Punting in the U.S. under Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA)

[scoobydo1]

So John, whats your take on
The US no longer differentiates between consensual sex work and sex trafficking.

I POSTED A PREVIOUS VERSION OF THIS ON A DIFFERENT THREAD BUT THOUGHT IT REALLY WAS WORTHY OF IT'S OWN THREAD. ALSO NOT CLAIMING TO BE AN EXPERT ON THIS LEGISLATION OR ANYTHING ELSE - JUST MY THOUGHTS AND PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS


I hadn't read the new statute until you asked but for some reason it was amended in December from making intent to "promote sex trafficking a crime" to making "promote prostitution a crime". As far as I can tell there wasn't much discussion of this amendment. When a law is expected to pass by a landslide of vote the lobbyists get pretty aggressive with sneaking in amendments. This law passed in the Senate 97-2. There were some concerns raised by several groups but even google backed off at the end. https://www.engadget.com/2018/04/11/...bill-into-law/

The pertinent portions of the statute as passed read:

§ 2421A. Promotion or facilitation of prostitution and reckless disregard of sex trafficking

“(a) In General.—Whoever, using a facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, owns, manages, or operates an interactive computer service (as such term is defined in defined in section 230(f) the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f))), or conspires or attempts to do so, with the intent to promote or facilitate the prostitution of another person shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.

“(b) Aggravated Violation.—Whoever, using a facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, owns, manages, or operates an interactive computer service (as such term is defined in defined in section 230(f) the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f))), or conspires or attempts to do so, with the intent to promote or facilitate the prostitution of another person and—

“(1) promotes or facilitates the prostitution of 5 or more persons; or

“(2) acts in reckless disregard of the fact that such conduct contributed to sex trafficking, in violation of 1591(a),

shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 25 years, or both.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-...bill/1865/text

In addition to including the amendment to prostitution rather than trafficking the "intent" requirement creates this bizarre situation where a website either has to very closely regulate everything or totally ignore everything. Total control to avoid violation and no control. Pretty harsh stuff. With the penalties involved all these websites are going to go foreign meaning they will be totally unregulated by any U.S. federal or state regulations.

The effects on the business and the websites has been huge:
1) BP got seized and the founders all arrested. I never used BP. From what I've read on here, I'd compare BP gals to an escort on here that has opted out of reviews and whose photos are not verified, risky.
2) TER is totally gone if you're using a U.S. IP address. If you get a foreign IP through TOR or some other service, you can access TER but you can't get any info: contact, reviews, links, favorites, etc. about any provider that is located in the U.S. I'd guess 95% of the listed providers are in the U.S. A few of the savvy providers are claiming they are based in Canada or elsewhere to try and get around this. If they successfully do so you can access their info, but unless you know they are actually in your area you can't find them with any geographic search. TER was free to search including contact info. If you wrote 2 reviews a month it was totally free, if not it was $30/month to get access to complete reviews. Ever serious U.S. punter I know has had a TER membership at one time or another.
3) P411 is based in Canada. As of today I can still access their info in the U.S. but they're are about 1/10th the size of TER and don't allow reviews or provide specific favorite information. The sent out message a few days ago saying they are also no longer accepting new clients or providers as members.

There are some other smaller sites still up and running as of today which I assume are not based in the U.S. I assume TER will sell off the business to foreign investors who will move operations and all ownership out of the U.S. but they have not done so thus far.

Basically right now it's fubar. I've been told by a few of the gals that the regulars are still mostly around but that new business is almost non-existent with the big websites gone.

Strange times in the U.S. I also used to think the attorney-client privilege was sacrosanct but after the seizure of computers and records from President Trump's personal attorney I'm no longer sure about that either. Regardless of anyone's personal opinion of Pres. Trump (let's not go there), this seizure was truly shocking.

[scoobydo1]

Time to get clients numbers and keep them with their permission.
Something I hate to do in case I ring someone who has not got a punter phone but if they give me their number and say I can phone when I am back I will be doing that in future.

I didn't realize how dependent I had become on TER for contact info of the gals until it was gone. Spoiled really. Add in if a provider's personal website was hosted by a U.S. company it's probably gone as well since hosting the website violates FOSTA and it's near impossible to find contact info for some of the gals.

[Good4u2]

the yanks talk through their arses

Congress has passed a law that makes all escort advertising sites ect illegal. If only the Yanks had brains

[Meursault]

You would never think that they want you to get married, as a means to have sex. Social control. Anything that hurts the economic system must be criminalized.

[babygravy]

The gas thing here is that once a commonly used, "go-to" site comes around (like EI is here), it will be huge!

And if you think it is anything different here, it isn't. Remember the publishers of In Dublin were prosecuted for promoting prostitution with the advertisements on their back pages (paid for in cash weekly by the girls going into their office with their sticky fivers).

EI is run by Lazarus Trading SL, which is a Luxembourg company. The servers are hosted offshore and thus out of reach of Irish criminal prosecution. Did you know that as a matter of fact (according to Amazon), EI it is the 14th busiest website in the country.

All the wanky teenagers and others foaming at the gob at the lovely ladees.....

[Good4u2]

It's a very strange time in America .
I worked there last year part time while studying and loved the American clients . It was a great place for this type of work .
But I hear from girls I know , their business went under literally over night when TER and backpage was seized .
It's truly shocking .

Backpage was involved in more than the advertising end of things, You liked their larger than their mouth wallets you mean daisy

as the old saying goes

you know what happens when you cant/dont advertise ... NOTHING

[CaraClarke]

There were sex workers all across the States being imprisoned even before SESTA/FOSTA was passed. Of course, it's mostly ethnic minority groups such as Black, Latinx, Native and LGBTQ that are even further targeted within an already marginalised community. This group, SWOP Behind Bars, was set up 2 years ago to help sex workers in this position (http://swopbehindbars.org/)

I don't even want to think about the nightmare that may very well become reality now that the bill is kicking into gear. Seeing everyone on Twitter freaking out about losing their websites, losing their clients, their lifeline, all overnight is just so frightening and all levels of wrong. What bothered me, as well, was when the petition to appeal the bill came around, not only did it receive a measly amount of signatures (like, hello, there are way more than 30k SWs and supporters of SW in the USA), but it was also pulled down even before it's closing date.

[lorcan]

Trump has to just sign it in soon and thats it, Its Goodnight America

[CaraClarke]

Trump has to just sign it in soon and thats it, Its Goodnight America

He signed it two weeks ago

[lorcan]

He signed it two weeks ago

ok having been reading the Weekly World News so its definitely Goodnight America