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SESTA Backgrounder Pt 1
This document discusses efforts to curb sex trafficking on the classified advertising website Backpage.com. It provides statistics on human trafficking cases in the US and notes that the majority involve sex trafficking. It discusses legal protections for websites under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and various attempts to sue Backpage that were dismissed based on these protections. However, some cases argued Backpage actively designed its site and policies to facilitate trafficking. Revelations in 2017 suggested Backpage contractors actively created ads, contradicting claims of neutrality. A congresswoman called for a criminal investigation of Backpage under sex trafficking laws.
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SESTA Backgrounder Pt 1
- 1. Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Actof 2017 Cyber Report Backgrounder Part 1: Trafficking and Backpage.com
- 3. 7,621 HUMAN TRAFFICKINGCASES IN US (2016) 77% Involved Sex Trafficking •Victims •83.9% Women •31.6% Children •80.7% Non- Immigrant •CA, TX and FL •33.3% of all cases Source - https://humantraffickinghotline.org/states
- 4. I Am JaneDoe February 2017 Zeroing in on what one victims’ advocate calls the public square for a modern-day form of slavery, Mary Mazzio’s eye-opening documentary reveals that the buying and selling of tweens and teens, long recognized as a plight in some developing nations, is also very much a domestic problem. -- Hollywood Reporter
- 5. “No provider oruser of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider“. SECTION 230, COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT
- 6. THE POLICY BEHIND CDASECTION 230 • The Congress finds the following: (1) The rapidly developing array of Internet and other interactive computer services available to individual Americans represent an extraordinary advance in the availability of educational and informational resources to our citizens. . . . • (3)The Internet and other interactive computer services offer a forum for a true diversity of political discourse, unique opportunities for cultural development, and myriad avenues for intellectual activity. • (b)It is the policy of the United States—(1)to promote the continued development of the Internet and other interactive computer services and other interactive media; • (2)to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet and other interactive computer services, unfettered by Federal or State regulation;
- 7. GETTING AROUND SECTION230 Not Interactive Computer System Distributor Liability Moderator Super-User Liability Promissory Estoppel Partial Responsibility for Content Development Site Marketing or Text Claim, Failure to Warn * Design Site to Require Illegal Content Federal IP Claim Federal Criminal Conspiracy Prosecution * On Appeal
- 8. Jane Doe v. Backpages.com,LLC, Case No.1:14-cv- 13870-RGS (D. Mass. May 15, 2015) Congress has made the determination that the balance between suppression of trafficking and freedom of expression should be struck in favor of the latter in so far as the Internet is concerned. Putting aside the moral judgment that one might pass on Backpage’s business practices, this court has no choice but to adhere to the law that Congress has seen fit to enact. Decision affirmed by First Circuit (2016), cert. denied by Supreme Court (2016).
- 9. J.S. v VillageVoice Media Holdings, LLC (Wash. Sept. 3, 2015) • Court Rejects CDA 230 Defense • The allegations “if proved true, would show that Backpage did more than simply maintain neutral policies prohibiting or limiting certain content.” The thrust of the allegations was that Backpage’s website and content guidelines were not simply neutral policies prohibiting or limiting certain content but were instead “specifically designed … so that pimps can continue to use Backpage.com to traffic in sex.”
- 10. October 2016 • BackpageCEO Carl Ferrer Arrested • Charged with Pimping by California • Complaint Dismissed Under CDA 230 • Cal AG Refiles as Money Laundering and Pimping Case
- 11. January 2017: Senate Investigations SubcommitteeReport • Backpage knowingly covered up evidence of criminal activity by systematically editing its so-called adult ads. • Backpage knows that it facilitates prostitution and even child sex trafficking. • 93 percent of Backpage’s ad revenue in 2011 stemmed from its adult section. • Of all the child sex trafficking reports submitted by members of the public to the CyberTipline, more than seventy-one percent (71%) relate to Backpage ads.” (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) • Backpage shuts down “adult” ads in response, but ads migrate to other portions of the site.
- 12. July 2017: New Revelations •“A contractor for the controversial classifieds website Backpage.com has been aggressively soliciting and creating sex-related ads, despite Backpage’s repeated insistence that it had no role in the content of ads posted on its site, according to a trove of newly discovered documents.” • Backpage Philippine contractor lured adult advertisers, even creating ads for them. Link: http://wapo.st/2sJpAwf?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.d7fafab56961
- 13. July 13: Rep.Wagner Calls for Criminal Investigation of Backpage We write to urge the U.S. Department of Justice to immediately investigate Backpage.com and bring the website to justice under 18 U.S. Code § 1591 for knowingly advertising and financially benefiting from participation in sex trafficking.