The new label, Restricted To Adults (RTA), is available on RTAlabel.org.
The RTA label was developed by ASACP with input from adult companies, free speech attorneys and technical consultants.
Among the companies that already have endorsed the RTA label are Channel 1 Releasing, Company Number 4, Crave Media, Cybersocket, Falcon Studios, Hot Movies, Klixxx, Nasty Dollars, Topbucks, WRAAC, XBIZ, XFANZ, the Free Speech Coalition and 1st Amendment attorneys Lawrence G. Walters and Greg Piccionelli.
“The Free Speech Coalition supports the use of ASACP’s voluntary self-label as a strategy to empower consumers,” outgoing FSC Executive Director Michelle Freridge said. “It’s a responsible best practice for the online industry.”
The RTA label was devised as a tool used to head off federal regulation of the adult industry. Last January at a U.S. Senate hearing, attorney Paul Cambria was advised to tell his clients that adult sites should self-label soon, or the government would do it for them.
With a few bills in Congress that would require adult webmasters to place meta tags in the headers of every page on their adult sites, ASACP Executive Director Joan Irvine hopes that united action by the adult industry would stymie new regulations.
“Nobody knows how a government labeling system might work, or how it could affect your business,” Irvine said. “And even if mandatory labeling doesn’t pass this time, they’re sure to keep tossing new rules against the wall until one finally sticks. But we can avoid this by demonstrating that the industry is capable of self-regulation.”
Irvine will meet with the webmaster community this week at the Webmaster Access West show in Universal City, Calif. Irvine will speak on the State of the Industry” panel Nov. 10 at 4 p.m.
