Stop SESTA

[hermionesviolin]

It was International Sex Worker Rights Day on Saturday (March 3) and I learned via Twitter that FOSTA ("Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act" -- H.R. 1865) passed the House and the Senate will vote on its version (SESTA -- "Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act," S. 1693) I think on March 12 though I can't now find where I found that date.

Not only do these bills conflate "sex trafficking" (which is unequivocally bad) with "sex work" (which, like all labor, can be variably exploitative/dangerous/etc. but which is in no way improved by criminalization), but it also "amends Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act to hold online publishers, apps, and services legally liable for the actions of people who post there or connect through them" (to quote a Reason article) -- 'cause who needs Internet safe harbor?

A brief phone script I saw on Twitter is: “Hi, my name is ___and I live in ___(city in district). I’m calling to urge Senator ____to vote NO on #SESTA, S. 1693 because it will lead to harm to people who trade sex, including victims of trafficking.”

If you'd rather, you could amend it to something like "because it weakens the important protections for online speech in Section 230." (more info from Electronic Frontier Foundation here -- written before the House vote)

If you're like me and want to do some more research to acquire some more talking points before you reach out to legislators (or your social media), behind the cut are some excerpts from some of the articles I've read in recent days. If folks are on Twitter, I'd encourage you to follow accounts like swopbehindbars (SWOP = Sex Workers Outreach Project) SupportSWRights melissagira. For SESTA specifically, you can follow hashtags #LetUsSurvive #SurvivorsAgainstSESTA #StopSESTA.

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I know FOSTA already passed the House, but I emailed my rep:

I was disappointed to learn you that voted in support of H.R. 1865. I know it was advertised as a bill to protect victims of sex trafficking, but if conflates sex trafficking (which is unequivocally bad) with prostitution (which, like all labor, can be variably exploitative/dangerous/etc. but which is in no way improved by criminalization). And its proposed Section 230 changes would hurt both sex workers and people who are trafficked by pushing sex work further underground, robbing sex workers of online communities within which they can warn and be warned about dangerous clients, etc. This bill has been opposed by many sex worker and free speech organizations (as well as survivors of trafficking https://injusticetoday.com/proposed-federal-trafficking-legislation-has-surprising-opponents-advocates-who-work-with-bf418c73d5b4). I hope that, moving forward, when voting on legislation impacting sex workers, you will seek out the voices of actual sex workers (e.g., SWOP -- Sex Worker Outreach Project).

Congress.gov is not the most user-friendly website, but the Feb 27 House vote on FOSTA is here if you want to reach out to your rep about how they voted on FOSTA.

odd replies from politicians

[redbird]

I just got another "thank you for contacting me" from an elected official about something I have no recollection or record of calling or emailing about. In this case it's from Elizabeth Warren, and it's something I easily might have called about, the special counsel. Maybe I should start tracking those random signed online petitions (my activism spreadsheet currently has a tab for emails, with the note "not tracking petitions, because really").

I've also gotten one where the auto-reply system clearly hadn't parsed things well (I'd added something about accessibility of his website to an email to Ed Markey, and got a reply that was only about that addendum, not the three paragraphs before it). When I emailed Paul Ryan's office about the DREAM Act (yes, a long shot) the email thanked me for writing about the economy and then gave his opinion on that. I knew we disagree, but I would have expected "thank you for writing about immigration policy" if he wrote back at all.

(crossposted from my own journal)