In this conclusion to our two-part series on Safe Surfing, ASACP Executive Director Joan Irvine presents some tips on avoiding exposure to illegal child pornography, and what you can do about it if you should accidentally discover some while surfing:
Adult Sites Against Child Pornography (ASACP) is the organization helping the adult industry make a difference in the battle against child pornography.
ASACP has received and reviewed over 70,000 reports of suspect child pornography, and reported over 14,500 valid child pornography sites to the FBI and U.S. Customs Bureau. ASACP received over 3000 reports of suspect child pornography this past April, compared to 1200 in April, 2002.
When Alec Helmy of Helmy Enterprises recognized the need for ASACP in 1996, his mission was to help the adult industry combat child pornography.
“I never thought the ASACP mission would need to expand to provide advice on how to safely surf the Internet to the consumers of adult entertainment. However, this has changed with recent news about arrests for viewing child pornography and the announcement that Pete Townshend was placed in the Sex Offenders Register for just doing research for his campaign against child pornography. Not surprisingly, many are now fearful of viewing any adult sites,” according to Helmy.
As a result, many concerned people have written ASACP to ask for guidelines. Typical questions asked of ASACP include:
“What happens if I view child pornography by mistake, will I be arrested?”
“I have been receiving spam emails that talk about child pornography and give websites to go to. Until today, I have always visited the Websites before reporting them. I finally read your FAQ page (http://www.asacp.org/faq.html) and found that I could get into trouble just by visiting these sites. Now I’ll just report whatever emails I receive to you and you can take it from there!”
“My wife and I enjoy adult entertainment and like the access that the Internet gives us. When I think of adult entertainment I think fun. But when I am concerned that we may view child porn by mistake, I get sickened and enraged. How can we avoid this horrific stuff?”
Millions of Americans surf the Internet for adult entertainment. It's their constitutional right to enjoy this, just as it is the adult site’s right to provide this content under our constitutionally protected freedom of speech. However, no one wants to end up in jail for a few minutes of fleeting pleasure in the privacy of their own home or office. Since ASACP would like adults to enjoy their entertainment experience without the fear of viewing child pornography, it has put together these safe surfing tips:
ASACP's "Safe Surfing" Guidelines
1.) Only view or join a professional adult site with a legal disclaimer stating that it is compliant with 18 U.S.C. 2257 or "All models are at least 18 years old at the time of this depiction."
2.) When it comes to child pornography, it's always best to err on the side of caution. Do not view an adult site that contains pictures of nude children or in fact, any children or models that claim to be over 18, but look much younger.
3.) Do not look at sites/spam that contain words that denote children *.
4.) Look for the ASACP Approved Member logo on a site. This states that ASACP consistently monitors this site for child pornography. Check the Member Directory at www.asacp.org.
5.) Report all suspect child pornography to organizations, such as ASACP (www.asacp.org/reportsite.html), U.S. Customs Service via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (www.ncmec.org), the F.B.I., or your local authorities.
6.) Do not search for child pornography to report or as part of a research project. This is illegal and you do not need to see the horrific pictures to know it is there. Once you see an image of a man penetrating a three-year-old baby, it never goes away.
ASACP hopes that these guidelines will add to your viewing pleasure. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email ASACP at comments@asacp.org. Over 3000 adult sites that are taking a stand against child pornography proudly display the ASACP logo.
*Words that denote children (Licensed to ASACP by Sex.Com for the exclusive use in fighting child pornography only) include: Adolescent, Child, Child porn, Child sex, Children, Kiddie, Kiddie porn, Kiddie sex, Lolitas, Minor, Minors, Pedoland, Pedophile, Pedophilia, Pre-teen, Pre-teen porn, Pre-teen sex, Teen13-17, and Underaged.
