Say Goodbye To Backpage

[Drukpa Kunley]

Read the two new bills that will shut down Backpage and other adult websites. It passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on February 27 and it goes to the U.S. Senate for a vote and passage next week. Trump will sign it into federal law.

"Looking forward to today’s House vote on legislation that will help prevent online sex trafficking. The perpetrators of this horrific crime need to be held accountable, and we must continue to take steps to combat all forms of sex trafficking. " ~ Ivanka Trump


H.R.1865 - Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017


https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-...ouse-bill/1865


S. 1693: Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act of 2017


https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/s1693/text


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.0b9a52af89c4

[Drukpa Kunley]

Read why now, this MPR site, RMaps, and other adult oriented websites will need to lawyer up just like Backpage had to.

The U.S. House of Representatives bill, FOSTA, "Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act" was amended to include the U.S. Senate bill, SESTA, "Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act."

FOSTA makes "promoting prostitution" a federal crime, holds websites legally liable for user-posted content, and lets states retroactively prosecute offenders.

FOSTA targets website platforms that allow user-generated content as well as adults consensually engaging in prostitution with sex workers.

FOSTA explicitly criminalizes whoever uses or operates a facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce or attempts to do so with the intent to promote or facilitate the prostitution of another person.

The two bills, FOSTA and SESTA, undermine Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which protects online platforms from being held liable for the speech of their users.

In addition to its criminal provisions, FOSTA makes possible civil suits brought by state Attorneys General targeting advertisers on websites that enable communication about sex work.


President Donald Trump "applauds the House of Representatives for its work," the White House said in a statement on Thursday evening March 1.


Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Reason Magazine


https://reason.com/blog/2018/02/28/fosta

[astroslide]

Amazing. They're gonna strike down Section 230. That means half the internet will be criminally liable for anything that gets posted. Totally ridiculous

[mikesan1]

They can't stop us.
Between decentralized networking combined with innovative social/communication apps the Feds are too stupid and far too slow to be effective.

[mikesan1]

Backpage has been in decline for some time.
It's hard to even read anymore.

[Drukpa Kunley]

Wiretapping Sex Workers, Punishing Pre-Crime, and a National Strategy to Stop Sex-Buyers Approved by the U.S. Senate

Congress moves to grant the Trump administration vast new policing powers, because of "sex trafficking."

U.S. Senators quietly passed two significant expansions of federal power.

Two more bills were introduced by Republicans and passed the U.S. Senate unanimously. Both are dressed up as attempts to fight sex trafficking.

Both bills are simply a pretext to give vast new law enforcement authority to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, President Trump, and police across the entire country.

Under these new measures, the FBI and immigration agents as well as state and local police can secretly wiretap suspected sex workers, or those who associate with them. The new police federal powers and secret wire tap authority targets the customers of sex workers or any buyers of commercial sex.

The wiretapping authority extends well beyond sex traffickers, including consenting adults on any side of a commercial sexual exchange.

The two bills call for a new national strategy to reduce "demand" for prostitution, orders all U.S. attorneys offices to treat the sex trade as "a form of gender-based violence," and funds anti-sex trafficking training for police for "arresting and prosecuting buyers of commercial sex."

A large focus throughout both of the bills is on prostitution customers.


The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2017
January 22, 2018

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-...bill/4601/text


Abolish Human Trafficking Act of 2017
September 21, 2017

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-...nate-bill/1311


Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Reason Magazine


http://reason.com/blog/2017/09/15/trafficking

[ExecutiveVIP]

They can't really stop anyone...someone will setup the equivalent website offshore away from the grasp of Trump's little hands. Or we can go on reddit and setup a subreditt that's tagged NSFW. It's an endless cat & mouse game.

[marsean]

I believe that comment about an endless game. The present format for BP on the dating feature(escorts)sucks with the phone only column. How many hours do you have to read all that to get to an appropriate choice? Plus it takes some calls or contact to get basic info that was formerly available. I see the massage section still has a mix of providers but it is still a longer time wise process to find what looks good. More and more will just rely on their previous providers. Maybe this is why some escorts post under massage section or else they cannot put any detail. Little by little the flow of info is going elsewhere. Also the focus on "buyers" makes you realize you need to find safe ways to reach consensus understanding when with providers. Be safe out there.

[mikefandango]

Originally Posted by ExecutiveVIP

They can't really stop anyone...someone will setup the equivalent website offshore away from the grasp of Trump's little hands. Or we can go on reddit and setup a subreditt that's tagged NSFW. It's an endless cat & mouse game.

Totally agree , and most of their site already moved offshore (the competitor of this site is based in cyprus) and unless you do like china and ban websites, you will never stop it....

[Inspector_Lee]

Originally Posted by Drukpa Kunley

LOL. having an offshore server for your website doesn't give you immunity. the FBI and DOJ have successfully indicted, arrested, prosecuted, seized assets, and imprisoned numerous individuals for various federal crimes that had their servers located outside of the U.S.

Yeah, if they can invade a foreign country (Panama) and arrest their leader (Manuel Noriega) for violations of US laws while never having left his own country, and then put him on trial, convict and imprison him, it just shows that they will do as much as they can get away with, no matter how they have to twist and pervert the written law to do it. And this was before the Patriot Act, runaway Executive Orders and the skyrocketing progress of the American Police State in the 21st Century. Think what it will be like in 5 years. Scary.