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Implementation
The vice detective who developed the idea of the duty to ascertain won the Police Innovation Prize
for this idea. From a study trip that this detective made to the US – where a similar version of the
duty to ascertain exists – it emerged that, in practice, the government appears to encounter great
difficulties in enforcing this measure. A shift from commercially-produced adult pornography to
amateur pornography is currently underway, whereby the amateur models cannot be traced. Back
in the Netherlands, the detective organised a meeting with certain representatives from the Dutch
adult industry. It emerged that a number of existing businesses already carry out checks on the age
of models. It also emerged that the professional pornography industry in the Netherlands – just
like the same industry in the US – is faced with competition from amateurs and from professional
producers from Eastern European countries. 847 If the enforcement of legislation – in this case the
duty to ascertain – by the government only appears to be symbolic, then the self-regulation of the
Dutch adult industry by means of a trade organisation, for example, is possibly a step in the right
direction towards combating adolescent and post-adolescent child pornography. Certain trade
organisations of the adult industry exist in the US 848 , one of which is specifically directed not only
towards combating adolescent and post-adolescent child pornography, but also towards removing
all forms of child pornography from the online adult industry. This Association of Sites Advocating
<strong>Child</strong> Protection (ASACP) maintains a hotline, works together with the American <strong>National</strong> Center for
Missing and Exploited <strong>Child</strong>ren, and brings together efforts from the branch regarding this topic by
sharing best practices and setting requirements for the ASACP membership. 849 In the meantime,
the ASACP has also expanded its working activities to Europe. 850
3.8.3.2 Intermediate-level social organisations
In this section, the term ‘intermediate-level social organisations’ refers to NGOs and the online community.
Intermediate-level social organisations can also contribute to public-private sector partnerships in
the area of child pornography, primarily in the fields of identification and information. In contrast with
NGOs, the online community is not yet involved in public-private sector partnerships, although active
involvement of the online community would be able to provide opportunities.
NGOs
On both international and national levels, various NGOs are focused on the prevention and detection of
child pornography. In this way, NGOs provide the online community (children and parents) with information
about the use of the Internet. These NGOs and the projects that they carry out are described in
§3.2. In addition to investigative authorities, NGOs run hotlines, such as the Hotline Combating <strong>Child</strong>
<strong>Pornography</strong> on the Internet. Reports of child abuse materialthat arise from this monitoring role are
then passed on to the police (see §3.3.3). It further emerges from these partnerships – for example EFC
and MACSAC – that NGOs fulfil a role as expertise centres about the nature of child abuse material on
847 ‘The Future of Online Adult Entertainment: Surging Demand, the Rise of Free Porn and the Emergence
of New Business Models’, ResearchandMarkets, December 2009, www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/1195592/the_future_of_online_adult_entertainment_surging,
(viewed 26 August 2011).
848 For example the Free Speech Coalition, see www.freespeechcoalition.com/ (viewed 31 May 2011).
849 www.asacp.org/index.php?content=aboutus (viewed 24 May 2011).
850 ‘ASACP Continues European Expansion with London Outreach’, ASCAP, 5 May 2011, www.asacp.org/
index.php?content=news&item=932,ASACP+Continues+European+Expansion+with+London+Outre
ach (viewed 24 May 2011).
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