SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
DOJ Lets Cops Know SESTA/FOSTA Is For Shutting Down Websites, Not Busting Sex Traffickers
[SESTA/FOSTA] is in force and all it's doing is hurting efforts to track down sex traffickers and harming sex workers whose protections were already minimal. Sex traffickers, however, don't appear to be bothered by the new law. But that's because the law wasn't written to target sex traffickers, as a top DOJ official made clear at a law enforcement conference on child exploitation. Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan's comments make it clear SESTA/FOSTA won't be used to dismantle criminal organizations and rescue victims of sex traffickers. It's there to give the government easy wins over websites while sex traffickers continue unmolested.
In April, Backpage.com – the internet's leading forum to advertise child prostitution – was seized and shut down, thanks to the collective action by CEOS and our federal and state partners. The Backpage website was a criminal haven where sex traffickers marketed their young victims. The Backpage takedown – and the contemporaneous arrests of individuals allegedly responsible for administering the site – struck a monumental blow against child sex traffickers.
But other sites inevitably will seek to fill the void left by Backpage, and we must be vigilant in bringing those criminals to justice as well. With the recent passage of the SESTA-FOSTA legislation, state and local prosecutors are now positioned to more effectively prosecute criminals that host online sex trafficking markets that victimize our children.
"Criminals" that "host sex trafficking markets." That's the target. That's any website that might be used by actual sex traffickers to engage in actual sex trafficking. There's no dedicated web service for sex trafficking -- at least not out in the open where Section 230 immunity used to matter. This is all about taking down websites for hosting any content perceived as sex trafficking-related. It wasn't enough to hang Backpage and its execs. The government will be scanning sites for this content and then targeting the website for content posted by third parties it seems mostly uninterested in pursuing.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Monday June 18 2018, @04:07AM (8 children)
And yet you just said "Gun control 'cause think of the children!!!"
Hypocrite much?
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday June 18 2018, @05:47AM (7 children)
What's your proposal for dealing with school shootings? Prayer? Fewer exits? Arming the teachers? Or something else, or do you think there's no need to make any changes at all?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 18 2018, @09:56AM
Some problems in life have no solutions. What is the solution to crime?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by PinkyGigglebrain on Monday June 18 2018, @02:21PM (5 children)
Most schools are already "Gun Free Zones". "Feel good" laws like declaring an area "gun free" or "drug free" do not help. What is needed to curb gun violence is action that address the real cause of gun violence, namely the sub cultures that glorifies or accepts violence as an acceptable first response to any conflict or disagreement.
Saying the problem is because of the guns is like saying that all the car deaths every year are because of the cars. In both cases the cause of the deaths is the person using the tool, not the tool itself.
The USA has more guns per person than any other country, but there are many countries that have higher gun homicide rates than the USA despite having less guns per person. Its not the guns, it is the culture. Address the real issues like poverty, lack of education, employment opportunities, and accessible mental health care and you will see the number of homicides, assaults, and other violent crimes drop.
Also the gun homicide rate in the USA has been steadily dropping for the last 30 years, despite what the media might be portraying the issue is improving.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday June 18 2018, @05:26PM (2 children)
Gun deaths in the US are INCREASING, not decreasing. [time.com]
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday June 18 2018, @05:28PM
Also, since you cherry-picked homicides I'll note that those are ALSO increasing.
in America are suicides, but an Associated Press analysis of FBI data shows there were about 11,000 gun-related homicides in 2016, up from 9,600 in 2015.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @01:35PM
There are always swings. The overall trend has been that they are decreasing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 18 2018, @11:48PM (1 child)
Maybe we should apply similar rules to gun ownership as we do to a drivers license.
You would need to have a gun license. To get the license you would need to pass a test to show that you can use a gun safely.
The license would need to be renewed. You would need to carry insurance.
If you do something really stupid while in possession of a gun you could lose the right to a gun license.
Right now, a drunk ass good old boy waving a gun around, does not lose the right to own or carry a gun.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @01:05PM
Brandishing, unlawful concealment if applicable, assault (in the legal sense which is quite loose), can all be felonies depending on the jurisdiction and could very well result in losing the right to carry or own a firearm.