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April 26,
2001
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Pornography
on the Internet |
| The Internet and World Wide Web have greatly altered traditional patterns of behavior, especially in business and personal communications. Perhaps nowhere is this as evident as in the profusion of pornographic materials in cyberspace. This tight
embrace of communications technologies and pornography, however, is not new: Every major communications technology since the
1960s has benefited economically from selling pornography. These technologies include Polaroid and video cameras, VCRs,
cable TV, and computers, as well as modernized versions of telephony and print.
These new technologies have democratized the pornography market by greatly reducing barriers to entry and transaction costs. Not
only have new means of production and distribution appeared, but the distinctions among producers, distributors and consumers have
increasingly blurred. Many consumers have become producers and distributors. While most of the pornography market is still
dominated by a professional elite, the rise of this consumer movement threatens to transform the pornography industry.
This democratization of pornography has radically changed its patterns of production, distribution, marketing and consumption.
These changes are part of the larger worldwide changes from the growing globalization, 'commodification' of goods and services, development of niche markets, and the information revolution. |
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Jonathan
Coopersmith |
| Jonathan
Coopersmith is an Associate Professor of History at Texas
A&M University, where he has taught since 1988.
Currently he is writing a history of the fax machine from its
origins in the 1840's to the present.
His first book, The Electrification of Russia, 1880-1926, was
published by Cornell University Press.
He received his D.Phil from Oxford University in 1985 and his
B.A.
from Princeton University in 1978 |
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Meeting
Details |
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Where: |
HESS
Building, 5430 Westheimer at Yorktown |
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Time: |
6:00
- 6:30 PM Social - 6:30 - 7:30 PM Dinner - 7:30 - 8:30 PM
Presentations |
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Cost: |
Dinner
$10.00 for members, $20.00 for non-members and $5.00 for students. |
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