WASHINGTON – At the adult entertainment industry’s equivalent of the Oscars in Las Vegas this month, comedian-host Greg Fitzsimmons zeroed in on the entrenched relationship between the Internet and pornography. “The Internet was completely funded by porn,” he said from the stage of the 23rd annual AVN Awards show. And if it wasn’t for the Internet, he added, “you guys would be completely out of business.” The audience, packed with porn actors and adult entertainment moguls like Jenna Jameson and Larry Flynt, roared with laughter. This week, the Justice Department said it subpoenaed four major Internet companies in an effort to crack down on children’s access to porn. The government asked Mountain View, Calif.-based Google to turn over every query typed into its popular search engine over the course of one week. Google has said it will resist the demand. The standoff has resonated in the online world not only because of its privacy implications, but because it goes to the heart of what has spurred the Internet to such prodigious growth. Online pornography, a $2.5 billion business and growing rapidly, pioneered such now-commonplace practices as streaming video, trading files and making online purchases. By comparison, sales […]