SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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]
(Score: 2, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Monday November 13 2017, @03:09PM (1 child)
A lot, a lot of our great politicians are supporting this bill. Senator Feinstein, one of our greatest Democrats and a beautiful woman, loves it. She's not beautiful, she's got a beautiful heart. A heart of gold, which I love. Senator Portman, a great Republican. Probably a great Republican. Very big Second Amendment guy. He loves his guns. As does Senator Feinstein, she loves guns. She doesn't love the Second Amendment but she's a proud gun owner. Senator Blumenthal, another Dem. I've said some things about his Vietnam record that didn't exist, for years he said it did, but it didn't. But he made a smart move, he's sponsoring SESTA. Senator McCain, we all know what he did in Vietnam. He got himself shot down, not great. Senator McCain, supposedly, is a Republican. A lot, a lot of the time I wonder. He "torpedoed" us on Obamacare, on repealing & replacing Obamacare. So good with a torpedo, maybe he should have been in the Navy instead of the Air Force. But he made a smart move, he got on board with SESTA. With one finger on the eject button, I'm sure. Senator McCaskill, another beautiful Dem. Inside and out. Not a natural blond, I don't think that's her natural color. But it looks good on her. As does her support for SESTA. And so many more fine senators from both parties. Senators Heitkamp, Blunt, Capito, Casey, Collins,, Graham, Isakson, Klobuchar, Lankford, Lee, Nelson, Brown, Murkowski, Shaheen, Hoeven and Cochran. Senators Corker, Cruz, Flake and Rubio, not great guys, they've done some things that aren't great. Far from great. People make mistakes. You've made mistakes. We all make mistakes. But this is a great thing they're doing, they're standing for SESTA. Standing up for our kids and young people, and some not so young, but young enough to have sex. Young enough that someone would pay to have sex with them. Which is happening on a lot, a lot of our cyber sites.
Our biggest, greatest cyber companies love SESTA. Sheryl from Facebook loves it, Facebook is all for it. 21st Century Fox, which is Fox News, loves it. Disney, which does great work with our precious children, loves it. Google, Oracle and HP, some of our biggest, greatest cyber companies, love it.
I've said before, we have kids that are watching the Internet . They’re young, they’re impressionable. We're losing a lot of people because of the Internet. We have to, in certain areas, close that Internet up in some ways. We have to do something about that Internet. SESTA will do something about it. Somebody will say, "Oh, freedom of speech, freedom of speech." These are foolish people. The ACLU, the EFF, are very foolish. They're LOSERS. Folks, tell your senators, don't listen to the fools. Don't listen to the losers. Tell them to pass SESTA! I urge our Senators to pass SESTA. I think we already have the votes. We feel confident we have the votes. I'm almost certain we have the votes. I am sitting in the Philippines with a pen in hand, waiting for our senators to give it to me. I have pen in hand. Believe me, I'm in Philippines, I have pen in hand. 🇺🇸🇵🇭
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 14 2017, @12:29AM
Jesus, you should be Trump's speechwriter--if only he gave a rip about wasting 20 minutes practicing reading prepared communication.