2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 3 (FOSTA/Backpage)

* United States v. Lacey, 2019 WL 5448351 (D. Ariz. Oct. 24, 2019). The Backpage defendants were not able to dismiss the government’s prosecution:

• “the Government has met its burden of showing the fifty ads in the SI are for prostitution”
• “The SI alleges Defendants participated in moderation not merely to edit, but to “conceal the true nature of the ads being posted on its website.”… The cases Defendants rely on do not persuade the Court that the above practices alleged in the SI were merely traditional, editorial functions.”
•  “The SI does not allege Defendants are criminally liable because they unknowingly and unintentionally operated a website used by third parties to post prostitution ads. Rather, it alleges Defendants purposely sought out opportunities to increase prostitution advertising on Backpage.”
• “Defendants argue the First Amendment requires the Government to prove that each Defendant was aware of each ad that make up the fifty Travel Act counts and knew that each ad proposed illegal transactions. The Court is not persuaded that the First Amendment demands such a standard….The SI alleges the Defendants intentionally identified prostitutes, created free Backpage ads for them, and used those ads to try to secure future business. They also helped known prostitution advertisers (Dollar Bill and P.R.) avoid their decency filters and attempted to “conceal the true nature of the ads being posted on” Backpage.”

* Reason: Secret Memos Show the Government Has Been Lying About Backpage

* Erased: The Impact of FOSTA-SESTA, a community report by Danielle Blunt and Ariel Wolf of Hacking//Hustling. Some quotes from sex workers about SESTA-FOSTA:

• “A bunch of whorephobic bullshit law stuff making sex work even scarier.”
• “A complete bullshit mountain”
• “I feel totally erased.”

The report says: “While FOSTA-SESTA was presented as a law that increases the safety of those at risk of human trafficking, 99% of online respondents reported that this law does not make them feel safer.”

The report concludes:

FOSTA-SESTA has created an environment where vulnerable populations are pushed into increased financial insecurity, making them more vulnerable to labor exploitation, and labor trafficking in the sex industry is pushed further underground. Just as sex workers warned, our research suggests that FOSTA-SESTA has increased sex workers exposure to violence while doing nothing to combat trafficking…FOSTA-SESTA’s fallout illustrates what happens when a fragile network meets the blunt force of the law. The result is stigma, isolation, poverty, and further entrenching inequality.

* NY Times: Stamping Out Online Sex Trafficking May Have Pushed It Underground

* WJLA: Why D.C. sex workers are flocking to Logan Circle: 7 On Your Side investigates

* Craigslist Reduced Violence Against Women

* NBC Bay Area: ‘Yelp for Sex’: Review Boards That Rate Women Flourish After Crackdown on Ad Sites

* BuzzFeed: Democratic Voters Are Opening Up To Decriminalizing Sex Work. This Lobbyist Wants To Get Congress On Board.

* Buzzfeed: New Lawsuit Alleges Mailchimp Facilitated Sex Trafficking

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