The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection has licensed its new RTA (restricted to adults) label to Secure Path Technology, a metadata services company, for use by companies that may register audiovisual works with the International Standard Audiovisual Number International Agency.
Companies that register AV works with ISAN receive a unique, internationally recognized, and permanent reference number for each AV work they submit. As the result of ASACP’s partnership with Secure Path, which services the entire film and television market as the North American ISAN registration agency, companies now will have the option of including the RTA label as a rating on their AV works.
While the RTA label primarily was created for use within the adult entertainment business, ASACP spokesman Rick Louis told AVNOnline.com, “We’ve always known that it could be used by anyone who had a website and didn’t want kids to access it. Obviously, there are various types of content that may or may not be suitable to kids, not just adult entertainment.”
Louis went on to say the allegiance with Secure Path came about through months of keeping in touch with the company. “We had been chatting with the guys at Secure Path in a more general way for a while as we were developing the RTA label,” Louis said. “We knew about their involvement with ISAN, and we knew that it would involve the meta-tagging of AV works that would be used online—and that one of the possible ways to tag those works was with ratings. And, [Secure Path] made it clear that they were interested in getting us involved with it.
“It took very little effort on our part,” Louis continued. “It was just a matter of working out the details with them and making sure it fit into their format.”
Although Secure Path’s executive vice president, Chad Knowles, was unavailable for comment at press time, he had submitted a statement via a press release. “Secure Path is committed to providing enhanced metadata services to its customers,” he said. “Having a rating system tied to content identification that helps protect children makes sense.”
For Louis, the alliance with Secure Path points to a new trend in how adult companies are “fitting into the larger picture of the Internet. I think it shows that [ASACP’s] efforts to keep the Web safe for kids are getting the attention of more people than just the adult entertainment industry. And, I think it shows that people outside the adult entertainment industry are happy to work with [us] when they see responsible business practices and conscientious practices such as site labeling and ASACP membership. I think they see an industry that is just one part of the larger entertainment industry.”
As the ASACP’s executive director, Joan Irvine, maintained in the press release, “The ISAN system is already recognized by Windows Vista, and we expect it to be adopted elsewhere, as well. That means the RTA label now has the potential to be incorporated into parental controls across a variety of platforms.”
Louis said that could mean the RTA label could end up being used by mainstream film producers and other content producers who work outside of the adult industry. “The RTA label would be available to anyone who wanted to classify their AV works as being for adults only,” he explained.
Adding that the ASACP and Secure Path will be working together again as part of the ASACP-moderated “classroom session” on website labeling at Internext Las Vegas, Louis said, “We’re very happy to be in business with the folks at Secure Path. We think they’re very practical people who recognize the value of what we’re doing.”
Louis also said the ASACP would be happy to work with other companies, as well. “We are constantly in touch with folks working in online technology [and] online commerce—on various topics—and we try to keep track of and in touch with anyone who has an interest in child protection online,” he noted. “In this particular case, there is a child-protection element to what’s going on with ISAN and their registering of AV works. And, if there’s going to be that element, we’re happy to help out in this way with it.”
