According to the association, the new PSA explains how webmasters can properly label their sites to protect children from unauthorized viewing by using the RTA tag, and is currently available for viewing on the ASACP YouTube Channel.
RTA is the adult entertainment industry's initiative to protect children from viewing content that is age-restricted. Developed by ASACP out of the need for an easy to use and internationally recognized label that designates content for adults only, the RTA label is a unique string of "meta data" which can easily be inserted into the computer code of any website.
Parental filtering software, plus Apple and Microsoft's operating systems, filter on the RTA meta tag, as do iPhones and phones with IE or Windows Mobile browsers, recognizing the tag and preventing children from viewing adult content.
ASACP launched the free and universally available RTA in November of 2006, and since then, more than 2.2 million sites have labeled with RTA, with more than 9 million in-links to www.rtalabel.org.
"No one wants a mandatory, complicated, and potentially expensive website labeling system. This is why ASACP and its Technology and Forensic Research Director Tim Henning worked with the adult industry to create the Restricted To Adults (RTA) website label," ASACP CEO Joan Irvine said. "I encourage all adult entertainment webmasters who have not yet labeled with RTA to view the PSA."
Henning developed the RTA system and he continues to make it easier for companies to label their sites, providing instructions for page, site or server level labeling.
"Labeling with RTA quickly became an industry standard and along with ASACP's Best Practices demonstrates the industry's long-term and ongoing commitment to online child protection," Irvine added. "In addition, ASACP continues to educate parents through its PSA and access to resources at the parents section on rtalabel.org."
Last year ASACP launched the RTA Verified service, which confirms that websites are properly labeled with RTA. While RTA is free, RTA Verified costs a small service fee, with subscribers issued a special button and link to a verification page that lets visitors confirm that your websites are using the Restricted To Adults website labeling system.
Founded in 1996, ASACP is a non-profit organization dedicated to online child protection. It is comprised of two separate corporate entities, the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection and the ASACP Foundation. ASACP is the only association that coordinates the adult entertainment industry's efforts to protect children online and it has spent more than 14 years creating progressive programs to do so.
ASACP and its RTA program have been honored by the American Society of Association Executives and The Center for Association Leadership by being named the 2008 overall winner in the Associations Make a Better World award. ASACP has received Certificates of Recognition from Congresswoman Jane Harmon, the California State Senate, the California State Assembly, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and the Mayors of Los Angeles, San Diego, Redondo Beach, and the City of West Hollywood, acknowledging ASACP's efforts to help parents prevent their children from viewing age-restricted content with the RTA website label.