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posted by janrinok on Sunday April 15 2018, @11:09AM   Printer-friendly
from the as-long-as-it-is-not-encrypted dept.

[A] Melbourne-based company Assembly Four created Switter after its founders learned that social media platforms were either removing sex workers' content or banning their accounts. Without the time or resources to build a whole new network from scratch, the group turned to Mastodon.

The Verge reports:

Sex workers are running out of safe online spaces. Craigslist is no longer displaying personal ads. The controversial classifieds site Backpage, which many escorts used to screen clients, has been seized by the FBI. Adult content is disappearing off Google Drive, and many sex workers say they're being forced off social media. With the news that President Trump has signed the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), their options will continue to dwindle — and with it, the ability for many sex workers to pay their bills, let alone do so safely.

Over the past few weeks, sex workers have been turning to an unexpected platform to remain online: the social network Mastodon, under a new instance called "Switter." Melbourne-based company Assembly Four created Switter after its founders learned that social media platforms were either removing sex workers' content or banning their accounts. Without the time or resources to build a whole new network from scratch, the group turned to Mastodon.

Although ostensibly aimed at sex trafficking prevention, FOSTA's reduction of legal protections for websites is having disastrous consequences for sex workers. Faced with the new potential for litigation, many websites are removing any content or avenues that could possibly violate FOSTA. It's disconnecting many of the most vulnerable sex workers from crucial resources.

[...] Switter may offer a temporary salve for the community, yet sex workers say it cannot stand as a last bastion, an end-all be-all answer for their profession. Assembly Four says it's prepared to continue working to make it a safe destination for sex workers, but that they need real change.

"The best-case scenario would be the opposite," says Hunt. "The best-case scenario would be if we didn't need to have safe spaces, if public spaces were somewhere we were accepted."

Fast-Company, Buzzfeed, Vice and Techdirt have related stories.


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 15 2018, @12:39PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 15 2018, @12:39PM (#667247)

    I don't know what kind of bakers you visit where the shop reeks of stale semen and you risk contracting a sexually communicable infection.

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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by KiloByte on Sunday April 15 2018, @12:42PM (1 child)

    by KiloByte (375) on Sunday April 15 2018, @12:42PM (#667250)

    I don't know what kind of bakers you visit where the shop reeks of stale semen and you risk contracting a sexually communicable infection.

    If bakers had to hide within seedy backstreets, their shops would look just like that. See abortion clinics for example.

    --
    Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.
    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday April 15 2018, @02:48PM

      by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Sunday April 15 2018, @02:48PM (#667280) Homepage

      That would explain the Inland Empire. [bakersdrivethru.com] Never contracted an STD from them but god damn they are swarming with whores and bums, and they give you wicked stomach bugs as well.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 15 2018, @10:20PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 15 2018, @10:20PM (#667401)

    I don't know what kind of bakers you visit where the shop reeks of stale semen and you risk contracting a sexually communicable infection.

    If you don't like the smell, you don't have to visit. And the risk of a sexually communicable infection is irrespective of sex work. It is just as easily contracted from one night stands at the local club or at your mother's house.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @12:34PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @12:34PM (#668012)

    Here's a tip: You get what you pay for... That 200/hr hooker looks good, smells good, and has a clean, cared for space for incall. The 50$ crack whore? Well, she will probably suck you bareback.