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educational

Porn Surfers Beware

Years of abuse at the hands of unscrupulous webmasters have made today's savvy surfers ever more wary of clicking on, entering into, or joining anything – making profitable business for legitimate operators increasingly harder to come by.

I received a message the other day from my friend Joan Irvine, the Executive Director of Adult Sites Against Child Pornography (ASACP) – the organization helping the online adult industry make a difference in the battle against child pornography, and I'd like to share some of it with you...

Recently, ASACP has been receiving more e-mails regarding the safety of surfing adult entertainment sites. Many adults who have enjoyed legal online adult entertainment for years are becoming increasingly wary of unknowingly stumbling upon possibly illegal images. A few typical concerns expressed in e-mails to ASACP include:

"I have been absolutely disgusted with what appears to be child porn that pops up simply from visiting random adult links. I will never surf for porn on the Internet again. It’s simply become too dangerous."

"While surfing adult sites, I have encountered pop-ups with what appears to be child pornography. With all the strict anti-child porn laws (which I fully support), how can the average citizen protect themselves? "

Many have categorically stated that their days of surfing for adult entertainment online have come to an end for fear of prosecution by authorities for inadvertently viewing and downloading possible child pornography.

"When ASACP receives such e-mails, in addition to investigating their compliant, it refers them to its educational essay, How to Safely Surf for Adult Entertainment and Avoid Child Pornography," said Tim Henning, Compliance Manager and Site Reviewer, ASACP.

To address this concern, many companies have included tighter restrictions in their TOS. For example, from one company: "Any material which involves depictions of nudity or sexuality by an age inappropriate-looking performer (i.e. someone who looks younger than 18 years of age regardless of the person’s actual age), or by a performer who is portrayed or made to appear to be a person under the age of 18 years of age by virtue of the script, make-up, demeanor, costuming, setting, etc."

"This is an issue that every adult webmaster should be very concerned about. These perceptions are growing and it could threaten the reputation of the adult industry and cause the government to scrutinize the industry even more than it already is. Be careful of how your content ‘appears’ when it is reduced in size and know where your exit traffic is going", said Joan.

More than 5700 sites that take a stand against child pornography proudly display the ASACP logo. ASACP received over 5,100 suspect child pornography reports and reported 250 new suspect sites in August and September to the FBI, NCMEC and European hotlines. If you are interested in learning more about ASACP or helping in the fight against child pornography, please visit www.asacp.org.

Take care of your surfers, and in doing so, your business. And support ASACP: They're looking out for you, and the children! ~ Stephen

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