TEMPE, Ariz. - The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection's Joan Irvine counseled adult webmasters to protect children—and their businesses—during Saturday afternoon's "ASACP Lunch & Learn" workshop at the Phoenix Forum.
"The reality of child porn is that it's dirty money," Irvine told the modest crowd. "A lot of people put their heads in the sand and look the other way, but you'll be protecting your business by protecting the children."
Irvine started the session by referring to Friday's keynote speech from motivational speaker Keith Ferrazzi, saying the "Networking Guru's" message about fostering strong business relationships rooted in personal intimacy was "really good for [the adult] industry. It's important for us to establish community."
Irvine said the best recent example of such strength in community was when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers denied the petition for the controversial dot-xxx Top-Level Domain. "Because of the Free Speech Coalition" and the members who donated money to the organization, she said, "dot-xxx was not approved. That effort has saved everyone $60 [in registration fees] per domain name."
Irvine then explained several of ASACP's recent efforts to protect children from exploitation, including investigations into reports of child pornography gleaned from calls made to the organization's child pornography reporting hot line. That hot line received 7,800 calls in February alone, she said, adding that ASACP verified slightly more than 100 instances of child pornography—most of which occurred in Eastern European countries and were the result of involvement from organized crime.
The ASACP's recently unveiled Restricted to Adults (RTA) label received a good deal of Irvine's attention
Noting the religious right's continued attacks on the adult industry ("It's better press to be attacking the industry," she said)—and the concern that the government may come after affiliate programs that unknowingly may support child pornography via relationships with affiliates—Irvine stressed the importance of investigating new business contacts. "Know who you're doing business with," she said.
Irvine also stressed the importance of working together as a collective group to establish best-industry practices. "As good corporate citizens," she said, "we have a moral obligation to put an end to child pornography."
