Everybody knows that the internet is for porn. And best of all, it is absolutely brimming with free porn. No credit cards, no payments, just click on a video and watch what you want. Every type of adult content seems to be easily available on a variety of “tube style” porn sites that have gigabytes of movies available.

In fact, there’s so much free porn out there that many people believe that paying for porn is unnecessary or a waste of money. Why get out your wallet when it’s all there on the tube sites?

The problem is, not all free porn is equal. There’s a lot of porn that’s been pirated, uploaded illegally or shared without permission on torrent sites or tubes. The owners of that porn have not been compensated for their costs or time in making that porn; people watch it without contributing to its creator or the performers in any way.

On the other hand there is free porn that is freely given away by the people who made that porn. Adult content creators have always given away samples, trailers, free photos or even whole scenes as a way of promoting their work and encouraging their audience to buy. This was actually the original business model of porn on the internet and it’s a model you’ll find in many other industries – think wine tasting, supermarket samples, free gifts in magazines. Unfortunately, on the internet this business model snowballed into everybody thinking that porn should be free all the time.

There’s a huge difference between porn that is pirated and “fair trade free porn” – content that the owners have willingly given away. Fair trade free porn is about filmmakers and performers asking people to try their product – and then trusting their audience to support them if they like what they see. It’s a matter of give and take between a creator and their audience and it’s based on the understanding that the audience knows the deal. They know the free product cost money to produce and the person giving it away is making a loss now in the hope of a future profit.

So how can you tell what’s fair trade free porn and what’s not? Here’s some handy pointers.

• Adult websites often feature free porn on their tour pages. These are teaser videos and photos designed to encourage you to join the site or purchase the digital VOD file.
• Fair trade porn often appears in freebie galleries or pages created by porn websites. They will often only be teaser videos, not the full thing, though the videos can be quite long. The pages are supported by advertising for that site. These pages are often used for affiliate marketing.
• Some adult sites offer free videos in exchange for you signing up to their email newsletters. In this case you are exchanging free porn for your information.
• Directors and performers often upload free content onto video sites like Vimeo and Youtube as a way of advertising their films. Typically these videos will be part of an authorized account or channel.
• If you’re on a porn tube site and the porn you’re watching has logos and a watermark and is supported by advertising for the creator of the film on that page, or a link to their site, it may be OK; the tube site is engaging in affiliate advertising.
• If you’re on a porn tube site and the video is part of a creator’s channel, it’s probably authorized (although be aware, the channel may be fake).
• Some porn creators are willing to give away older scenes for free in the hope of encouraging support for the new films they are making. Patreon is one method of doing this. Crowdfunding sites also may offer freebies.
• Some porn creators have made whole porn scenes free available for free as a way of getting PR, either through social media or the press. Some have even specifically created a scene or photo set for free as a way of raising money for charity. Typically, these scenes will have a logo, watermark and some information and context surrounding it.

In all of these cases, it’s the creator who makes the decision to give away the porn and they do it in controlled ways. Giving away porn for free doesn’t authorize the audience to then do whatever they want with it.

And what kind of free porn doesn’t help the creators? Here’s some warning signs:

• The watermark has been blurred and film company logos are missing from the start or end.
• The video is presented without any information as to its source. There’s no credit, no links, no ads.
• If you see an entire scene on a tube site without any mention of its source, it’s probably pirated. Similarly, snippets of scenes with no source are dodgy.
• Porn films or scenes found on torrent sites are usually not authorized copies and the creators receive no money from these.
• If you see a video that has a logo or watermark but the page its on is advertising another site, you can bet the owners of that video didn’t authorize sharing it.

Why should you care whether your free porn is “fair trade”? It comes down to the future of porn production. Right now, free porn is slowly killing the adult business, mainly because so many people are unwilling to pay for it. If there is less money available to produce new porn, it’s not going to get made (or what does get made is cheap and derivative).

If you’re interested in seeing good quality, sex positive porn (especially porn made by female directors), it helps to support it with your money. When a good film makes its money back, it means the creators can then look to the future and make more porn. Profitable porn encourages creativity, diversity and ethical production values. If you care about how your porn is made and whether the performers were treated well, remember that getting paid properly is a damned good start.

Some useful further reading about the costs of porn.

The willingness to pay for porn by Creatrix Tiara. “There is some pornography that is available for free, just like there is some of everything available for free. But unlike air, Facebook accounts, or (in most ideal cases) water, porn isn’t free by default. Porn costs money to produce.”

Here’s six reasons why you should pay for porn by Ms. Naughty