Forum - View topicNEWS: Anime Expo's SPJA Announces Youth Protection Program
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Citizen Klaus
 Posts: 32 Location: Duluth, MN |
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That's a poor analogy. Most airlines don't ask that a traveler complete criminal background checks, at the traveler's expense, for themselves and everyone in their party. But that's what AX appears to be asking vendors and guests to do. A better analogy would compare airline security checkpoints to convention-center bag-screening procedures, and AX already does that. Last edited by Citizen Klaus on Mon May 09, 2016 3:56 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Yeah, that's true. Would a better analogy be having a criminal background check for every job you apply for? |
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Citizen Klaus
Posts: 32 Location: Duluth, MN |
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Guests and vendors aren't AX employees. |
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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They are applicants to go do something though. If going through a criminal background check makes them uncomfortable or they don't want to pay for it, they can choose not to come to AX. If employees have to go through them, I don't see why guests and vendors wouldn't. And if that's enough to turn them away (besides the fees), maybe that tells us something about them that could get them in trouble.
While where the money to pay for these background checks will come from is something I am concerned about, I honestly don't mind it at all, but that's because I'm a person with no criminal record. Because of that, whenever I'm applying for a job and they ask, "Will you be willing to submit to a personal criminal background check?" or something of the like, I'll answer "Yes" without a second thought. Were they all free, I would not mind at all if absolutely everything needed a criminal background check because, in that regard, I have nothing to hide. They can background-check me as much as they like. |
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Citizen Klaus
Posts: 32 Location: Duluth, MN |
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Not the same thing, and it has nothing to do with whether someone has a record or not. AX isn't asking vendors and guests if they'd consent to AX running a background check on them. AX is asking vendors and guests to (a) arrange for and run the background checks themselves, (b) take online training courses of an as-yet-undetermined nature, (c) submit documents verifying that everyone in their party has taken and passed the background checks, completed the training, and filled out any additional paperwork, and (d) do all this with less than two months' notice. That's a rather heavy burden to place on individuals and organizations, for the sake of potentially solving a nebulous and ill-defined problem that may or may not actually exist. |
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Hmm, doesn't sound that bad to me. A bit troublesome, but not any more than what I routinely deal with, especially since there's one organization to turn to in regards to all of this. (And I'm guessing that organization that checks and screens has this process for every event it handles. I'd be interested in what other events this screening company has done in the pastand how they turned out.)
I don't think we're going to see eye to eye on this matter though. |
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Citizen Klaus
Posts: 32 Location: Duluth, MN |
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I'd agree with that. It sounds like you work in an industry where the taking and administering of background checks (or similar compliance requirements) is a regular and expected part of doing business, and where they can perhaps be conducted quickly and efficiently. I work in an industry where background checks are definitely not regular and expected, and where even just arranging for a handful of people to sit together in the same room, at the same time, is something that must be scheduled at least three months in advance. The thought of having to ride on those kinds of people to complete background checks and training sessions, and to ensure that everyone follows through within a (relatively) very limited time frame, is the sort of administrative curveball that keeps me awake at night. So, yeah, I think expectations have a lot to do with it. |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5873 Location: Virginia, United States |
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Vendors and artists It is all about the money....Vendors who have multiple employees (probably most for ...inventory control...) and vendors who have small profit margins, are going to have to take a critical eye on whether or not it is worth attending with all the new additional fees and the hassle in getting their employees to attend the mandatory training and getting them to agree to criminal background checks. There has to be a reality check here. We are not discussing the big name vendors, we are discussing every other vendor on the dealers floor. They are not hiring the 'salt of the earth' to be their employees. Most of the artists on the artist alley, have very small profit margins. You have walked past them and wished they actually had something you liked. There are probably plenty of people who while they don't have dead bodies in the basement, don't want people to know about their 'minor' infractions for a bleeding anime convention. Anime Expo is the worst model to apply to the rest of the anime convention world, because outside of Japan they are number one and have the clout in the Industry to make the big vendor names willing to play ball and put up with the hassle. Yes, our most honored invited Japanese and American guests, you must first prove that you are not a most vile criminal, by allowing us to view your most private information. And you are required to attend our required political correctness training to ensure you don't harm our most precious children. Yeah, invited guest will feel most welcome...... |
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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I'm pretty sure these companies that do background checks have a confidentiality policy, so it's not like their deep dark secrets will be announced to the entire world.
You seem to really hate criminal background checks though. Have you never undergone one? They're completely passive. They do all the work. You literally don't do anything. If you check out, it'll feel like as if the background check never happened. I've never had any of those background checks people describe involving waiting in a room somewhere, or even one where you have to be present and ready. Every single one I've had, and I've had a lot, had them perform them independently of my activities, and I just go about my day as normal. For an event the size of Anime Expo, I'm certain this will be the way it's done too, or there's no way they can get it done within the timeframe. That's why I don't understand the complaints about the hassle. The money, yes, but not the hassle. |
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Citizen Klaus
Posts: 32 Location: Duluth, MN |
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Again, AX isn't the organization that's setting up and arranging for the background checks. They're shifting that burden onto the vendors, guests, panelists, and etc., by requiring them to conduct their own background checks. And nowhere in AX's published materials regarding this policy do they give any information about how to get in contact with background-check providers that could run the checks and produce the documentation that AX now requires. If your organization doesn't normally conduct background checks, you now have to completely revamp your operations and develop new policies to implement checks if you want to appear as scheduled at this year's AX. If AX were administering the background checks themselves, and taking on that administrative burden, and just requiring vendors/guests/panelists/etc. to consent to checks run by AX, that would be one thing. But they're instead requiring that vendors/guests/panelists arrange for background checks on their own, without appearing to provide any information on how to do this sort of thing. A few colleagues of mine are scheduled to run panels of speakers at this year's AX, and they've heard exactly nothing so far from the SPJA about how they're supposed to comply with these new guidelines, or who they're supposed to contact to have the background checks done in time. |
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Mr. Oshawott
 Posts: 6773 |
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I get that Anime Expo is implementing all of these security measures to cut down the possibility of being swarmed with lawsuits, but they're going about this all the wrong way. What sane people would be okay with the idea of paying extra money just to subject themselves to undergoing criminal background checks?
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Citizen Klaus
Posts: 32 Location: Duluth, MN |
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I actually suspect that these new policies have less to do with defusing potential lawsuits (which are hard to quantify in terms of financial risk) and more to do with getting breaks on the cost of event insurance (which is a very real, and major, expense). AX is partnered with the Nonprofit Risk Management Center for this new program, and helping clients get deals on insurance appears to be a substantial part of the NRMC's activities. The NRMC's website also has an entire hard-sell section devoted to pushing youth-protection consulting services, which I'm sure also played into this. |
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TarsTarkas
Posts: 5873 Location: Virginia, United States |
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I have to deal with more invasive periodic background checks due to my job, but you are probably right about the ease in which criminal background checks can be done. Excluding the monetary issues, the hassle part is not in requesting a CB for yourself, but in trying to get your employees to agree to one, and get them to take the mandatory "PC" training. And again, we are not talking about the big name vendors, but everyone else.
It will be interesting to see what effects this will have on the smaller vendors. Confidentiality policies are as only as good as the money they pay their employees, and the money they spend on server security. But hey, you will get free credit monitoring. Anime Expo is the monster in the room, they have the cachet to get away with this. But for any other anime convention, they are just anime conventions. They are not Bank of America, they are not the Orange County School District, and they are not the Sentara Medical Group. |
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6171 Location: USA |
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It seems that with all this craziness going on it's going diminish the amount of fans attending. And then again it may not. Already I'm starting to become sick of that atmosphere at NYCC since 2015. I may eventually quit after 2016. The panels are starting to become uncomfortable even for me. Too much PC crap going on.
Even with my job paying to send me, it's just not worth sitting through nonsense for 4 days. I can stay home and read the updates and do my collection development for my job from here. I pretty much predicted that things were coming. Oh and WTF is up with the "homie"? So we couldn't just have a normal blk dude he's gotta be identified with "mad money G". Bravo SPJA, you may have got the diversity part down but fail by tossing around a stereotype image. Not saying that this isn't necessarily true when looking around. But if you're going to give equal representation in that people involved I'd say you do it for all. While I don't necessarily have a problem with it I feel a slight underhandedness here. But that's it. Carry on folks. |
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TarsTarkas
Posts: 5873 Location: Virginia, United States |
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When I skimmed through those SPJA videos and saw them putting those Chikara mascot t-shirts on their generic adult male minders, I realized something.
The SPJA are fools for creating Chikara for such a divisive program. |
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