CANOGA PARK, CA – Pressure on the adult entertainment industry continues to mount and outdated and inaccurate stereotypes continue to be used to describe it in the mainstream media. Because of this and a need for something that responsible adult professionals can point to, the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) released a draft version of a Code of Ethics & Best Practices for the Adult Industry last Friday.Members of the FSC will consider the draft during the next few months, with approval of a final version anticipated late in the year.

Michelle Freridge, executive director for the FSC believes that it is the trade association’s “responsibility to provide leadership through the development of consistent ethical standards and by describing responsible best practices, many of which are already in use by adult businesses.”

As a press release from the Free Speech Coalition on the topic points out, the majority of people working in adult entertainment are law-abiding citizens with families and friends whom they care about just as much as those in the mainstream care about their own. Although exact numbers are unknown, there are easily thousands of Americans working in the approximately $12 billion adult field. Each of these workers uses their income to purchase goods and services, as well as pay what is estimated to be millions of dollars worth of federal, state, and city taxes.

Among the principals that guided the formulation of the proposed FSC Code of Ethics are the beliefs that:

• FSC members should run responsible companies that comply with the law
• FSC members should conduct business with integrity and professionalism
• FSC members should take appropriate steps to help parents control access by minors to adult entertainment without limiting access to such content by consenting adults

Additionally, the Free Speech Coalition, with the assistance of other industry organizations, is developing a list of recommended Best Practices. These will include such things as promotion of the use of “end-user empowerment tools,” such as filtering and blocking technologies that allow individuals to determine what content will be available to each internet visitor.

Best Practices will encourage webmasters and adult companies to register their sites with blocking services such as Family.net, WebBlock, AOL Parent Controls, SafeBrowse, and Bsecure Protection Products, as well as label their sites so that they can be identified by the blocking services. Further, FSC recommends uses the self-labeling available via Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) and other methods, providing links to blocking services from front pages, and using age verification methods to help prevent minors purchasing adult services and products.

A copy of the draft Code of Ethics and Best Practices can be found now at FreeSpeechCoalition.com in the “Topics” area.

Questions can be directed to Tom Hymes at Tom@FreeSpeechCoalition.com.

Feedback can be directed toward the FSC until September 30, 2006. All comments will be reviewed by the FSC Board of Directors.