ASACP Announces Featured Sponsors of the Month for January 2014

LOS ANGELES—The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) has announced its three Featured Sponsors of the Month for January 2014. According to ASACP Executive Director Tim Henning, the association seeks to recognize the ongoing financial and material support extended by these companies, which enables ASACP to carry on its vital mission of keeping children out of and away from adult entertainment. For its part, ASACP helps these companies help themselves by providing a Code of Ethics as well as market segment-specific Best Practices tailored to a range of individual business models. Additionally, ASACP provides responsible adult website owners with its free, award-winning Restricted To Adults (RTA) labeling code, which helps to prevent minors from accessing age-restricted websites and mobile applications by better enabling existing parental filtering controls. “ASACP’s Sponsor Recognition Program honors the many market-leading companies that have furthered the association’s mission over the years,” Henning states. “As adult industry leaders, these companies show how adult entertainment and child protection work effectively together.” “By demonstrating a proactive commitment to ‘doing the right thing,’ these companies keep children away from age-inappropriate material,” Henning added. “This serves as concrete proof that voluntary actions, rather than mandatory restrictions, provide a workable alternative to the ISP filtering initiatives currently being debated around the world.” For January, ASACP recognizes AWE, MindGeek, ManHunt and AdultWebmasterNet as its Featured Sponsors: Adult Webmaster Empire (AWE) As a Platinum Sponsor, Adult Webmaster Empire (AWE) parent Duodecad ITS has supported ASACP for more than seven years. Duodecad ITS is the owner and operator of Jasmin.com, the world’s most popular live webcam video chat platform, and as such, takes its responsibilities in the fight against child pornography and the protection of minors very seriously. According to Senior Authorized Representative Douglas Richter, this starts with the proactive use of an overlaid warning page alerting visitors that age-restricted content is ahead. “To ensure that the minimum age requirements are met, individuals who register as models on Jasmin.com or its associated sites are subject to a rigorous screening process and we have put in place extensive measures to constantly monitor our live content,” Richter explains. “These are just some examples of the measures we take to protect minors.” “Duodecad is proud to offer professionally and conscientiously managed adult entertainment sites which deliver a high-quality user experience while safeguarding minors from abuse or exposure to adult-oriented content,” Richter added, highlighting the responsible corporate culture of this market-leading cam company. MindGeek (formerly Manwin) A Platinum Sponsor since 2011, MindGeek enjoyed the distinction of being ASACP’s one and only top-level Diamond Sponsor for two years — illustrating the company’s commitment to the cause of online child protection in a concrete way. As one of the largest companies operating in the online space today, MindGeek serves as a great example of how you are never too big, or too small, to support ASACP in its fight to protect the innocence of children online. With its high level of support for ASACP, MindGeek sets itself apart, providing an example for other companies to follow in the ongoing fight to protect their businesses by protecting children. Online Buddies (ManHunt) An ASACP Corporate Sponsor since 2008, ManHunt is the world’s largest gay hookup site, with social networking features designed to bring consenting adults together. As such, it seeks to keep minors away from its website, through a number of efforts. This proactive protection includes a lack of sexually explicit images on the outside of the site and a registration process before a user obtains access, so age-inappropriate material is inaccessible to visitors before completing the registration and age verification regimen. ManHunt must also cope with the issues presented by user-uploaded “profile” pictures, which the company reviews to ensure comply with its policies, including “no children” in any photo — a procedure that requires a commitment of staff resources and which demonstrates how today’s responsible adult entertainment companies put responsibility ahead of profits. AdultWebmasterNet Joining the cause in 2012, AdultWebmasterNet is one of ASACP’s newest Corporate Sponsors. As a traffic services firm that sells and trades adult website traffic, AdultWebmasterNet is in a position to work with many sites — and does so with a distinct sense of corporate responsibility. For example, the company reviews all traffic requests to ensure minimum standards, such as the lack of underage depictions or even any allusion to them. AdultWebmasterNet also publishes its own set of Best Practices, which include encouraging clients to become sponsors of ASACP and to adopt the RTA labeling protocol — actions that spread word about the need to protect children online and in mobile apps. Although AdultWebmasterNet is not based in the U.S., it voluntarily complies with various U.S. federal laws, such as 18 U.S.C. §2257, which mandates performer age verification, illustrating the “above and beyond” mindset of ASACP’s top supporters. “From live interactive webcams to free sites, premium membership sites, gay social networking, traffic services, and beyond, our new honorees usher in a New Year by showing their peers the many ways that companies can support ASACP,” Henning added. “Without this continuing help, ASACP would not enjoy the effectiveness it has shown over the years — making a difference in the lives of children as they live today’s digitally connected lifestyle.” For more on how ASACP can help businesses protect themselves by protecting children, please contact tim@asacp.org.