Personally, I think the two biggest recent game changers for the adult industry have been the rise of online piracy of content and the 9/11 disaster which derailed the Bush/Ashcroft effort to prosecute adult content creators and providers through obscenity prosecutions.
Also, in my opinion, the resulting "War on Terror" has made the DOJ's 2257 inspections a less than glamours task for assigned agents.
Ashcroft covered the partially nude statue of Lady Justice at the DOJ