Sex workers fear violence as US cracks down on online ads: 'Girls will die'
1–10 of 225 posts
Re: Sex workers fear violence as US cracks down on online ads: 'Girls will die'
#2I think the missing discussion is that some bad law exists, but that SESTA/FOSTA is not that bad law: Websites should not be immune to prosecution for intentionally facilitating criminal activity. Section 230 is a bad thing and it going away is a good thing. Headlines I've seen like "sex workers are the canary in the coal mine for free speech" are not really accurate, because this is about activity which is and has been illegal, not suppressing speech.
The problem is that there's no good reason for prostitution in general to be illegal in the United States. While I have no interest in partaking in such activity myself, I realize that the sole interest in banning it appears to be religion... something which cannot and should not govern our country's laws. I'm a Christian, but I don't think Christian views should be the determining factor in our legislature... that's the Constitution's job.
Re: Sex workers fear violence as US cracks down on online ads: 'Girls will die'
#3> Donald Trump is expected to sign the law this week, but sex workers across the country told the Guardian they were already suffering consequences. Craigslist shut down its personals section, and federal authorities seized Backpage.com, releasing an indictment this week accusing its founders of money laundering and “facilitating prostitution”. The list of charges did not include trafficking.
And just a reminder this law was 100% unnecessary to prosecute Backpage.
This was purely puritanical bullshit designed to hurt sex workers in the US that are here legally. They just needed a "cause" to sell to rubes.
Re: Sex workers fear violence as US cracks down on online ads: 'Girls will die'
#4another headline: Drug dealers fear violence as DEA existing. Drug dealer is also dealer!
Re: Sex workers fear violence as US cracks down on online ads: 'Girls will die'
#5I think the missing discussion is that some bad law exists, but that SESTA/FOSTA is not that bad law: Websites should not be immune to prosecution for intentionally facilitating criminal activity. Section 230 is a bad thing and it going away is a good thing. Headlines I've seen like "sex workers are the canary in the coal mine for free speech" are not really accurate, because this is about activity which is and has b…
> I think the missing discussion is that some bad law exists, but that SESTA/FOSTA is not that bad law: Websites should not be immune to prosecution for intentionally facilitating criminal activity. Section 230
Pretending that Section 230 willing enables participation in an illegal enterprise is a complete fabrication with no grounding in reality.
Prosecuting Backpage without SESTA/FOSTA was possible which is why Backpage was taken down and indicted BEFORE the law was signed (and therefore, enforceable).
Why do you think all the torrent sites get taken down? Or YouTube was sued? or 2903420934230 other things where a site violates some law be profiting from otherwise illegal UGC? Or the various dark net markets like the one Dread Pirate Roberts ran?
Section 230 has _never_ provided more than a reasonable barrier to overcome to prevent absurd legal attacks.
Re: Sex workers fear violence as US cracks down on online ads: 'Girls will die'
#6Just legalize it already! It's been proven time and time again across many countries around the world that legalizing and regulating prostitution creates a safer environment for the girls AND the customers.
Re: Sex workers fear violence as US cracks down on online ads: 'Girls will die'
#7I think the missing discussion is that some bad law exists, but that SESTA/FOSTA is not that bad law: Websites should not be immune to prosecution for intentionally facilitating criminal activity. Section 230 is a bad thing and it going away is a good thing. Headlines I've seen like "sex workers are the canary in the coal mine for free speech" are not really accurate, because this is about activity which is and has b…
The ban on prostitution is the same thing as the war on drugs. It wasn't able to stop the practice so the only result was to move these into the criminal environment. I'd much prefer if prostitution (and drugs) was tightly regulated but in the open.
Re: Sex workers fear violence as US cracks down on online ads: 'Girls will die'
#8I think the missing discussion is that some bad law exists, but that SESTA/FOSTA is not that bad law: Websites should not be immune to prosecution for intentionally facilitating criminal activity. Section 230 is a bad thing and it going away is a good thing. Headlines I've seen like "sex workers are the canary in the coal mine for free speech" are not really accurate, because this is about activity which is and has b…
From the arguments I've seen, the big issue is that removing these areas from the web makes those caught in trafficking harder to rescue, as it drives the info deeper underground on the web or off the web altogether.
Even the DOJ even weighed in (https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4390361/Views-Ltr...) and said it will make catching traffickers more difficult. When you have the DOJ opposing a proposal to strengthen a law, that should be a significant red flag.
Of course, I understand my comment is specifically about the implications for trafficking, not self-decided/employed sex workers.
In regards to the latter, I think the article describes it well, regardless of it being illegal, SESTA/FOSTA only makes it more dangerous for both groups.
Re: Sex workers fear violence as US cracks down on online ads: 'Girls will die'
#9Two attempted kidnappings yesterday:
https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Teen-girl-young-woman-e...
FTA: "Just two hours earlier, in what police said was an unrelated incident, a 19-year-old woman was walking just three blocks away from the kidnapping when she was dragged into a car by a group of two men and two women."
The northeast mission remains a center of drive-by prostitution. Hard to read these stories without speculating this is an indication of what's to come thanks to SESTA/FOSTA.
Can't believe that Kamala Harris supported this. It's not helpful to say this is a reasonable law and that prostitution's illegality is the problem. In the world we live in it is and will remain so.
That makes this a bad and dangerous law.
Re: Sex workers fear violence as US cracks down on online ads: 'Girls will die'
#10I think the missing discussion is that some bad law exists, but that SESTA/FOSTA is not that bad law: Websites should not be immune to prosecution for intentionally facilitating criminal activity. Section 230 is a bad thing and it going away is a good thing. Headlines I've seen like "sex workers are the canary in the coal mine for free speech" are not really accurate, because this is about activity which is and has b…
> Section 230 is a bad thing and it going away is a good thing
The last 20 years of web innovation begs to differ. Killing user-generated content will make us all worse off.