-card verification sites, Web referral rings and video technology like Flash all can be traced back to innovations designed to share, and sell, adult content.

Websites that require memberships, encryption coding, speedier file-sharing technology -- all can trace their roots back to the adult industry.


In the tech world, porn quietly leads the way