As originally reported by XBiz, ASACP in conjunction with adult industry leaders has developed "Best Practices" for various segments of the industry, including Search Engines/Directories, Billing companies and Affiliate programs. These Best Practices outline steps that site owners can take to make a difference in the battle against child pornography, and further refine the business ideals set out in ASACP's Code of Ethics; a self-regulatory vehicle for members that promotes the protection of children through responsible, professional business practices.
Now, through working with TGP leaders such as Scott Hjorleifson of Sleazy Dream, and Mark Hurson from Gallery Traffic Services - two of the organization's newest sponsors - ASACP has released its Best Practices for the TGP segment; a series of good-sense guidelines aimed at legally and ethically operating a free adult web site which features links to sexually explicit materials including photos and videos, commonly known in the industry as a Thumbnail Gallery Post (TGP).
ASACP's Best Practices for TGPs outline steps that site owners can take to prevent child pornographers from posting illegal materials on their web sites, by recommending that sites:
- Comply with ASACP's Code of Ethics.
- On Index (warning) page: include all disclaimers, age verification, etc., and exclude explicit images to prevent children from unknowingly viewing adult material.
- Know your link partners
- No automatic submissions
- All submissions and galleries verified by human
- Visually review all pay sites promoted through free hosted galleries
- Do not link to galleries with content that is or appears to be under 18
The guidelines are pretty basic: know where your traffic is coming from, what they're seeing when they're at your site, and where they're going when they leave. By ensuring that a real person actually visits each gallery that you post, you can eliminate many problems including galleries displaying objectionable material and those using inappropriate marketing tactics.
While many site owners may scrutinize submitted galleries, it's easy to be complacent with the material you receive from sponsors, such as the increasingly popular free hosted gallery (FHG). Do not assume that simply because 'a sponsor' gave you the gallery that its content is legal, and acceptable. And visit any site you intend to promote to see if it offers objectionable material.
The term 'objectionable' that I'm using is intended to go beyond what is 'legal' and into what is 'right' - as many images of models marketed as 'teens' feature models who might be of legal age, but either appear, or are depicted as being, "underage" - and these might be against a site owner's better interests to display.
The legal aspects of business relationships are well beyond the scope of this article, but in an exchange where you receive 'value' (perhaps in the form of a payout check from a sponsor, or a reciprocal link from a gallery, etc.), you also often incur a degree of liability for that relationship, and everything that all parties in it do...
This is also a potential concern when buying (or selling) traffic. Gallery Traffic Service sells traffic and advertising on some of the largest TGP/MGP websites in the world, and as such needs to focus on the sources and destinations of that traffic. According to GTS' Mark Hurson, "At Gallery Traffic Service we take pride in offering impeccable customer service and operating at the highest level of legal and moral standards. We are thrilled to join the cause against Child Pornography by supporting ASACP."
If you are one of the more than 5700 sites that take a stand against child pornography by displaying the ASACP logo, but are not a Sponsor, Approved Member or recently signed up Supporter, please visit the ASACP site (www.asacp.org, and see what you can do to help.
As Scott from SleazyDream.com said "ASACP is an organization that I believe any responsible Adult Company should get behind. To put it simply, they do good. ASACP stands for something we all should believe in - stopping child pornography. Think about it - even if they stop just ONE pedophile and save JUST ONE child from being molested, isn't that worth supporting!"
