Scrubbed clean: why a certain kind of sex is vanishing from the internet

By artappraiser on Sat, 03/31/2018 - 3:25pm |

A US government effort to fight online sex trafficking has cleansed many sites of personal ads and consensual eroticism, in a shift advocates say amounts to dangerous censorship. (Already having a major effect, article gets into examples.)

By Erin McCormick in San Francisco for TheGuardian.com, March 30

Craigslist has shut down its renowned “personals” section, which once featured ads titled “Hot days” and “Looking to fool around tonight”. Porn performers are complaining that Google Drive is no longer allowing them to share erotic videos with private clients. Microsoft has announced new rules banning “offensive language” from conversations on Skype and Xbox. And Reddit has closed sex industry discussion groups entitled “Escorts”, “Hookers”, and “SugarDaddy”.

All of this has happened in recent days and weeks; a particular genre of online sex, it seems, is vanishing from the internet.

The timing of all these internet sex crackdowns corresponds with the US Congress’s passage last week of a bill known as the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (Fosta).

While intended to protect victims of sex trafficking, critics say the bill will force internet platforms to censor their users in order to avoid being prosecuted for newly created sex trafficking offenses. Some sex workers argue the bill will hurt those who voluntarily work in the sex industry by pushing them off the internet and back on to the streets. Internet advocates say the bill may the beginning of a crackdown on free speech online.

“US Congress just passed HR 1865, ‘Fosta’, seeking to subject websites to criminal and civil liability when third parties (users) misuse online personals unlawfully,” wrote Craiglist in a statement posted on Friday [....]

URL:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/mar/30/congress-online-sex-trafficking-bill-impact-sex-workers-craigslist

Add new comment
6566 reads

Comments

No surprise that there aren't any Larry Flynts around willing to take this to the Supremes if necessary. They are all mostly caving, leaving the dirtiest sectors behind to risk it all. Old school players like Stormy Daniels don't have to worry. Roseanne should be happy from the few things I've read.

by artappraiser on Sat, 03/31/2018 - 3:32pm

related op-ed @ The Guardian:

Sexual freedom is at risk from these damning new bills passed by Congress

Craigslist closed its personal ads due to Congress’s patriarchal, homophobic bid to control sex workers. It won’t stop there

By Steven W Thrasher, March 29

....If you think none of this applies to you because you’re not queer or into kink or sex work, think again...

by artappraiser on Sat, 03/31/2018 - 3:43pm

What Craiglist and similar sites are implicitly saying is the revenue stream from personals seeking unpaid consensual sex is insufficient for them to monitor the site to eliminate ads for paid services. There are still many sites where a person can look for queer, kink, adultery etc. unpaid sex. I've seen no articles that they are shutting down.

I'm usually of the opinion that almost everything should be legal but that doesn't mean that I think web sites should be allowed to advertise things we as a society have decided are illegal.

by ocean-kat on Sat, 03/31/2018 - 5:17pm

It's kind of like saying you can operate a taxi, but you have to verify none of your riders has been doing anything worn or carrying illicit material on them. It's not like the IlUS Post Office checks that no one is sending kiddie porn, and if soneone's caught, it's them that face the burden, not USPS. Same w UPS et al. So why the policing requirement for the online providers? Sure, they can easily flag certain terms in ads, but are they supposed to verify age or what?

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 03/31/2018 - 5:37pm

The USPS and Fed ex take precautions to find and stop illegal activity and cooperate fully with law enforcement if there's an investigation. One thing that was discussed frequently back in my pot smoking days when mailing pot was to not get high and to wash your hands well when packaging the pot because post offices sometimes had dogs sniffing packages.

These sites facilitate illegal activity. They know that's what they're doing. It's by design a large part of their revenue stream. When called on it they play innocent and claim free speech rights.

If an ad is clearly offering a child for sale the site doesn't need to verify the girl is actually underage to ban those types of ads. And once again even adult prostitution is illegal in most states whether or not you or I think those laws are good or wise.

ETA: You keep making what I consider bad analogies. Here's one that isn't good either but better imo than your's. If a taxi company let it be known that it would take you to the tenderloin district, drive around until you picked out a 13 year old run away, and then drop you off at a hotel that would also look the other way I'd have no problem shutting down and prosecuting that taxi company. Even if they made absolutely sure that no sexual contact happened in the cab.

by ocean-kat on Sat, 03/31/2018 - 6:35pm

FOSTA: The New Anti-Sex-Trafficking Legislation May Not End the Internet, But It’s Not Good Law Either

By Danielle Citron & Quinta Jurecic @ Lawfare.com, March 28

Amid the chaos of the last week, one of the most significant pieces of internet legislation of the last two decades went relatively unnoticed. Most people likely had no idea that Congress was moving full steam ahead on altering a law that some credit for “why we have the internet.” And so it did: On March 21, the Senate passed into law the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA).

Although the president has yet to sign the legislation, the bill’s effects are already being felt. FOSTA (known in a previous form as SESTA, or the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act) amends Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides tech companies immunity from most liability for publishing third-party content. Currently, only federal criminal law, intellectual property laws, and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act fall outside the immunity provision. In the years since its enactment in 1996, Section 230 has been characterized as “the Magna Carta of the internet,” as Alan Rozenshtein wrote recently on Lawfare. For its supporters, Section 230 immunity is credited with enabling the growth of online platforms as safe-havens for speech, even speech that platforms would be responsible for if it was expressed offline [....]

by artappraiser on Sat, 03/31/2018 - 4:07pm

HOW A CONTROVERSIAL NEW SEX-TRAFFICKING LAW WILL CHANGE THE WEB

By Nitasha Tiku @ Wired.com, March 22

THE DEBATE OVER altering a bedrock law governing the internet in the name of curbing sex trafficking was polarizing. The final vote was not.

The Senate Wednesday voted 97-to-2 to approve changes to the law that has shielded website operators from liability for content posted by others. The Stop Enabling Online Sex Trafficking Act was previously approved by the House and now goes to President Trump, who endorsed it earlier this month.

The legislative effort inspired fervent opposition along the way from Google, free-speech stalwarts, and sex workers. Supporters of the bill say it will allow victims of online sex trafficking to legally pursue websites that facilitate trafficking, Until now, those efforts have been thwarted by the liability shield in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The bill was proposed after a California judge dismissed criminal charges against Backpage.com and its CEO over online ads featuring underage girls because of Section 230 [....]

Congress OKs sex-trafficking bill that critics say will “censor the Internet”

By Jon Brodkin @ ArsTechnica.com, 3/21/2018

Critics say law will limit free speech online and won’t help trafficking victims.

by artappraiser on Sat, 03/31/2018 - 4:17pm

And there's no compromise between policing ads for under girls vs. allowed content?

If an underage girl is walking the street, can we sue the city for providing a platform for trafficking?

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 03/31/2018 - 4:20pm

It very much appears to be very lousy law, l I just found this: the DOJ called it unconstitutional and said it would make convictions harder!...

FOSTA Passes Senate, Making Prostitution Ads a Federal Crime Against Objections from DOJ and Trafficking Victims

The measure will "make it harder, not easier, to root out and prosecute sex traffickers," said Sen. Ron Wyden, one of only two senators to vote no on FOSTA.

By Elizabeth Nolan Brown @ Reason.com, Mar. 21, 2018 3:55 pm

[....] "In the absence of Section 230, the internet as we know it would shrivel," warned Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) from the Senate floor Wednesday. "Civic organizations protecting their right to free speech could be [ruined] by their more powerful political opponents" and "there would be an enormous chilling effect on speech in America." That's why big companies like Facebook like efforts like this to weaken it, Wyden added—"because it would pull up the ladder in the tech world" so new companies couldn't afford to get in.

Wyden stressed that he's been highly proactive on measures that could actually helps victims of sexual exploitation. But FOSTA "is not going to prevent sex trafficking [and] it's not going to stop young people from becoming victims," he noted. In fact, "the legislation before the Senate is going to make it harder, not easier, to root out and prosecute sex traffickers."

This isn't just Wyden's opinion. The Department of Justice has not only called FOSTA unconstitutional; it says the legislation will "create additional elements that prosecutors must prove at trial," thereby making it harder to get guilty parties convicted.

"You're heading in the wrong direction if you [pass a bill] that would raise the burden of proof in cases against sex traffickers," Wyden chastised his colleagues. He was one of two senators today—along with Rand Paul (R-Kentucky)—to vote against the measure [.....]

by artappraiser on Sat, 03/31/2018 - 4:24pm

Web sites want a complete exemption from all liability for content on their site. It's illegal in most jurisdictions to publish a magazine that contains ads for sex work, especially child sex work. Why should web sites get more protections than print?

Imo web sites could have avoided this law if they had been proactive in eliminating all child sex ads. One reason they weren't proactive is that child sex ads were part of their revenue stream. They chose to fight for a complete exemption and as expected they lost big. Not just liability for child sex ads but ads for all illegal paid sex.

by ocean-kat on Sat, 03/31/2018 - 5:26pm

The difference is that mags sell specific ad space - online pubs have a space with massive numbers if rotating ads - no one's going to review 10,000 programmatically driven online ads derived from a specific user demograpgic. The ads aren't even known until the user clicks.

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 03/31/2018 - 5:32pm

It's not the programmatically driven online ads that are the problem. It's the "personals" that are quite often thinly veiled ads for prostitution, a significant number for child prostitution. If a site is incapable of monitoring it's personal ads for child prostitution it shouldn't have the site. It's because they were unwilling to monitor for ads for child prostitution that they left an opening to restrict ads for adult prostitution, which by the way, is still illegal in most states. How ever you or I might feel about those laws.

by ocean-kat on Sat, 03/31/2018 - 6:06pm

Backpage.com taken offline ‘as part of an enforcement action,’ federal officials say

By Tom Jackman & Mark Berman @ WashingtonPost.com, April 6

This was the notice that greeted visitors
to Backpage.com on Fridayption

The website Backpage.com was taken down Friday and seized by federal law enforcement authorities, according to a notice posted online.

The classifieds website has been the focus of intense scrutiny over the issue of its sex ads, which have included those involving children being trafficked by adults.

Visitors to the site Friday were greeted with an announcement that said “Backpage.com and affiliated websites have been seized as part of an enforcement action” by agencies including the FBI as well as the law enforcement wings of the U.S. Postal Service and the Internal Revenue Service.

Numerous other state and federal authorities in Arizona, California and Texas also were “participating in and supporting the enforcement action,” the notice stated. It said more information would be released later by the Justice Department [....]

by artappraiser on Fri, 04/06/2018 - 8:31pm

In the News

Russia plays weak hand in Palestine
Russia plays weak hand in Palestine

submitted by PeraclesPlease 10 months ago

The intra-Palestinian meeting in Moscow has precedent

Russia's hosted such meetings in the past, most recently Feb 2019

Russia has long lamented the US' "monopolization" of the peace process & tried to carve out a niche for itself: mediating among the disunited Palestinians/2
— Hanna Notte (@HannaNotte) February 29, 2024

Read the article at https://twitter.com/HannaNotte/status/1763116222256701787

Add new comment
Mother Jones is Reaching out to Alternative Party Voters
Mother Jones is Reaching out to Alternative Party Voters

submitted by HSG 11 months ago

Here's what I told them: https://halginsberg.com/vote-for-jill-stein-again/

Read the article at https://halginsberg.com/vote-for-jill-stein-again/

2 comments

Add new comment
Controversial Brazil law curbing Indigenous rights comes...
Controversial Brazil law curbing Indigenous rights comes into force

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

Controversial Brazil law curbing Indigenous rights comes into force https://t.co/pCoDg05irX
— Gareth Harris (@garethharr) December 28, 2023

Read the article at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/28/brazil-law-indigenous-land-rights-claim-time-marker?CMP=share_btn_tw

1 comment

Add new comment
Security Alert: U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, Haiti (...
Security Alert: U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, Haiti (December 25, 2023)

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

Location: U.S. Embassy and residential compounds

Events: Heavy gunfire is occuring around the area of the U.S. Embassy and residential compounds adjacent to the Trutier area of Tabarre. All Embassy personnel have been instructed to remain indoors and shelter-in-place until further notice. All others should avoid the area.

Actions to take:

Avoid the area;

Avoid demonstrations and any large gatherings of people;

Do not attempt to drive through roadblocks; and

If you encounter a roadblock, turn around and get to a safe area.

Read the article at https://ht.usembassy.gov/security-alert-u-s-embassy-port-au-prince-haiti-december-25-2023/

3 comments

Add new comment
Pakistan Is Creating the World’s Next Refugee Crisis
Pakistan Is Creating the World’s Next Refugee Crisis

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

By The Editorial Board @ Bloomberg.com, December 8, 2023

A mass expulsion of Afghan migrants could destabilize the region and fuel radicalization. The West should pressure Islamabad to change course.

Read the article at https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-12-08/pakistan-s-expulsion-of-afghan-refugees-risks-another-crisis

6 comments

Add new comment
Internet shut down in Chad
Internet shut down in Chad

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

All eyes on #Chad right now
Chad has two internet trunks coming into the country: One from the Red Sea via Sudan; the other from Cameroon. Not possible for the totality of the country's internet network to be shut unless done centrally. A lot of rumors swirling; few facts. https://t.co/N6bDJZ2ixO

Read the article at https://x.com/_hudsonc/status/1732891968709992511?s=20

2 comments

Add new comment
[Economy] where Joe's success falls short
[Economy] where Joe's success falls short

submitted by PeraclesPlease 1 year ago

Read the article at

3 comments

Add new comment
[CRIME News] 3 loss-prevention employees in Macy’s across...
[CRIME News] 3 loss-prevention employees in Macy’s across the street from Philadelphia City Hall stabbed

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

BREAKING: Three loss prevention employees in Macy’s across the street from Philadelphia City Hall stabbed, one of them has died from stab wounds, @PhillyPolice sources tell me. Police converged on the store as the three workers were rushed to Jefferson Hospital. pic.twitter.com/4U1eKycL4W

Read the article at https://x.com/KeeleyFox29/status/1731713272942940365?s=20

38 comments

Add new comment
Former U.S. Ambassador Arrested, Charged With Working As...
Former U.S. Ambassador Arrested, Charged With Working As Secret Agent For Cuba

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

Former US Ambassador Arrested, Charged With Working As Secret Agent For Cuba https://t.co/LDwo4ZJI1K
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) December 4, 2023

Read the article at https://www.huffpost.com/entry/manuel-rocha-ambassador-arrested-cuba_n_656d1e2ae4b028b0f3d07478

Add new comment
[War in Israel, Chapter II] UNRWA under scrutiny
[War in Israel, Chapter II] UNRWA under scrutiny

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

[Chapter I news is HERE, Oct. 7 til today]

You don’t get it.
It’s not about an UNRWA teacher who held an Israeli kid hostage in his house.
It’s all about how for 75 years you have destroyed the future of generations of Palestinians, including my family.
My cousins in Arab countries are still not citizens - not even the… https://t.co/nv6anubGhc
— George Deek (@GeorgeDeek) December 2, 2023

Note 'Community Notes' attached to UNWRA's statement.

Read the article at https://x.com/GeorgeDeek/status/1731020551328579863?s=20

58 comments

Add new comment
Maduro, Under Pressure, Holds Vote to Annex Territory From...
Maduro, Under Pressure, Holds Vote to Annex Territory From a Neighbor

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

Imperialism for me but not for thee?

It's wild that Venezuela is now holding a vote on whether 2/3 of Guyana actually belongs to them! Analysts suggest that Modoru may want military action to pump up his sinking popularity.

Could we have a war in South America?!?

"The people who live in Essequibo are largely… pic.twitter.com/QvMEjkkgwy

Read the article at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/03/world/americas/maduro-vote-essequibo-guyana.html

6 comments

Add new comment
[Where is the GOP headed?] Divisions leave Florida’s House...
[Where is the GOP headed?] Divisions leave Florida’s House Republicans powerless

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

The lack of a cohesive delegation has allowed attention-seeking lawmakers to act on their own.

McCarthy: “You have [Rep. Matt] Gaetz, who belongs in jail…”

Gaetz: “Tough words from a guy who sucker punches people in the back. The only assault I committed was against Kevin’s fragile ego.”https://t.co/LctPuz6Pcf

Read the article at https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/29/divisions-leave-floridas-house-republicans-powerless-00129200

10 comments

Add new comment
‘She got so mad at me’: book on the ‘Squad’ details AOC-...
‘She got so mad at me’: book on the ‘Squad’ details AOC-Pelosi clashes

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

By Martinn Pengelly in Washington DC for TheGuardian.com, Nov. 30

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells Ryan Grim life in Congress ‘completely transformed’ after Democratic leader stepped down

Read the article at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/30/squad-book-aoc-nancy-pelosi?CMP=share_btn_tw

15 comments

Add new comment
US health insurers Humana, Cigna in talks to merge -source
US health insurers Humana, Cigna in talks to merge -source

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

@ Reuters, Nov. 29

Read the article at https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/us-health-insurers-humana-cigna-talks-merge-wsj-2023-11-29/

3 comments

Add new comment
Central Africa’s dinosaur regimes and the art of coup-...
Central Africa’s dinosaur regimes and the art of coup-proofing

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

"Both the AU and the intl community place more weight on whether elections are held than whether they are free and fair. Sanctions/expulsions occur when there is a coup but not necessarily when elections are rigged or if an “institutional coup” occurs." https://t.co/m9dNimJP0D
— Cameron Hudson (@_hudsonc) November 28, 2023

Read the article at https://africanarguments.org/2023/11/central-africas-dinosaur-regimes-and-the-art-of-coup-proofing/

Add new comment

From the Readers

Creative corner

From the Dagbloggers

Hits of the Day