A former co-worker was telling me about a porn streaming company she worked for in Spain. They stole content from other sites, the other sites stole from them and their competitors. No one wanted to go to courts because no one had clean hands so they started breaking into each other's buildings (self hosting on-site was the norm at the time) and smashing up servers. Eventually they all hired security made up of less than reputable guards who probably were the same guys who had been breaking in to beat up servers. She left around that time to work for more mainstream employers but it does point to the shady beginnings of many of these companies.