Adult entertainment websites (often referred to as porn) account for 12% of the total number of web pages on the Internet, and huge numbers of users, around 40 million Americans, view pages with adult content regularly. Despite how common it is to surf porn, the perception among many web users is that adult websites tend to be more dangerous than other types of websites, especially when it comes to security issues such as malware, script based attacks and trust issues such as "shady" marketing tactics. However, at least one adult industry leader is addressing their reputation challenges from the inside - out.

A 'Perfect Storm' hits the adult industry

In a recent keynote speech at Cybernet Expo, an adult industry conference, well-known soft core adult content producer, Steve Lightspeed, spoke about the current state of online adult entertainment and described a "Perfect Storm" of variables affecting the industry as a whole. Long considered a maverick among adult entertainment insiders, Mr. Lightspeed candidly points out the "industry's history of poor business practices and short-term thinking" as one of the main reasons consumers have lost trust and retreated to other forms of entertainment options on the web.

"Shady billing practices, poor quality sites, and lousy customer service have turned many of our own consumers against us," Lightspeed said to an attentive audience of web masters and content producers. "Customers who once trusted us have been ripped off again and again until they absolutely will not be coming back." The plan he laid out is for adult site owners to reclaim their customers by being honest and ethical.

"We need to win our customers back with better products and sites, better customer service, better value, and a better overall surfer experience, " he advocated. Primary in the plan was to "act like a business" and drive the worst offending companies out of business. "Honesty and integrity will ALWAYS win in the long run."

Read Steve Lightspeed's keynote address

Are adult sites really dangerous?

Popular free anti-virus software maker Avast, recently released a study that attempted to answer the question surrounding the "dangerous" reputations of adult sites. In their study they found 99 infected mainstream web pages for every one infected adult web page, making the safety ratio 99:1.

"We are not recommending people to start searching for erotic content but the statistics are clear - for every infected adult domain we identify there are 99 others with perfectly legitimate content that are also infected," commented Avast CTO Ondrej Vlcek.

WOT is your guide through the web's red light district

WOT helps users navigate through all areas of the web, including the red light district. Our millions of community members have rated nearly 29 million websites, helping web surfers, including those who frequent adult sites, to know which ones are considered trustworthy and have reliable business practices that look after your privacy.

Please help us continue to boost trust on the web by adding your ratings and testimonials for the sites you visit. Also, let us know your perception of the trustworthiness of adult entertainment sites by voting in the WOT poll and contributing to the discussion.