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This page is not intended to give exhaustive information on this subject. Our goal is to give you an idea on what is the purpose of our business, and whether it's something that suits your needs.
Please, be advised that this pragraph was not written by a lawyer. The information provided here cannot be used as legal advise.
In 1996 US Congress enacted Communications Decency Act (CDA). Among other provisions, CDA severely restricted transmission of adult oriented content over the computer networks.
CDA immediately raised a lot of protests and legal challenges from ACLU and numerous media organizations on First Amendment basis.
In 1997 CDA was struck down by US Supreme Court.
In 1998 Congress pushed the same agenda under the new pretext -- protection of children. Child Online Protection Act (COPA) set forth the rules for transmission of adult oriented content over the computer networks. These rules require owners/operators of commercial web sites to take reasonable steps to prevent minors from accessing adult content. Owners and operators of non-commercial web sites are also liable under some provisions.
COPA was incorporated into sections 223, 230, 231 of US Code.
Since then several different sections of COPA have been stricken down by the Supreme Court, but the requirement to protect children from online porn stands, and is not expected to fall.
You can learn more about these laws, legal challenges and court rulings if you search the web for "Child Online Protection Act" or "Communications Decency Act". Quotation marks are part of the syntax, and should be entered into search box.
In order to comply with COPA, adult content providers must verify that their web site visitors are at least 18 years old.
It's not as easy as it seems to be. Large provider with enough materials to keep user coming to their veb sites on regular basis and to charge membership fee can verify new user's identity and assign a password. It is not possible for a small provider that posts less content, and is visited by each customer just a few times. And what about personal and non-commercial sites?
If you look at this from user's perspective, they often browse the web and hop from site to site, spending just a few minutes on most pages. It would be unreasonable burden on them to provide personal information each time, and it will also be too risky.
This is why most sites with adult content rely on some Adult Verification Service to verify that the user is legally adult.
All these expressions mean practically the same.
Originally expressions that start with "Adult" were used, but later almost everyone switched to "Age" to bypass numerous adult content filters. We are not an exception.
The primary purpose of AVS is to verify that web site visitor is an adult. In many cases AVS also collects customers' payments and pays to content providers.
The most common way to verify customer's age, suggested by COPA, is collecting the credit card information and verifying it with the bank. It is also the most common method of payment. Paying by credit card offers one more advantage for AVS -- they can set up recurring charges, i.e. credit card is charged every month, unless customer explicitly asks to terminate service.
Most AVS providers also accept checks and tele-checks. In this case they also ask for some ID, such as copy of driver's license.
Upon verifying user's age, user is given a password that is used at every site protected by this AVS.
At the web site, before entering the page that shows anything, there is a form that asks for a password. After user enters the password, control is redirected to AVS web site, page that checks user's credentials and account status. If the password is valid, control is redirected back to web site, to the first page with protected content.
It is often used to pay the web site operators. They are paid by the number of entries to their page that AVS have verified.
Different AVSs protect from dozens to thousands, and even hundreds of thousands sites. For customers it mean that by paying to one AVS, they gain access to a wide variety of adult sites.
In addition to giving access to adult content, some AVSs work with wineries that sell their products online.
When you use services of other AVS providers, you give them all of your personal information. They know everything about you, and they can disclose it under certain circumstances. Also, use of credit cards or checks leaves money trail. Please, visit our Protecting your privacy page for details.
We accept payments by cash and money orders only, leaving no money trail. Also, after verifying that you are an adult, we give you account number and password, and shred your application. So, no one knows who you are, and there is no way to find out.
Therefore, we protect your privacy in a way no one else does.
We don't protect web sites on our own. Instead, we verify your age and certify to an established AVS provider(s) that there is an undisclosed customer who is an adult. They treat you in exactly the same way as their other customers.