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<strong>LOS ANGELES</strong> - The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection on Monday announced an expansion of its Restricted to Adults labeling program to mobile phones based on Google's Android operating system. The first-of-its-kind software, which is targeted at carriers and handset manufacturers for distribution with new phones, will prevent applications marked as adult from running on RTA-enabled Android phones, according to Chief Executive Officer Joan Irvine.
The RTA Parental Controls for Android Mobile Apps system consists of a unique meta-data tag that can be inserted into any age-restricted Android application, plus the RTA Mobile App Filter. The unique meta-data tag is detected by any Android mobile app that employs meta-data tag detection algorithms. When the RTA Label is detected by the RTA Mobile App Filter, the age-restricted app can be stopped or the entire package with the RTA-labeled app can be removed from the mobile device.
“The expansion of the Restricted to Adults label to mobile applications shows that the adult entertainment industry continues to self-regulate and provide parents with tools to keep age-restricted content out of the hands of children,” Irvine said. “ASACP is very pleased with the adoption of the RTA label into adult websites and browser parental controls since 2006. Over 4.5 million sites are labeled with RTA. Since the bulk of app developers have agreed to include the RTA Label for Android Mobile Apps software into the apps they develop, we are certain of success with Apps, too.
“In addition to Google's Android, ASACP hopes Apple and Microsoft will include the RTA parental controls in further editions of their mobile operating systems,” she added.
ASACP Vice President for Technology Tim Henning said RTA Parental Controls represent a "significant stride in keeping pace with ever-evolving technologies" that can be used to deliver age-restricted content.
"Before this technology, there was no way for a parent to prevent their child from viewing age-restricted mobile applications," he said. "The RTA Parental Controls for Android Mobile Apps system solves this problem by giving parents the power to effectively control the content their children consume via mobile apps.
"With the explosion of mobile platform applications, including adult entertainment apps, it is important for parents to have a tool that will allow them to more effectively control the content their children consume on their mobile devices," he added.
For more information, visit <a href=http://www.asacp.org/ target=new>ASACP.org</a>.
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