Page 72 - AVN October 2016

resources on criminal content.
It is this governmental outreach, both in the U.S. and abroad, that has perhaps
provided the most benefit to ASACP’s supporters. Such as when Congress
demanded that the industry “do something” about children’s easy access to age-
inappropriate material online, we responded by developing the RTA meta label,
which now sees more than 20 billion monthly hits made to RTA-labeled web
pages—including from the 20 percent of adult websites that generate nearly 80
percent of all adult traffic on the internet.
ASACP builds bridges between adult businesses and government regulators.
ASACP was vocal in its congressional protest of HR 4472, the “Children’s
Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act,” which would have strengthened the
already onerous 18 USC Sec. 2257 federal record-keeping requirement, and we
also endeavored to influence the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science
& Transportation, when it held a hearing entitled “Protecting Children on the
Internet.” ASACP also works with NGOs such as the Family Online Safety
Institute (FOSI), Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA), and more.
Because the internet has a global reach, ASACP works with legislators and
stakeholders around the world, such as with ATVOD to add reason to the
discussions over the future of the U.K.’s digital media marketplace, covering
topics such as mandatory age verification and ISP-level Internet filtering, with
ASACP’s Director of European Outreach, Vince Charlton, participating in the
inaugural meeting of the U.K.’s Digital Policy Alliance.
By promoting common-sense, fact-based regulation, while fighting
misconceptions about the adult entertainment industry, ASACP has prevented
stricter rules governing online content creation and website publishing.
On a personal note, for more than 20 years it has been both an honor and a
privilege for me to serve the industry and to further child protection efforts on its
behalf, and I wish to offer my heartfelt gratitude to every individual and company
that continues to support our vital organization.
Currently, ASACP is working on several key projects that will help move
the organization and industry child protection advocacy forward, but I cannot
emphasize this enough: much more can and needs to be done with greater
industry support. The work that ASACP does and the data we collect is invaluable
in the fight against online child exploitation on behalf of the digital adult
entertainment industry, so please help ensure that ASACP continues to be there
for you, parents, educators, policy makers and of course our children. We simply
cannot continue to do what we do without your generous help and support—and
if we all do our part, then ASACP will be around for everyone who benefits from
our efforts for another 20 years of distinguished success.
Tim Henning is the executive director of ASACP. To learn how your company can help protect
itself by protecting children, visit ASACP.org or email tim@asacp.org.
FEATURE
Beyond Borders
Though this issue of AVN focuses on the assault on the adult industry in the
good old US of A, warriors against sexual freedom are on the march around the
world. Clearly their numbers are legion in countries where there is repression of
women and the LGBT community, but even a country like the United Kingdom
is not immune.
Jerry Barnett, who hosts a blog at SexAndCensorship.org, has detailed the rise
of repression in the British Isles in his new book, Porn Panic! Sex and Censorship in
the UK.
Barnett created the Sex and Censorship blog in 2013 as a response to his fears
over growing attacks on free speech and sexual freedom in the U.K.
Porn Panic! expands on what he terms a “dangerous political climate,” where
attacks on pornography and strip clubs have “given way to broader assaults on
sexual imagery.”
Zero Books picked up the title last year and now the book is ready for sale
internationally. To receive a free copy, donate to his group’s anti-censorship
campaign. For details, visit SexAndCensorship.org.
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