The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection has launched a new service to help their cause: RTA Verified.

Those familiar with ASACP will recognize RTA Verified as a feature stemming from RTA (Restricted to Adults) labeling. Webmasters paste the label into their Web pages, whereby Internet filters recognize the label and prevent access to the site and appearance in search results.

RTA is “just a simple tag that webmasters can use for themselves. And that’s completely voluntary and free. Always will be,” reports Tim Henning, ASACP’s Technology and Forensic Research Director. But RTA Verified takes a simple extra step. There are “lots of ways that [the RTA label] could be incorrect: pasted with missing letters, in the wrong place on their website. Webmasters are changing their sites all the time,” says Henning.

“RTA Verified allows others to know that webmasters have labeled their websites correctly.” Viewers can feel comfortable knowing that their website’s providers have taken care to see that children do not stumble upon the material.

Where should your RTA label be? “Ideally it should go on the headers, which is where all the other meta-content goes. [Webmasters] can also put it on the server itself, assuming they have their own server. The advantage to that being they wouldn’t have to put it on every single page.”

“It lets webmasters know their websites are safe. And it lets their visitors know that as well.”

RTA Verified confirms up to 10 domains for $10 every year, and one dollar each after that, or unlimited domains for $100. “We just didn’t have the support before. It is obviously something that is needed out there. We are non-profit; we just needed something to help get a little money back.”