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A sex worker review website has blocked U.S. users in anticipation of the Stop Enabling Sex-Trafficking Act (SESTA) coming into effect. U.S.-based users can still access it with a VPN, while all visitors are asked to "not access TER from a Prohibited Country":
A website that hosts customer reviews of sex workers has started blocking Internet users in the United States because of forthcoming changes in US law. Congress recently passed the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act bill (SESTA), and President Trump is expected to sign it into law. SESTA will make it easier to prosecute websites that host third-party content that promotes or facilitates prostitution, even in cases when the sex workers aren't victims of trafficking.
After Congress approved the bill, Craigslist removed its "Personals" section and Reddit removed some sex-related subreddits. The Erotic Review (TER) has followed suit by blocking any user who appears to be visiting the website from the United States. "As a result of this new law, TER has made the difficult decision to block access to the website from the United States until such time as the courts have enjoined enforcement of the law, the law has been repealed or amended, or TER has found a way to sufficiently address any legal concerns created by the new law," the website's home page says in a notice to anyone who accesses the site from a US location.
[...] SESTA was inspired largely by the existence of Backpage. But federal law enforcement authorities were able to shut Backpage down last week, even though SESTA hasn't been signed into law yet. Trump may sign the bill this week. [...] Some sex workers have spoken out against SESTA, saying that websites can help sex workers screen clients and avoid dangerous situations. A group called Survivors Against SESTA says the new law "will cause harm to vulnerable populations engaging in the sex trade without helping trafficking victims."
Previously: U.S. Congress Passes SESTA/FOSTA Law
Craigslist Removes Personals Sections in the U.S.
FBI Seizes backpage.com and Affiliates
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 11 2018, @06:05PM (2 children)
I think you've missed it.
This is the camel's nose in the tent. It's easy to go after sex traffickers, but the precedent they're establishing is that web site operators can be held liable for what their users post. This establishes that web sites are not common carriers. A precedent that will exist in a very Supreme Court sense of the word once this law gets challenged. It's so convenient our judicial branch has a de-facto veto over anything inconvenient amended to the constitution like the bill of rights!
Next they'll come after the fake news. And why not? Who needs lizard person and weather war conspiracies involving delicious cheez pizza clogging up their Failbook and TwitFace feed? I think we can all agree that we don't want fake news.
Wait a little while for what they really want to do, which is shut down websites for carrying oppositional reporting. Doubleplusgood if they arrest the operators. They were just a bunch of filthy, anti-American communists anyway.
Then they'll come after Soylent, and there will be nobody left to speak up for a bunch of smelly dorks!
Well, not really. We're smelly dorks, so we'll just mosey over to a darknet and keep having our pointless flamewars. Or they'll just realize that all we do is have pointless flamewars and Soylent will be fine.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by JNCF on Wednesday April 11 2018, @08:13PM
Five years ago, "Area 51" was still fake news. [theatlantic.com] Don't agree with the government reported numbers of civilian casualties in Iraq? You're fake news, liar. The fake news umbrella can stretch over any inconvenient leaks and statistics they wish it to, effectively allowing censorship of any dissenters who cite non-approved facts without even requiring an escalation past that point. Fake news might as well be the end game.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Thursday April 12 2018, @01:36AM
Wait a little while for what they really want to do, which is shut down websites for carrying oppositional reporting. Doubleplusgood if they arrest the operators. They were just a bunch of filthy, anti-American communists anyway.
Then they'll come after Soylent, and there will be nobody left to speak up for a bunch of smelly dorks!
I really don't see the problem here. If you don't like the laws or liability in a certain country, then you host your website in a different country that doesn't have these problems. It's not like the US is going to set up a "great firewall" any time soon and block these sites. Just don't be dumb and make it obvious you're running the site that's hosted offshore.