Los Angeles, CA - (November 21, 2005) – Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) attended the EU and Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT) Conference on Protecting Children On-Line on November 15-16 in Belfast.

This joint EU Presidency and Virtual Global Taskforce event (http://www.morrowcommunications.com/vgt) brought together just over 200 representatives from law enforcement, government, industry, and non-government organizations (NGO) from around the world, including U. S. Department of Justice, Microsoft, Visa International, and international CP reporting hotlines, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and ASACP.

Speakers included: Paul Goggins MP, UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Chairman of the Home Secretary’s Taskforce on Child Protection on the Internet; Annethe Ahlenius, Detective Inspector, Swedish National Criminal Police, Child Protection Team; Jim Gamble, Deputy Director General, National Crime Squad, and Chairman of the Virtual Global Taskforce; Pamela Passman, Vice President for Corporate Affairs, Microsoft Corporation, USA. Torben V Rudgaard, Lycos Europe; Robert Alandt, Vice President of Global Acceptance Compliance, Visa International; Kevin Zuccato, Director, and Australian High Tech Crime Centre.

The emphasis kept firmly on methods to cooperate in combating illegal content. Jim Gamble in his summary, very forcefully made the distinction between adult pornography and the confusion of the word "pornography" being attached to child. He said the more we can all work to replace this incorrect and confusing term with "images of child abuse" or "online child abuse activities" (grooming and procuring), so much the better. VGT has no interest in consenting legal adult entertainment.

“The VGT conference was beneficial for ASACP. I reconnected with other CP reporting hotlines that I met at INHOPE.org meetings in the last few years, introduced ASACP to various international law enforcement agencies and companies. I even briefly spoke with Andrew Oosterbaan, Chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) under Alberto Gonzalez. People were surprised, but pleased that the adult entertainment was being proactive in the battle against CP, protecting children and establishing best practices. I attended the Pay-per-View Site workshop. It was good to hear that they know that most of the commercial CP sites are run by organized crime, especially out of the former Soviet Bloc,” said Joan Irvine, executive director, ASACP.

The ASACP mission is to help the adult entertainment industry in their ongoing efforts to battle CP on the Internet through its CP reporting hotline. In addition, ASACP provides a self-regulatory vehicle for its members through a Code of Ethics that promotes the protection of children through responsible, professional business practices.

For further information, visit the ASACP site (www.asacp.org) or contact Joan Irvine, [email protected].