The Man Behind Online Porn's 'Steve Lightspeed'

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "'In the online pornography business, just about everybody has heard of Steve Lightspeed,' who runs a network of sites, reports the Wall Street Journal Online. 'But few in the porn world know much about Steve Jones, the 39-year-old married father of two behind the Lightspeed persona -- and that's the way he wants to keep it.' In WSJ.com's profile of Jones, tension between his job and the rest of his life is evident: 'He said he and his wife mostly socialize with others inside the porn business, in part because it avoids the awkwardness of explaining his line of work. "Most of our friends tend to be in the industry," he said. Relationships with family members can also be tricky. Mr. Jones's mother works for Lightspeed Media, handling customer service duties, but he said some relatives don't know about his work and likely wouldn't approve.'"

pr0n... the $14 billion business

[xtal]

..nobody seems to know anything about

Re:Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

I hear slashdot is a great place for a porn king to be noticed.

Yes, quite unlike the Wall Street Journal.

Re:I just love the smell of hypocrisy in the morni

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought the same at first, too. Then I realized, this is no different than what any other parent would say.

We all love the garbage men as well, who come and pick up our trash and thus keep our properties from becoming landfills. Yet, nobody really wants their kid to become a garbage man. ;) I'm sure even most garbage men would prefer their kids go off to college and become doctors/et cetera.

Re:Click here

[DancesWithBlowTorch]

You know, I love how, following your link, Google tells me

Results 1-20 of about 299 for tawnee stone (0.15 seconds)

Then, I see this little blue link at the top. "Moderate Safe Search is on". So I switch it off. Ergo:

Results 1-20 of about 32,500 for tawnee stone (0.06 seconds)

Maybe I should try that trick with my own name once in a while...

Re:WTF?

[Anonymous Coward]

Couldn't agree more with this. It's a sad but unfortunate fact of life. Make something you enjoy into a full-time job, and it no longer becomes enjoyable... it becomes a job.

I am one of those people that tell everyone else to stay away when they start asking questions about the industry if they want to keep your interest in looking at porn strong.

On another note, the adult community as a whole has some of the nicest, most intelligent people I've ever met who will do anything for you and who strongly believe in the same moral issues as the average person. I sometimes forget that when I'm talking to people and relate something back to my job that for the most part, it is frowned upon.

Easiest way I've found to fix that is to find a new friend. After all, there's no time to be talking to ignorant folk who refuse to open their minds farther than the book bindings of their bibles will allow.

Time to earn the "Troll" mod again...

[PenguinBoyDave]

It seems to me that for someone to be concerned about shielding his children, etc. and that people who find out won't let their kds play with his because they don't like his business, and this bothers him, perhaps he should find another line of work.

Re:Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

"A few years ago, Mr. Jones relocated his family after some neighbors learned of his profession, and forbade their children from playing with his. "It was kind of heartbreaking," Mr. Jones said. He added: "My kids have no clue what we do."

I can't belive how hypocritical people can be. What do you want to bet that the same dad that didn't let his children play with Mr. Jone's kids could be found surfing his sites after the kids were in bed?

I am one of those "neocon" republicans that everyone here hates (hence the annymous post), and I feel I maintain high moral standards. I would have no problem living next door to Mr. Jones, letting my kids play with his, inviting them over to BBQ ect. Any Christian that would segregate themselves and their family from their neighbors should study the life of Christ a bit more.

Re:Why?

[freeweed]

Having an successful Internet business doesn't make an interesting in and of itself.

No, but having a successful Internet business in an industry that is used by millions of people daily, perfectly legal, and yet the guy still has to hide what he does IS interesting.

Hence, "YRO".

I think it's a very interesting comment on our society (at least, American society). Even with no government censorship, the societal sanctions we impose on others have a great deal of influence. Parents won't let their kids play with his kids? What do they think Mr. Lightspeed does - porn films displayed 7x24 in his home? I guess they also figure someone who works for a gun manufacturer uses his kids as target practice...

this article hold no news value

[Device666]

I as a nerd am not so interested in the pornbusiness. I can understand the link between the internet and the porn business. But what I don't understand is why this should be stuff that matters and how this is new for nerds. In fact I don't get the news value of this post at all. Being a nerd doesn't mean we wank all day so that these kind of superficial topics would be of any interest.