“Protecting Children; Protecting Yourself,” a class led by the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection Executive Director Joan Irvine, helped attendees understand the organization’s new Restricted to Adult website label, how to use it, and why it’s important that the industry adopt it. Chief among the reasons for adoption are that no legitimate adult website operator wants children to access his or her content, and the label makes it clear to all surfers exactly what kind of website a labeled site is. In addition, Congress continues to make noise about regulating the industry if the industry fails to regulate itself.
“Nobody [in the public eye] gets in trouble for kicking the adult entertainment industry,” said Rick Louis, manager of communications and governmental affairs for ASACP. “Even if the adult industry found the perfect technological solution, half the [remaining] battle would just be making anyone notice.”
Although ASACP has been successful in turning the tide at least a little bit from publicly bashing the adult industry to networking between government and the industry, “none of the labeling strategies can work unless parents step in and control what their children do online,” Irvine admitted, adding that congressional representatives are beginning to realize that.
Still, “the more comfortable a parent feels at home, the less likely they are to contact their representatives,” said Justin Mattina, executive director of Website Rating and Advisory Committee (WRAAC).
Irvine also noted that although many adult websites already use the labeling scheme developed by the Internet Content Rating Association—which is recognized by Web browsers and “child-safe” filtering software—only about 4 percent of adult websites are labeled. ASACP hopes to make its label more widely adopted because it’s easier to use than ICRA’s, it’s free, and it was developed by adult industry insiders.
According to First Amendment attorney Lawrence Walters, as important as protecting children from adult content is, the primary benefit of the RTA label is that it gives the adult industry a way to defuse one of the biggest criticisms labeled against it: “It indicates the negative things the industry’s enemies say [about targeting children, etc.] aren’t true. This is a critical issue,” Walters warned. “We only have a few more months to show that this has been accepted as an industry standard.”
Added Irvine, “The government will be tossing new rules against the wall until one sticks.”
Secure Path Technology Executive Vice President for Business Development Chad Knowles and Chief Technology Officer Dave Benson also participated in the workshop. Secure Path recently licensed the RTA label for use with the International Standard Audiovisual Number system in the U.S.
