LOS ANGELES — ASACP is celebrating its 30-year anniversary, during which it has received over 1.3 million reports from web admins and the public about suspected child pornography.
Founded in August 1996 by XBIZ CEO Alec Helmy, the organization originally called Adult Sites Against Child Pornography changed its name in 2005 to the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection while keeping the ASACP acronym.
ASACP collects details such as the site’s IP address, hosting and billing providers, ownership, and links to other sites. It then sends verified “Red Flag” alerts to agencies like the FBI, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and European CSAM hotlines. Over the years, ASACP significantly upgraded its Tipline infrastructure, enabling it to gather more precise data on reports to help monitor the prevalence of CSAM and assess the success of its efforts to fight this serious crime.
The Tipline is supported by ASACP’s sister organization, the ASACP Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charity. This organization also funds the Restricted To Adults (RTA) labeling program, which partners with content filtering software to offer parents, institutions, libraries, and schools protection against age-inappropriate content. Donations to the ASACP Foundation are tax-deductible for U.S. businesses and may also offer tax benefits to international operators.
Alongside its CSAM Reporting Tipline and RTA meta label, ASACP provides digital media companies with market-specific Best Practices, a formalized Code of Ethics, and tools such as a list of banned words and phrases commonly used in CSAM web searches.
“ASACP’s success is rooted in its committed staff, including Executive Director Tim Henning, who has been part of ASACP since it was founded, and veteran Operations Director Erege Macis, who anchors the day-to-day business,” said a rep. “Fundraising Director Michelle Marriott, Systems Manager and Developer Tanguy De Courson, and longtime Digital Media Analyst and Writer Stephen Yagielowicz round out the team. The sacrifices made by this close-knit group are significant, especially given that their work often exposes investigators and others to the disturbing realities of CSAM and takes a heavy emotional toll.
“Over three decades, ASACP has adapted alongside dramatic changes in technology — from the early web and desktop publishing to social media, user-generated content, smartphones, streaming platforms, artificial intelligence, and modern age assurance regulations and systems. While the tools have evolved, the association’s mission has remained remarkably consistent,” the rep added. “One recent factor impacting the association’s mission is the rise of AI and generative content, which has been unfortunately (but predictably) misused to produce CSAM. The resulting swift uptick in illicit content caused ASACP’s Tipline reports to surge and resulted in increasingly severe hacking attempts.
“Few nonprofit organizations remain relevant for three decades,” the rep concluded. “Fewer still continue adapting to each new technological challenge while remaining true to their founding mission. Supported generously by its sponsors, members, and contributors, ASACP will continue working with industry, regulators, and supporters to help keep children out of and away from age-inappropriate materials for another 30 years.”
Visit ASACP online and on X.com; contact Henning at tim@asacp.org.
