This week, our good friends at the National Center of Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) announced the organizations and corporations on its 2017 Dirty Dozen List.
What is the goal of the Dirty Dozen List?
This list names and shames companies and organizations that profit from sexual exploitation. These are mainstream entities that are major contributors to objectionable material like pornography, and may depict actions of prostitution and/or sex trafficking.
Consumers demand to know what chemicals are included in their drinks and food. They also want to know how companies treat their workers. In that same vein, the Dirty Dozen List points out what kind of products and/or services these companies and organizations offer. It empowers the consumer to know what these organizations are doing and call them out for not representing their values.
Does the Dirty Dozen List make a difference?
Verizon had been on the Dirty Dozen List for the last three years. But now, it is only on the “watch” list. It is taking proactive steps to address issues brought out by NCOSE. Verizon officials have informed NCOSE that its FiOS IPTV will arrive to consumers with pornography already blocked as a default. This is a big victory for those who value human dignity! Those who want to access objectionable material will have to jump through some digital hoops to get there. In the past, it was there for all to see as a default setting.
Who is on the list this year?
Comcast defends its stance on profiting from hardcore pornographic material saying it offers various choices to its customers. That’s why it is on the 2017 Dirty Dozen List.
EBSCO is an online library resource. It provides curriculum for K12 schools. NCOSE found links of hardcore pornography intermixed within resources intended for children. EBSCO officials have reached out to NCOSE saying it is working on better algorithms in its material and filtering so the user will be better protected. It remains on the list until it makes the necessary corrections.
NCOSE officials said, “While this is one of the greatest scandals ever covered by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation’s Dirty Dozen List, we are hopeful that it could become one of the greatest examples of a corporation intentionally changing policies to protect individuals from sexually exploitive content.”
For the second time, Amazon is named on the list. Its Kindle offers content of erotic novels and porn magazines. They are not categorized differently from other material and are readily visible in the “free” section.
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