Attorney General Alberto Gonzales all but declared war on the adult entertainment industry when he pledged to uncover and prosecute obscenity cases. Some contend that Gonzales is barking up the wrong tree.”Why is he wasting limited government resources on trying to prove legal adult entertainment is obscenity when there is so much work to be done on combating child pornography?” asked Joan Irvine, Executive Director of the newly renamed Association of Adult Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP).

“Instead of alienating and prosecuting the adult entertainment industry, Gonzales could be working with the industry,” Irvine added. “Everyone in the industry is against child pornography and many industry leaders have funded ASACP during the development of its sophisticated spidering and monitoring systems (http://asacp.org/press/press0105.html) and the automation of its hotline.”

Since 1996, ASACP has been working to make a difference in the battle against child pornography. Their hotline receives more than 5000 reports of suspected child pornography per month and reports more than 250 URLs of confirmed child porn sites (Red Flag Reports) to the authorities, including the FBI, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the state Attorney General’s office.

From the start, the online adult industry has been on the forefront of emerging technology, and ASACP anticipates informing government agencies and other organizations about the industry’s proactive approach to self-regulation in the fight against pornography.

In 2001, Andrew Oosterbaan, head of the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation & Obscenity Section, oversaw more than 200 arrests of child porn producers and users as part of Operation Avalanche. He was criticized by the ultra-right-wing Family Research Council as “anything but aggressive … prosecuting only a few, mostly insignificant cases” because he failed to target producers of adult material.

“Instead of pouring tax dollars down the drain to harass legitimate businesses that create legal adult entertainment for consenting adults, Gonzales should be investing his time, funding, and staffing in the prosecution of illegal child pornography,” stated Michelle L. Freridge, Executive Director of the Free Speech Coalition (FSC), a trade association of the adult entertainment industry.

“In keeping with our long-standing policy condemning the sexual abuse of children, FSC offers a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of persons creating or trafficking in child pornography,” added Freridge.

Joan Irvine will speak on this topic at the next FSC meeting on Thursday, March 17 at 5:30 p.m. at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills, California. Contact Neva Chevalier at FSC (818) 348-9373 to RSVP.