Will Criminals In This Industry Bring It Down?

[Rcourt64]

Originally Posted by rhetorical

well, rcourt has never cut a 50k deal in his life, we all know that. So why you reply is beyond me. Ya wanna talk about crooks, well there is always Mike AI and Serge Oprano. Both of who could have never made a pot to piss in in the real world. They made money, but so did a shit load of drug dealers. Nothing to brag about. Except they both now think they are respectable when we all know they, like Jon Allaby are just crooks and could never survive in polite society. LMFAO

that would be nick@ilynx for board tracker....jon???? you still livin large in the middle of nowhere?

You've been speaking to my financial director or something???
But no I haven't. not on icq at least. No

[Greg B]

I think what's happening is two-fold.

Old school guys who spent all their loot and are trying to get back in but either haven't studied or are running into the new crop of hustlers taking them for a ride.

Second, the industry is getting hit by wannabe hustlers who have some skills but would rather resort to stealing and cutting and running and bullshit instead of hard work.

I never did this full time because I didn't have to. I remember when guys were starting out in the biz and busted their asses working. Guys like Hun, Shemp, Thumbzilla, Big Lou, Gonzo, to name a few you could run into on the boards and it was like guys never got any sleep. I would do toons for sites and then for me because I make my content I would work non-stop sometimes for months but would come up with enough content for a year or two. I wasn't in this business to make a fortune but I had to realize if you don't make the money, your enemies will.

Some guys get caught up in dope or gambling or blackmail and you have to keep a sharp eye peeled for them. They'll snuggle up to you and like they say in the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition #48 "The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife!". It's really pitiful to see once stand up guys let these hoodlums run roughshod all over them but when you see behind the scenes and get those ' my client would like to negotiate a settlement ' thingies and they're in rehab you kinda wonder how much damage was really done.

Key thing is if the bullshit doesn't stop you're going to see processors and hosting companies drop anything adult like a rock due to increasing liability. Sure there'll be a major demand for porn but that demand is not going to override legal fines and shit. Yeah servers can be set up outside of the U.S. but would your surfer trust their money with it?

[gonzo]

Originally Posted by Greg B

Key thing is if the bullshit doesn't stop you're going to see processors and hosting companies drop anything adult like a rock due to increasing liability. Sure there'll be a major demand for porn but that demand is not going to override legal fines and shit. Yeah servers can be set up outside of the U.S. but would your surfer trust their money with it?

If we dont regulate ourselves the government will do it for us.

[Hammer]

Greg, this industry was started by criminals, many of whom are now living in Panama and other places where they continue to be criminals and avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

The question I have for you though is, why would criminals bring this industry down? The gambling industry is alive and well and has been for thousands of years and it's always been run by criminals.

[Rcourt64]

The Illuminati & Big brother are watching and waiting for they're next opportunity to maneuver another major Internet crime scandal inside the Adult Industry here in America



Oh ya.. and Google is just steps behind to being controlled by them also

[TheEnforcer]

Originally Posted by Hammer

Greg, this industry was started by criminals, many of whom are now living in Panama and other places where they continue to be criminals and avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

The question I have for you though is, why would criminals bring this industry down? The gambling industry is alive and well and has been for thousands of years and it's always been run by criminals.

The gambling industry USED to be run by criminals. Not anymore. It got cleaned up in a massive way.

[Hell Puppy]

Originally Posted by TheEnforcer

The gambling industry USED to be run by criminals. Not anymore. It got cleaned up in a massive way.

This is true of Vegas, reservations and other LEGALIZED gambling territories.

But there's still a ton of money moves around, especially during football season, via local bookmakers. Most true gambling addicts aren't in places like Vegas.

[Greg B]

Originally Posted by Hammer

Greg, this industry was started by criminals, many of whom are now living in Panama and other places where they continue to be criminals and avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

The question I have for you though is, why would criminals bring this industry down? The gambling industry is alive and well and has been for thousands of years and it's always been run by criminals.

Hammer, I remember when this industry started and from whence and it wasn't criminals. Some were hustlers for sure as soon as they found there was money to be made but I remember back in the 80's when we used the various intranets and such to send nude pics around. That was just us geeks sending telram images of pin-ups.

That graduated and got more sophisticated. The crooks came in when funding for developing projects couldn't be had. Gangsters had investment capital and crooks rolled in. Let us not mince words here, the criminal element is alive and well and part of the landscape. The problem is how long can one be a criminal until one can mask it and have themselves accepted as legitimate?

I've studied organized crime extensively. Had to for my jobs. It goes wayyyyyy back to even the 1700s. Gangs are nothing new and the tactics basically the same. The problem with the internet is that the criminal act done today only has a life as long as people are unaware of it. Like those Nigerian email scams. It's obvious to anyone with half a brain they're bullshit but the general population falls for that shit like a dumb blonde in heels. Even when the evening news tells people they're scams they still fall for it. Why? Because inherently people are easy to bullshit.

Now, when people catch a scammer they can blast it all over the internet. More victims join in and soon a ripple becomes a tidal wave.

So today's criminal often becomes tomorrow's respectable businessman.

Talk about wolves in the fold!

[Sexyteaser]

Right now it looks like some of these mainstream scammers will be taking a lot of attention off adult and finally the blame will be shared; actually the way it looks to me the blame meter really goes to mainstream right now. I am trying to follow the money trail with the cj/zango stuff if anyone can help email me... shellee@pornafia.com

Shellee

[gonzo]

Originally Posted by Shelleehale

Right now it looks like some of these mainstream scammers will be taking a lot of attention off adult and finally the blame will be shared; actually the way it looks to me the blame meter really goes to mainstream right now. I am trying to follow the money trail with the cj/zango stuff if anyone can help email me... shellee@pornafia.com

Shellee

Shellee

Raw Alex is pretty good at sumarizing all of this. Hes been on it for a while. Ill point him to this thread.

[Hell Puppy]

Originally Posted by Shelleehale

Right now it looks like some of these mainstream scammers will be taking a lot of attention off adult and finally the blame will be shared; actually the way it looks to me the blame meter really goes to mainstream right now. I am trying to follow the money trail with the cj/zango stuff if anyone can help email me... shellee@pornafia.com

Shellee

Oh rest assured there is everything from guys who'll take a rather unethical shortcut to outright thieves in both courts.

There are a couple of differences though. The mainstream guys dont tend to be quite as shameless or prolific. Most mainstream ventures are created with an exit strategy in mind from day one. That exit plan is typically buy out or IPO. For both of those you have to be able to withstand a lot of scrutiny at disclosure time.

Whereas in adult, it's very very tough to exit. Early on we saw a lot of business people come to adult simply because that was the easiest place to monetize internet action. The playing field has levelled quite a bit though, the easy money is gone. There are still business people here, but they're the minority.

Instead, if you look at the sheer number of participants you'll find a ton of college age kids who are quite content to work for beer money in their spare time. And if they ever make enough money to buy a BMW, they consider themselves a success.

Another group you find are those who for whatever reason do not fit in the typical 9-5 corporate world. It could be they just aren't responsible enough to show up for work every day. They could be rebellious. They may not be able to pass a piss test, but for some reason they cant simply go get a corporate job.

Inside both of these groups you find people who are willing to take some chances and may be predisposed to ignore the law and ethics and do what's easiest.

The really dangerous ones to the business though are those who are calculating. They know right from wrong, they are very smart, but they come in the door with a business plan of get as much as you can any way you can and get out. The FTC is ineffective against these type operations and it goes all the way back to Crescent and Xpics. What's a $30 million dollar fine and payback if you made $150 million over the same period? As I said in another thread, it's cost of doing business.

[Greg B]

Originally Posted by gonzo

If we dont regulate ourselves the government will do it for us.

You can say that again! Don't be surprised if they aren't already by proxy.