LOS ANGELES – The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection is kicking off National Internet Safety Month in June by announcing the launch of RTA Verified.
In 2006, ASACP launched the Restricted To Adults - RTA Website Label and RTA Verified is the next step.
"The original RTA is free and relies on the webmaster to properly label with RTA. RTA Verified has a process in place for making sure that RTA is being properly used, so you know for sure you have properly labeled and that with parental filtering software in place that children cannot see your site," ASACP CEO Joan Irvine told AVN.com.
RTA Verified costs $10 annually to verify 1 to 10 domains, and $1 for each additional domain, or $100 annually for unlimited domains.
"The reason we developed RTA Verified was because many webmasters asked us to make sure they were properly labeling with RTA," Irvine explained. "This was very labor-intensive. So in order to provide this service we need to develop software and add another service. RTA Verified is free to ASACP Sponsors and Members, but we needed to charge non-ASACP members."
The RTA label is a unique string of "meta data" that can be inserted into the computer code of any website. Parental filtering software recognizes the tag and prevents children from viewing adult content.
RTA is the adult entertainment industry's initiative to protect children from viewing content that is age-inappropriate. It was developed by ASACP out of a need for an easy-to-use and internationally recognized label that designates content for adults only.
RTA Verified confirms that websites have been properly labeled with RTA and adds an extra level of precaution, removes the guesswork, and demonstrates social responsibility.
ASACP states RTA Verified is simple, effective and inexpensive; plus it lets site owners and visitors know that websites are properly labeled with the Restricted to Adults website labeling system. Several sites have subscribed to RTA Verified and ASACP has been beta-testing the service. Wednesday marks the official launch.
"No one wants a mandatory, complicated, and potentially expensive website labeling system. This is why ASACP worked with the adult industry to create the Restricted To Adults - RTA Website Label," Irvine said.
"While RTA has become the industry standard for self-regulation, many webmasters have asked us how they know they are using RTA to their maximum benefit," she added. "ASACP has answered this call with RTA Verified, now webmasters can rest assured they are properly labeled with RTA and are doing the most they can to protect children online from age-inappropriate content."
Complete information about the RTA label and RTA Verified is available at RTAlabel.org.
The U.S. Senate has designated June as National Internet Safety Month, recognizing the need for measures that organizations, Web designers and families can take to protect children online.
