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I thought it was common knowledge that porn drove innovation in tech. :-) I had a hard time finding info on the web about Richard Morgan, but the NY Times is probably a decent citation.

  Mr. Gordon, 62, played a significant role in the birth of electronic commerce. 
  While Amazon.com and eBay were still fledgling enterprises, the companies 
  that Mr. Gordon founded in the early 1990s were already laying the groundwork 
  for electronic transactions conducted with credit cards —
  a development that opened the doors to the first generation of e-commerce start-ups.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/technology/18gordo.html

Also, credit card processing was used to verify age:

  In 2001 ... these companies ... were imperative for the industry’s existence: 
  Adult Check, CyberAge, CCBill and Internet Billing Co.

  [E]ndorsed for age verification by ... in the Communications 
  Decency Act 1996, the credit card [was] like a magic wand. 
  [B]y requiring one, porn industries could immediately side step 
  anyone accusing them of displaying porn to minors.
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/10/07/cybersex-ascii-pinu...


First, thanks for your decent reply.

> I thought it was common knowledge that porn drove innovation in tech.

Well, it's a common myth that some people love to repeat. And apparently some people here are very touchy about their favourite myths being challenged.

Your first link appears to be an account of a credit card processor who, in the late 1990s ("early 1990s" in your quote is misleading), did processing for porn sites. The second link is about adult-specific credit card processors from 2001.

All that shows is that, as with every other claim of "innovation" I've ever seen, porn companies started to do what regular businesses were already doing.

Possible areas where porn may have "innovated", however, are the likes of credit card banging and malware/dialers.




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