IFFOR's Joan Irvine Featured in Irish Times

DUBLIN — IFFOR (the International Foundation For Online Responsibility) executive director Joan Irvine is the featured story in the mainstream Irish Times today.

In addition to describing her as outgoing, charming and an immaculately dressed business professional, the paper called the former ASACP (Adult Sites Advocating Child Protection) CEO “the acceptable face of the porn industry.”

Seated squarely in the center of the ICM Registry’s up-and-running but still controversial .XXX efforts, Irvine was in Ireland this week to work on a series of IFFOR policies.

The Times said, “Politicking around the domain indicates that some clearly feel skeptical of the adult industry’s commitment to self-regulation, monitoring and child protection. However Irvine — a recognized advocate for child protection who worked to develop labeling technologies for adult websites, and who has received a commendation award from the U.S. Congress — says any serious adult business wants to focus on adult customers and keep children well away."

Explaining how the new ICANN approved .XXX TLD works and that IFFOR was created to administer policy to help smooth over concerns from high costs for domains and the worry over “legitimization” of adult by anti-porn groups, to verifying real adult companies who apply, the article gave Irvine a spotlight to express her views.

“There are benefits to adult entertainment companies to buy a .XXX and there will be returns on investment,” Irvine said. “Along with having McAfee protecting the site and having child protections built into the domain, ICM Registry will be developing a .XXX portal to help people find sites.

“A lot of it is so people can feel more comfortable. A lot of people were getting scared to go to adult sites, afraid there’d be child pornography and viruses.”

Irvine told the Times that the industry is frustrated over how the public associates adult entertainment with child porn and noted that studies show about 90 percent of the material originates from sources such as organized crime. “Everyone assumes it’s the [adult] industry, but it’s not. The industry has every reason to want to self-regulate, support child protection and reinforce its distance from illegal activity,” Irvine said.

Stressing that using .XXX  “is going to be an option, not mandatory” for adult sites. Irvine noted that the ICM Registry would take action if an individual country decided to make using the domain mandatory.

Recalling her entrée into the adult industry, Irvine said she found the ASACP role on online recruitment site Monster.com and had no qualms when asked if she was concerned about making the move.

“No. I thought about it, yes, but then I decided, I don’t care, it’s a child protection role and I also saw that all the skill sets I had were a good fit. When I came on board in 2002, it was very grassroots and volunteer-based. We were able to build out a very vibrant child-protection agency and develop policies. People did ask ‘how could you be going into this industry?’ Well, it is an industry, and I really like working for associations,” Irvine said.

Commenting on her new IFFOR role, Irvine said she feels she’s a good choice and excited about the opportunities IFFOR presents that include research grants, tools for web users, educational programs for parents, children’s charities and “advocacy efforts and lobbying in different regions.”

“Stuart [Lawley, ICM founder and CEO] felt it was very important that someone who was involved in the industry was brought in.”

Irvine said she has seen the online adult entertainment industry “grow up and go from a wild west to needing to have structure,” including accountants, legal advice and technical and business experts, noting that the dotcom crash a decade ago sent many unemployed tech types into adult.

“What a dotcom needs, the adult industry needs. Also, it is a maturing industry. People who had built up companies are now wanting to cash out. There are a lot of mergers and acquisitions. It is also facing a lot of the same problems as all media organizations: piracy and lots of free content.”

Irvine also told the Times that she is interested in how .XXX will challenge the “U.S.-centric” nature of the industry. “Now, they’re talking to the European industry. You find people are doing business partnerships, affiliate programs, site translation — all those issues other industries have had. Plus you have all the different regional laws.”

Her new challenge is to provide self-regulation in a usable format for everybody and to help mold an organization and industry, Irvine noted.

Related:  

Copyright © 2024 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Justices Alito, Thomas Invoke Victorian-Era Morality Law, Raising Censorship Concerns

Several national publications reported this week on widespread concern among Free Speech advocates after U.S. Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas repeatedly invoked during a hearing the infamous segregation-era law the Comstock Act, which was the cornerstone of U.S. censorship of sexual material from the 1870s until the 1970s.

Skinfluential Management's FansFuel Acquires Fanwire

FansFuel has acquired creator account management tool Fanwire.

Nebraska AV Bill Moves Forward Despite Privacy, Free Speech Concerns

Nebraska’s unicameral Legislature has given first-round approval to LB 1092, the state’s version of the age verification bills being sponsored around the country by anti-porn religious conservative activists.

AEBN Celebrates 25th Anniversary

The Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network (AEBN) is celebrating its 25th year in business this week.

Performers in Meta Blacklisting Lawsuit Seek to Preserve Antitrust Claims

Adult Performance Artists Guild board officers Alana Evans, Kelly Pierce and Ruby have informed a California court that, although they want to drop their lawsuit claiming that Meta conspired with OnlyFans to blacklist rival premium fan platforms’ talent, they may still pursue antitrust claims in the future.

FSC, Co-Plaintiffs to Ask US Supreme Court to Review Constitutionality of Texas Age Verification Law

Free Speech Coalition (FSC) and its co-plaintiffs in the challenge to Texas’ controversial age verification law have petitioned the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to stay its recent decision upholding the law, because they intend to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to review the law’s constitutionality.

FSC Vows to Fight Florida Age Verification Law

Free Speech Coalition (FSC) has issued a statement vowing to continue fighting Florida’s new age verification law, which was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday as part of a comprehensive bill targeting minors’ use of social media.

Kansas Republican Aims to Create New Bureaucracy to 'Investigate' Porn Websites

Republican state legislators succeeded Monday in moving forward Kansas’ version of the age verification bills being sponsored around the country by anti-porn religious conservative activists, despite serious concerns raised by House Democrats about the cost of establishing a new bureaucracy tasked with investigating websites for pornographic content.

SK Intertainment Launches 'Skinfluential Management' Agency, FansFuel Joint Venture

Mr. Skin/Mr. Man parent company SK Intertainment has launched new creator agency Skinfluential Management, as well as a new joint venture with Showbizz Media's creator stats and affiliate marketing platform, FansFuel.

Industry Attorney, Free Speech Champion Clyde DeWitt Passes Away at 75

Noted industry attorney Clyde DeWitt passed away on Friday in Las Vegas at 75, according to friends and colleagues.

Show More