Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by takyon on Monday November 13 2017, @12:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the tech-industry-siesta dept.

Internet Giants Support SESTA

Tech companies are cheering on a bill that guts internet protections

In a unanimous vote, the Senate Commerce Committee approved the Stop Enabling Sex Trafficking Act (or SESTA), clearing the way for a full vote by the House and Senate. As Congress wrestles over tax reform and the debt ceiling, it's still unclear when SESTA will reach a larger vote, and it still faces stern opposition from tech policy organizations and even some anti-trafficking groups. But with more than 30 senators already signed on, the bill seems primed to pass whenever it reaches the floor.

The biggest twist has come from the industry itself. After weeks of debate, a string of tech companies and industry groups have come around to supporting SESTA, leaving critics with few allies and narrowing options. It's an unusual stance for the tech industry to take on a bill that some say would strike at some of the internet's most fundamental protections. But as Google and Facebook face mounting pressure for regulation, SESTA increasingly seems like a workable compromise, giving prosecutors a new tool while fending off more onerous regulation. For anyone dealing with user-generated content, the result could be a dangerous new source of legal risk, one that only the largest companies are fully equipped to handle.

Also at EFF and Marketplace. Wikipedia.

SESTA Could Destroy Wikipedia

Wikipedia Warns That SESTA Could Destroy Wikipedia

For many people supporting SESTA, the discussion seems to start and end with "sex trafficking is bad, this bill says it targets sex trafficking and therefore it's good" (and maybe with a touch of "if it hurts big internet companies, that's fine, they deserve it.") But, the impact of SESTA goes way beyond that (not to mention it doesn't actually do anything to stop sex trafficking and could make the problem worse). It's good to see Wikimedia speak up -- and hopefully someone in Congress will finally start to understand why SESTA is such a bad bill.

[Update: With thanks to lgsoynews, Here is the link to the text of the bill: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1693/text and, another link, from the EFF, with some IMPORTANT context in the beginning (missing from the official link) :
https://www.eff.org/files/2017/08/02/sesta2017.pdf (pdf)

--martyb]


Original Submission #1Original Submission #2

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by bradley13 on Monday November 13 2017, @01:56PM

    by bradley13 (3053) on Monday November 13 2017, @01:56PM (#596173) Homepage Journal

    The parent post is very informative - thanks! FWIW, I see three motivations for this bill:

    - Electioneering: "think of the children" feel-good crap. Who cares what side-effect this bill will have, as long as the Congresscritters can wave around their support while campaigning in 2018?

    - Expand government power and censorship. The acts they are chasing are already illegal, but now every website owner is a potential criminal. One comment by Joe Random User that can be seen as "facilitating sex trafficking" -
      and facilitate is a very broad word - and the website owner can be prosecuted. Yet another charge to hold over people's heads, in order to demand their compliance with whatever the government wants to extort out of them.

    - Follow the money. Only the biggest companies have any chance of policing their comments sections, and hiring the lawyers needed to defend themselves. What a glorious way to prevent upstart competitors from ever getting into the business!

    --
    Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Interesting=1, Informative=1, Total=2
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   4