sextrafficking
Latest
Facebook sued for allegedly enabling human trafficking
A Texas woman is suing Facebook for allegedly facilitating sex trafficking on its platform. The woman, identified as Jane Doe, claims that at the age of 16, she was friended by another Facebook user, with whom she had friends in common, and he later beat, raped and forced her into sex trafficking. He also allegedly posted photos of her on the now defunct Backpage.com. The suit names Backpage.com and two hotel owners as defendants as well.
EFF and human rights groups sue to have FOSTA declared unconstitutional
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a number of other organizations and individuals have filed a lawsuit asking for FOSTA to be declared unconstitutional, with the EFF saying the law was "written so poorly that it actually criminalizes a substantial amount of protected speech." They're also pursuing an injunction that would prevent FOSTA from being enforced while a court considers the case. FOSTA was signed into law in April and though it claims to be an effort to stop sex trafficking, the flawed legislation features broad language, conflates sex trafficking and sex work and by many accounts, actually makes fighting sex trafficking more difficult. Among those speaking out against FOSTA and its sister bill SESTA were the ACLU, the Department of Justice, sex work rights organizations and sex trafficking victims groups.
Suicide, violence, and going underground: FOSTA’s body count
Maybe you've noticed a sudden flood of updates to Terms and Conditions recently from the internet services you use. A close look at those agreements will show that many are GDPR related, but some are most definitely not. Welcome to the culture of fear, ushered in by the passing of FOSTA-SESTA.
Trump signs controversial FOSTA-SESTA bill into law
Donald Trump has signed the controversial FOSTA-SESTA bill into law, as he was widely expected to do. While touted as a way to crack down on sex trafficking in the US, many are concerned that the law will give way to online censorship and make sex workers less safe. The bill's many detractors included the Department of Justice, the ACLU, the EFF, anti-trafficking groups and sex worker organizations. It has been backed by the Internet Association as well as high profile individuals like Amy Schumer and Seth Meyers.
Backpage.com officials indicted following FBI shutdown
Last week, the US government seized the classified website Backpage.com, disabled it, and replaced its front page with a disclaimer announcing its shutdown. The site's cofounders had been the subject of law enforcement investigations into pimping, sex trafficking and money-laundering over the years. Today, a grand jury in Phoenix indicted seven officials associated with the website with alleged money laundering and facilitating prostitution.
Backpage.com was seized by the federal government
Classifieds website Backpage.com has been seized and disabled by the federal government. When you visit the website now, you'll see a message saying it and all affiliated websites have been taken over "as part of an enforcement action by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Postal Inspection Service and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, with analytical assistance from the Joint Regional Intelligence Center." The message goes on to name a handful of other enforcement groups involved in the action and states that more information will be provided by the US Department of Justice later this evening. Backpage is the second largest classifieds website.
Congress just legalized sex censorship: What to know
One week ago, the worst possible legislation curtailing free speech online passed and sex censorship bill FOSTA-SESTA is on its way to be signed into law by Trump. Hours after the announcement, everything from the mere discussion of sex work to client screening and safe advertising networks began getting systematically erased from the open internet. Thousands — if not hundreds of thousands — of women, LGBTQ people, gay men, immigrants, and a significant number of people of color lost their income. Pushed out of safe online spaces and toward street corners. So were any and all victims of sex trafficking that law enforcement might've been able to find on the open internet.
Senate passes sex-trafficking bill that may lead to online censorship
Today, the Senate passed the controversial Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) and the bill now heads to the White House where Donald Trump is expected to sign it. While some groups like the Internet Association have backed the bill, many others have come out against it saying the bill will lead to online censorship and make it more difficult to find and prosecute sex traffickers. Those who've spoken out against SESTA include the National Organization for Women, the ACLU, the EFF, the Department of Justice as well as a variety of sex work rights organizations and sex trafficking victims' groups.
How 'sex trafficking' just opened the censorship floodgates
In a 388 to 25 vote Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed legislation that makes websites criminally responsible if they can be seen as facilitating sex work. It still needs to get through the Senate, but with his daughter's endorsement, Trump is anticipated to sign it. Along with its maddening misconceptions about preventing sex trafficking and helping victims, FOSTA-SESTA incorrectly defines sex work and sex trafficking as one thing.
House passes contentious anti-online sex trafficking bill
Sex-trafficking victims, prosecutors and state attorneys will be able to sue websites that host ads and content linked to the sex trade under the bill the House has just approved. The bill called "Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017" or FOSTA seeks to amend Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which protects websites from lawsuits over user-generated posts. It was filed by Rep. Ann Wagner (pictured above) to target websites like Backpage, which hosts sex and child trafficking ads. Previous investigations have revealed that Backpage went as far as editing posters' ads -- it replaced words in ads trafficking minors with terms like "fresh," for instance -- to conceal evidence from law enforcement.
Amazon and Microsoft employees caught up in sex trafficking sting
The tech industry has a clear history of sexism and misogyny, but a recent Newsweek report highlights another problem. The publication got its hands on a slew of emails sent to brothels and pimps between 2014 and 2016 that document the industry's patronage of brothels and purchasing of services from trafficked sex workers. Among the emails, which were obtained through a public records request to the King County Prosecutor's Office, were 67 sent from Microsoft employee email accounts, 63 from Amazon accounts and dozens more from companies like Boeing, T-Mobile, Oracle and local Seattle tech firms.
Internet giants now support bill to curb online sex trafficking
For ages, internet companies have fought changes to the Communications Decency Act's Section 230, which protects them from liability for content that might pass through their websites. They don't want to be sued because someone conducted sex trafficking on their sites without their knowledge. They've had a change of heart, though. The Internet Association (which includes Amazon, Facebook and Google) now supports the proposed Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, which would explicitly punish online sites that facilitate exploitation, after lawmakers altered the bill to protect innocent sites against criminal charges and lawsuits.
Backpage CEO arrested and charged with pimping a minor
Online classified ad site Backpage.com has been going through legal turmoil for years, and with good reason -- there's plenty of evidence that the site's "adult" section has been a haven of sex trafficking, including some advertisements for sexual encounters with minors. All those issues are hitting the company in a big way today: CEO Carl Ferrer and founders Michael Lacey and James Larkin were charged today in California on charges of conspiracy and pimping a minor, reports The New York Times.
