I welcome any suggestions for services or sites that are similar to the Craigslist Personals…
Some people will Foucault day long too.
5 Likes
Sorry, I didn’t read the whole thread of comments here. I just came from another site bitching about phone spam, and was thinking, can this be applied to tell communications providers who let third parties unlawfully use their service?
More specifically, can this be used to make the phone companies be liable for phone solicitors violating the Do Not Call Registry?
What this does is drive sex workers from the safety of the indoors back to the dangerous streets. If the intention is to keep people safer, this law also makes it more dangerous for many.
4 Likes
Because a dangerously large percentage of those who seek authority are monsters, and society has yet to make any serious attempt at preventing these people-likes from gaining the authority they crave.
2 Likes
The intention is to make white people, specifically white men, feel safer.
3 Likes
Although interesting, your post is painful to read: 90% of the periods in it should be commas instead.
1 Like
The Act says “Whoever…owns, manages, or operates an interactive computer service…with the intent to promote or facilitate the prostitution of another person”. Note the word intent. This sounds far more like it’s targeted at Backpage than the Craigslist personals. It definitely doesn’t sound like the BoingBoing BBS.
The law didn’t shut down the Craigslist personals. Craig did.
The thing is (and Boing Boing can speak very directly about this topic given the recent legal action against us), being wrong about this interpretation, or indeed, even leaving an opportunity for this law to be used against you in a court action is enough to stifle speech on its’ own.
If an org the size of Craigslist isn’t willing to take on that liability, then I assure you that smaller publishers are definitely not going to assume that risk when doing so may represent an existential crisis.
We’re far past the point where big, wealthy, expensive newspapers stand up for freedoms against money interests or the state. The legal system is quickly becoming an effective medium for both the state and the wealthy to stifle speech they disagree with, and this law, IMHO, tips that balance further in that same direction.
7 Likes
I wouldn’t want to bet the company on something as vague as intent, and it wasn’t Craigslist’s first time through the wringer (2010):
3 Likes
Unfortunately, this is an example where the Supreme Court’s precedents that accord less protection to commercial speech will be used in this instance not to limit the powerful (like tobacco companies advertising cigarettes), but to strip what little power vulnerable people had (like sex workers whose lives are literally in danger).
2 Likes
any background? must have missed this.
4 Likes
That argument could be used against any law. It could equally be used in the absence of a law. The Playboy lawsuit, for example, was summarily dismissed because the judge found there was no basis for it. The only way to avoid frivolous lawsuits entirely is to abolish the civil courts.
The same could be said of laws respecting hate speech or labor rights. A law that prohibits willful hatred against an identifiable group will eventually get used to attack the sale of male tears mugs. A law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race will get used to attack a Black Panther sequel. Should we get rid of all laws because, no matter how clearly drafted, they might get misinterpreted by someone?
Whether you agree or not, prostitution is illegal in most of the United States. If you want to give sex workers a safe place to connect with clients, you have to make the sex work legal. Opposing laws prohibiting the intentional facilitation of an illegal activity may be practical, but it doesn’t actually address the issue. And such a stance just contributes to the disrespect for the law that underlies your concerns about misinterpreting or misusing even well drafted laws.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
