LOS ANGELES - The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection will hold a news conference at 9:30 a.m. EDT on Thursday, May 29, in the National Press Club's Peter Zenger Room.
The event is part of the group's observation of Internet Safety Month, CEO Joan Irvine told AVN Online.
"Internet Safety Month calls on Internet safety organizations, law enforcement, educators, community leaders, parents and volunteers to increase their efforts to raise the level of awareness for the need for online safety in the United States," she said. "It provides an opportunity for everyone to re-examine and discuss issues such as cyberstalking, cyberbullying, child pornography, Internet fraud and identity theft."
The Website Rating and Advisory Council, a nonprofit organization, is co-sponsoring the news conference, which is set to highlight the adult industry's efforts to protect children from age-inappropriate Internet content. The council operates ParentalControlBar.com, which provides free software that helps parents control what their children access on the Internet.
"The WRAAC developed the Parental Control Bar, which is the most frequently downloaded software on CNET.com," Irvine said. "For filtering software to work properly, sites need to be labeled for adult content."
The ASACP developed the "Restricted to Adults" label for websites with adult content in 2006. It now has more than 4 million page link-ins, and pages bearing the label receive 50 million hits a day.
Irvine said the Website Rating and Advisory Council "has always been very supportive."
Irvine will join adult star Stormy Daniels to discuss how the "Restricted to Adults" website label and the recent series of public service announcements are helping raise awareness of the importance of parental filtering software. Joy King, VP of Special Projects for Wicked Pictures, will also be on hand at the press conference to field questions during the question and answer period.
"The media is more apt to pick up a story if it contains something sexy, and Stormy is definitely that," Irvine said. "In addition, she is a smart, astute businessperson who has risen through the ranks in the industry. This means that webmasters will listen to what she has to say."
The public service announcements starring Daniels and a video featuring highlights from the 2007 press conference featuring Daniels have been collectively viewed more than 200,000 times on YouTube.
For more information, visit ASACP.org.
