Are VPNs still a thing? I think they are? US law is meaningless outside the US …
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Advertising sex work on Craigslist reduces violence against sex workers. https://thinkprogress.org/craigslist-erotic-services-platform-3eab46092717/
I don’t see how this development will do anything but reduce sex workers’ safe channels for finding clients (and eliminate my favorite tawdry reading material).
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No kidding. Now my remaining craigslist entertainment is reading the jewelry for sale section and looking at the engagement rings. A typical ad reads “.5 ct princess cut diamond solitaire. Paid $800. Never been worn. I don’t need it anymore, so first $500 offer gets it. Will meet at walmart parking lot for exchange.” They are like little haiku’s on lost love and betrayal.
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Well gosh, it’s certainly a good thing that some Americans decided to elect people who wanted to get rid of all those pesky regulations holding us back from our freedoms.
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I’m surprised Boingboing hadn’t reported on this bill at all in the past…
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Doesn’t this mean that Craigslist and Reddit knew that their services were being used to facilitate prostitution and that they were being reckless about it? Reddit was pretty on the ball in shutting down the subreddits they knew were problematic.
In any case, weakening 230 for this purpose sets the stage for holding websites accountable for the hate speech and abuse that goes on. Not under Trump, maybe, but one day. It makes more sense to go this way (go after currently illegal activity before trying to take on the technically legal stuff).
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“Looking for a sub-woofer and large bass bins, no tweeters need apply.”
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Also note that only two senators (Wyden and Rand Paul) voted against this bill. Freedom-lovin’ Bernie Sanders voted for it, because apparently nobody likes even the concept of sex workers.
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Republican legislators believe that everyone should be making hookups the way they do–in men’s washrooms.
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It is going to take a long time to fix this country. We are certainly broken. I have to fight the desire to leave.
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God forbid social media websites should be held accountable for anything!
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God forbid gun manufacturers should be held liable for someone misusing their product unlawfully.
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Craigslist shut down their actual sex pages years ago, which shifted the traffic to Backpage, which caused them to be demonized. True, there have been human trafficking cases through them, but most slams ignore that they try to work with police.
“On the other hand, we do as law enforcement regularly receive information from Backpage through their filtering process about the existence of potential victims, both of human trafficking and of youth sexual exploitation, that we might not otherwise be aware of.”
Backpage has an internal filtering system identifying ads “of questionable nature” that might indicate a potential victim of human trafficking, or an underage person being advertised, Rubner explained.
The website then notifies the RCMP’s Human Trafficking National Co-ordination Centre, which in turn contacts the appropriate local police force, Rubner said.
For some of the people behind FOSTA, I have to wonder if they really do have good intentions about sex trafficking, or if that’s just their hammer to stop other people from having sex.
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I don’t mind the desire, I’m fighting the impossibility of leaving.
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On the bright side the “Rants and Raves” section is gone with it.
Good riddance.
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I’m suddenly very, very curious regarding how Facebook (or any other platform for user content) expects to survive the inevitable lawsuits against deep-pocket targets…
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Well it makes sense. It’s just like if a gun store sells someone a gun and they use it to commit a crime, the gun store can be held liable. Oh, wait …
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Yup, much better to have these people on the streets encountering people they don’t know and can’t vet rather than to let them use the internet so they can be safe and don’t have to pay a pimp. This is a jobs program for pimps.
edit to ask: what happens if a website hosted outside the U.S. is used to offer “escort” services within the U.S.?
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They should use the space to include the state’s national Reps and Senators …
But this is going to make it difficult for congressional aides to have a social life.
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But I think this is not just government overreach; looks like it’s that plus CL overreacting. Anyway, very sad to see this happening.
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