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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]


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @03:54PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @03:54PM (#596230)

    Well, I'm not certain we need a parallel universe. How does this work out in Amsterdam?

    I'm curious to hear a feminist perspective on that, since I know we have a few on here.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @04:30PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @04:30PM (#596268)

    As the AC commenter that Grishnakh commented on, I live in The Netherlands. Sex trafficking is still a problem here, although you don't hear much about it, most of the news you get are problems regarding "Loverboys" as we call them. I expect this to be just the top of the iceberg regarding sex trafficking. As for Grishnakh's comment, I don't think that you can completely compare them with drug legislation/war on drugs. The reason for this is that people that get into the sex trafficking circuit are easily to be exploited (due to various reasons). You could legalize it, but those people will not suddenly be un-exploitable. With legalizing drugs/weed you get parties that start mass producing it and can push down the market value and destroy the black market's profit.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by bob_super on Monday November 13 2017, @06:25PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Monday November 13 2017, @06:25PM (#596357)

      Additionally, people participating into a legal business (suppliers and customers) tend to be a lot more cooperative, when law enforcement tries to stamp out despicable actors operating in the same activity branch.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @10:59PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @10:59PM (#596537)

      Sex trafficking is still a problem here

      To what extent? Would it be more or less of a problem if prostitution was illegal?

  • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday November 13 2017, @10:56PM

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday November 13 2017, @10:56PM (#596534)

    You could also ask an Aussie, or a Kiwi.

    As far as I am aware, sex-trafficking is not much of a problem here, (NZ) since prostitution was made legal.

    The issue always has been that it makes no difference how legal it is, there will always be prostitutes, so why not just give them the same protection as other workers and get them to pay tax properly?