Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection Executive Director Joan Irvine recently returned from promoting ASACP's mission in Australia.
Irvine made the trip at the invitation of the Eros Association, which represents the adult entertainment industry Down Under much as the Free Speech Coalition represents adult companies in the United States.
"The Eros Association has long been supportive of ASACP," said Irvine. "This trip provided an opportunity for closer collaboration between our two groups, and we hope to continue building on that in the future."
Irvine and Eros Association Chief Executive Officer Fiona Patten met with Australian politicians and government staff, as well as with an advisor to the country's attorney general and the head of the Australian Federal Police High Tech Crime Squad. According to Patten, the meetings were very productive.
"By bringing Joan in, we were able to share first-hand information about ASACP's child-protection work on behalf of the adult industry," she said. "Some people in government may have been surprised, but they all recognized the importance of that work, and that Eros is backing it."
Eros also supports ASACP's Restricted to Adults website-labeling initiative and encourages its online members to use RTA.
While in Australia, Irvine also met with industry leaders at AdultEx, the country's major annual adult trade gathering. There, she delivered a keynote address outlining the scope of ASACP's work to fight child pornography and keep minors off adult sites.
"The Internet crosses international boundaries, so online child protection is very much an international issue," explained Hui Newnham, general manager of Calvista, an Australian wholesale distributor of adult products and the company behind AdultEx. "We were impressed that ASACP already has so many sponsors and members based in Europe and Canada, since the ASACP model of self-regulation by adult companies could be helpful here in Australia, as well. We were pleased that ASACP was able to attend AdultEx, and Joan's keynote address was very well received."
Founded in 1996, the Association of ASACP is a non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating child pornography from the Internet. ASACP also works to help parents prevent children from viewing age-inappropriate material online.
