[SWAF-Potluck] Time Sensitive: Info on SESTA/FOSTA

[Kerry Porth]

Hi Everyone,

As some of you know, the US Congress and Senate have recently passed two
bills, ostensibly to fight "sex trafficking".

FOSTA will give more power to victims and prosecutors to sue websites that
"knowingly aid sex trafficking" and includes language about promoting or
facilitating the prostitution of another person. As of this morning,
Craigslist in the USA has already pulled their personals section. If you
click on the link, you'll get this message: "US Congress just passed HR
1865, "FOSTA" <https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1865>,
seeking to subject websites to criminal and civil liability when third
parties (users) misuse online personals unlawfully." This BEFORE Trump has
added his fancy signature making it a law.

SESTA empowers states to go after websites in a sort of weird parental role
in much the same way as FOSTA. Taken together, these laws are a direct
attack on sex workers' ability to advertise, to connect with each other in
virtual spaces, and to share bad date information.

You can find more out about these new laws here:
https://survivorsagainstsesta.org

And, you may want to sign up for a teleconference call THIS SUNDAY
MARCH 25 with
Kate D'Adamo of the Sex Workers' Project in New York to learn more. Details
here:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd8ugt81KOFnzRyuCG4
A12zhnH7Mex8w9vy79-3oLGPdo7SrA/viewform?fbzx=-185
6328853573021700#SurvivorsAgainstSESTA

Sadly, this will absolutely have an impact on Canadian sex workers as some
of the sites we use are hosted in the USA.

I'll share more information as it becomes available.

In solidarity,

Kerry
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.resist.ca/pipermail/swaf-potluck/attachments/20180323/b9242b7e/attachment.html>