Adult Check, Inc. was an American company that created and hosted one of the first and largest online age verification services. The network of web sites using the Adult Check verification system reached as many as 400,000
and the Adultcheck.com domain was ranked in the top 100 most visited
internet web sites as late as 1999.
Background
Cybernet Ventures, Inc., the parent company of Adult Check, was launched in mid 90's by Laith Alsarraf (a UCLA dropout who scrapped his struggling Web site design business) and Vardan Sarkisov.
Age verification services (AVS) arose as an effort to limit access by minors to
adult sites by providing access to a large number of sites through a common ID and
password. Cybernet Ventures, Inc. created the Adult Check system when the
Communications Decency Act of 1996 allowed websites to let visitors prove they were adults by using credit cards. For a fee, customers bought an Adult Check password that unlocked hundreds of thousands of sites, and operators of these sites (webmasters) received a commission.
The company charged $19.95 for a one-year membership, $29.95 for 2 years, and a lifetime membership was $76.95.
The company ran on an
affiliate marketing model and paid out 50% commissions to adult site owners who referred them members.
Forbes estimated Adult Check's annual revenue as $320 million in 2001.
Legal cases
Perfect 10 lawsuit
On April 22, 2002, California courts issued a preliminary injunction against Cybernet Ventures that allowed courts to hear a case by
Perfect 10 Magazine, who claimed copyright infringement by some of the sites protected by the Adult Check system. Perfect 10 charged that Adult Check and Cybernet could not seek
safe harbor
A safe harbor or harbour is literally a "place of shelter and safety, esp. for ships". It is used in many contexts:
Film and television
* Safe harbor (broadcasting), established in 1978 in the US, the time period in a television schedule during wh ...
of the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. ยง 512, since they benefitted financially, if indirectly, from these sites. The injunction directed Cybernet to preemptively block access to any website containing the prohibited content.
The injunction was landmark because it opened the door to a broader definition of online liability. Perfect 10 proceeded to file lawsuits against even bigger companies, including
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
,
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...
,
Visa
Visa most commonly refers to:
*Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company
** Visa Debit card issued by the above company
** Visa Electron, a debit card
** Visa Plus, an interbank network
*Travel visa, a document that allows ...
and
MasterCard, but was unsuccessful. Similar adult and non-adult content companies sought legal action against intermediary companies like these in lieu of suing small site operators in hopes of big financial settlements.
AgeCheck Lawsuit
AgeCheck, a competitor of AdultCheck that had about 250,000 member sites in 2001, was started by 3 Armenian carpenters that worked for Adult Check's co-founder and started a similar business. AdultCheck sued and forced them to change their name to CyberAge.
References
{{reflist
Online companies of the United States
Pornography
Age verification