[nickcarraway]

Exactly

[Carry_Okie]

Because of that positive feedback loop, the porn industry cannot claim it is not an accessory to the consequences of the behavior upon which it financially depends. If the industry paid for full compensation for the externalities of its operations, the public wouldn't have a claim by which to exert police power to control the distribution of its product. Those costs would include full compensation to all victims, counseling, and incarceration costs, etc. Instead, the rest of us pick up that tab. I see that as a failure in the tort system.

As is analogous to the tobacco settlement, because the putting of those costs upon the industry by regulatory means puts the government into the porn business, there is no reason not then for government not to extend its market penetration (sorry), nor do I anticipate the industry eagerly lining up to take full accountability for its role in motivating often criminal behavior. Hence the right of the public to resort to police power and criminalize the sale and distribution of the product until they get their act together.