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EFF Sues to Invalidate FOSTA, an Unconstitutional Internet Censorship Law
- 8bitsrule 8y agoThe word 'promote' used in the sense 'to contribute to the progress or growth of' is inappropriate in connection with prostitution, since it has been around quite a while. Therefore, I conclude, use of the word 'promote' is a Victorian dog-whistle.
- Ritsuko_akagi 8y agoMany legal sex workers have been hit by the takedown of sites like Backpage(1) and its sister cracker(2). These sites were the primary sources to advertise or find their services. It was heavily used by independent sex workers. 1. https://www.thecut.com/2018/04/7-sex-workers-on-what-it-means-to-lose-backpage.html https://www.thecut.com/2018/04/7-sex-workers-on-what-it-mean... 2. https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/sex/sex-workers-in-australia-say-american-law-is-creating-devastating-losses-back-home/news-story/09139a2f0d631cd7284090d2336ca517 https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/sex/sex-work...
- rablo 8y ago“Sex worker” is not a career.
- vanadium 8y agoAssuming the person has complete agency of their body and life, that's not exactly in your wheelhouse to proclaim with such certainty.
- rablo 8y agoIt is, actually. We live in a society. FOSTA is just the beginning, I’m sure things are going to get real tight for “sex workers”, pun intended.
- vanadium 8y agoRespectfully, "we live in a society" isn't an answer any more than "the sun rose today". Plenty of European nations reason about this in far more pragmatic and dignified terms than does the United States.
- StavrosK 8y agoWeird how "we live in a society" until something happens one doesn't like, like trying to ban guns.
- Fukkaudeku 8y agoGamers rise up
- downandout 8y agoI’m always curious what the motivation is when I see someone that is militant about forcing the rest of society to live by their personal moral code. Is this a religious issue for you, @rablo, or is it something else? Why do you wish harm/difficulties on sex workers? Finally, you asserted that it is in fact “in your wheelhouse” to declare that “Sex worker is not a career”. What do you believe gives you the authority to make this declaration?
- stryk 8y agoProstitution is the oldest career there is in the United States (also one of the very few that is genuinely recession-proof). There have always been, and always will be, people willing to pay for and be paid for sex. Take Australia for example, where it's legal, regulated, and safer - I'm sure there are plenty of men & women making a nice living off of it.
- cyberpunk0 8y agoIt's one of the oldest careers in human history...
- erik_seaberg 8y agoNot only human. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_among_animals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_among_animals
- gnahckire 8y agocareer - a field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive achievement especially in public, professional, or business life [1] It has been a career for ages. Reading the history is pretty interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_prostitution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_prostitution [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/career https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/career
- abiox 8y agowhy do you say that?
- saas_co_de 8y agoYes, and they will have to "suffer" so that the scum owners of backpage who actively promoted child sex trafficking can no longer make millions selling children. If platforms keep child sex traffickers off their sites they won't get touched. If they don't they will get shut down. It really isn't that hard.
- heroprotagonist 8y agoWhere did you get this information?
- cwyers 8y agohttps://www.wired.com/story/feds-seize-backpagecom-site-linked-to-sex-trafficking/ https://www.wired.com/story/feds-seize-backpagecom-site-link...
- heroprotagonist 8y agoThis link does not suggest that the owners of backpage were actively promoting child sex trafficking or selling children. The closest connection is about them automatically stripping suggestive words like "lolita" and "young" from online ads without blocking the advertisement. It's a bit of doublethink to suggest that removing suggestive words from an advertisement is facilitation. Where they got into more trouble was in the manual editing process. They moved from outright deleting all posts that offend to editing advertisements to remove 'sex for money' (not child sex) references because it was potentially driving their user base elsewhere and ultimately not effective in educating their usersabout what specifically in the post was not acceptable. So, greed, really. But the manual review process was not the same as the automatic removal of questionable phrases (such as the ones picked up by the media and politicians to further an agenda). Their moderators were not people actively seeking to enable the sale of children because the company would see increased advertising revenue. While they were greedy on the sex-for-money front, it's a huge unsupported leap to suggest actively enabling the sale of children. I'm sure if they saw some children for sale they would have acted appropriately. The same report that mentions the automatic filters advises that Backpage itself reports cases of suspected child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and that in some months Backpage has transmitted hundreds of such reports to NCMEC. Which, of course, I am sure they are no longer sending these hundreds of reports per month since they were effectively shut down. Maybe there will be some other system with a moderation process that is likely to draw in and report offenders. But we'll probably kill that too. So, if the crime is facilitating prostitution, sure, they are guilty. Intent is clearly there. Knowingly facilitating child sex trafficking? No, the only indicator is automatic removal of phrases from posts. That's the fabrication extrapolated from scant evidence which was used to build support for encroaching legislation. The source of data for the hyperbolic claims of child sex trafficking was this 2017 Senate report if you'd like to review and make your own conclusions: https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report%202017.01.10%20FINAL.pdf https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report...
- dooglius 8y agoIANAL, but do the plaintiffs actually have standing to sue given that they have not been charged under the act? The problems seem to stem from uncertainty and ambiguity in how people think the law may be enforced, not based on any actual enforcement.
- dmitrygr 8y agoUnfortunately the point you bring up is likely valid. It will probably get tossed due to lack of standing.
- lsiebert 8y agoThat's one of the reasons for the broad array of plaintiffs. Maybe some of them don't have standing, but as long as one of them does, they can continue.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- otterley 8y agoGood question. (I am a lawyer but this is not legal advice.) As recently as 2014, the Supreme Court held that “a plaintiff satisfies the injury-in-fact requirement where he alleges ‘an intention to engage in a course of conduct arguably affected with a constitutional interest, but proscribed by a statute, and there exists a credible threat of prosecution thereunder.’” Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus, 573 U.S. __ (citing Babbitt v. Farm Workers, 442 U. S. 289, 298 (1979)). This is but the latest in a consistent thread of case law holding that an actual criminal indictment need not be made against a plaintiff for them to have standing. As long as there’s a credible threat of enforcement and they can show intent to commit the proscribed act, that’s sufficient to satisfy the standing requirement.
- comex 8y agoFor the First Amendment in particular there's also a concept of a "chilling effect" on speech, which can make it a bit easier to establish standing.
- kuon 8y agoI will never understand why the USA, while producing so much porn, is so strict with sex. Here prostitution is legal and you can buy sex toys at the drug store.
- cuckcuckspruce 8y agoYou can buy a small selection of sex toys at the drug store in America: https://www.cvs.com/shop/sexual-health/vibrators-adult-toys https://www.cvs.com/shop/sexual-health/vibrators-adult-toys
- murjinsee 8y agoIt's because our politicians are hypocrites who use morality as prestige, all the while engaging in the very behavior they decry. I guess there's also less of a paper-trail when prostitution is illegal, and girls are less willing to come forward about beatings and nonpayment, so...