Since 1996 ASACP's mission has been to make a difference in the battle against child pornography on the Internet. Its hotline receives over 5,000 reports of suspected child pornography per month and sends over 250 validated child porn sites (Red Flag Reports) to the FBI, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and state Attorney General's offices.
The newly renamed Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) now seems poised to enjoy a new level of mainstream and governmental acceptability and cooperation, which can only result in more good being done on the behalf of at-risk children.
ASACP Executive Director Joan Irvine will be speaking at the upcoming Free Speech Coalition general meeting on March 17th, and participating in FSC Lobbying Day in April. I asked her about the recent changes at ASACP and the organization's goals. "In the last three years, ASACP devoted its resources to building the necessary infrastructure to position it for growth in the number of reports received through its CP hotline in addition to developing new reporting and monitoring systems, membership programs and best practices. With these in place, the goals for 2005 are: (1) increased industry and mainstream visibility, and (2) augmented relationships with government agencies and mainstream associations," said Irvine.
Technology and Resources
One thing that an organization facing a challenge as big as "protecting children" is always concerned with is allocation of resources; and trying to do the most good with what it has to work with. Technology helps reduce the labor overhead involved in ASACP's mission, but it's not an end-all solution to the organization's needs.
In response to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' decision to actively pursue the adult entertainment industry by seeking out and prosecuting obscenity cases, Irvine asked "Why is he wasting limited government resources on trying to prove legal adult entertainment is obscenity when there is so much work to be done on combating child pornography?"
This illustrates the clear priorities that Irvine espouses, as she attempts to maximize her available resources by promoting the use of technological solutions to the problem of illegal child pornography. According to Irvine, "ASACP has dramatically improved its forensic investigation capabilities due to the efforts of Brandon Shalton, Cydata Services; however, it is important that ASACP keeps current about new technology and the various methods criminals use to distribute this horrific content."
"As has been the case for years, the adult entertainment industry has been on the cutting edge of technology; ASACP is not different. It looks forward to informing government agencies and other associations about the industry's proactive approach to self-regulation and stance in the fight against child pornography," said Irvine.
If you would like to support ASACP's mission to eradicate illegal child pornography and protect the children, then visit the website at www.asacp.org to learn how you can help.
