LOS ANGELES — The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) has announced its attendance at the upcoming Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) Forum 2013 scheduled for May 15 at Google’s EMEA Headquarters in Dublin, Ireland.
FOSI this year will explore the “Year of the Digital Citizen: Online Safety, Data Protection and Privacy,” bringing together a wide range of government, industry, law enforcement, and civil society stakeholders in order to discuss these critical issues and to exchange ideas, opinions, strategies and priorities.
The event features presentations by Facebook’s Richard Allan and Google’s Sue Duke, plus a keynote address by U.K. MP Claire Perry, and input from business leaders such as Amazon, Microsoft and others.
Scheduled sessions include expert panels on Safety and Citizenship, Data Protection and Privacy. ASACP’s director of European outreach, Vince Charlton, will attend on behalf of ASACP, providing an opportunity for the association to educate stakeholders about its mission to keep children out of and away from adult entertainment. Charlton said he is convinced that involvement in forums such as FOSI is necessary to put across the voice of the adult industry.
“The adult industry more than ever needs to have its voice heard in official circles,” Charlton explained. “The aim in attending FOSI is for ASACP to increase its networking with other stakeholders, further promoting the concept of the RTA label and the ASACP foundation and to put forward the argument for internal self-regulation as opposed to external governmental controls which could seriously affect the industry moving forward.”
ASACP said FOSI brings together a wide range of stakeholders, from government, industry and law enforcement, so it is vital that the adult industry has a presence there to counter the growing move by EU governments towards an “opt-in” policy, which is rapidly gaining momentum.
“As external pressure mounts on the industry, we need to be inside the corridors of power to have our opinions heard, so putting our heads in the sand and ignoring what is going on outside of the industry is not an option,” Charlton added. “Attending FOSI, putting our views across and subsequently keeping the industry informed on current developments is vital as the adult sector moves forward in meeting these external challenges.”
ASACP noted that it reaches out to the public through its CP Reporting Hotline, collecting and verifying "Red Flag" reports of suspected online child pornography and then forwarding vetted cases to relevant international law enforcement agencies. The association also reaches out to digital media publishers by encouraging adoption of its Code of Ethics, individual Best Practices, and the Restricted To Adults (RTA) website labeling system that helps prevent unauthorized access to age-inappropriate material.
“ASACP bridges the gap between content consumers and publishers when keeping underage viewers from age-inappropriate material,” ASACP executive director Tim Henning said. “We’re pleased to have Vince on hand to represent the association to the European audience, as a way of furthering our outreach while working with other organizations towards a shared set of common goals.”
For more information on ASACP, or to schedule a meeting contact tim@asacp.org.