SESTA/FOSTA: A Clear Stand Against Sex Trafficking - Essay Sample

Introduction

Stop-Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) and Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act(FOSTA) are a pair of acts that became a law in the year 2018. The purpose of these laws is to make a clear stand of the country's position towards enforcement of sex trafficking laws. It helps clarify that it is illegal to support and facilitate sex trafficking knowingly. It also affects the section 230 of the communication decency act. This paper discusses SESTA/FOSTA, its purposes, the rights it has infringed, effects on sex workers, and its liability in the building of communities.

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This act makes any online activities and services immune from civil liability for the users' actions. SESTA-FOSTA, amends the Communication Decency Act to exclude state and federal sex trafficking law from its immunity power. The reason for this exclusion from the immunity resulted from an investigation into some websites which hid their activities of child sex trafficking behind the immune provided by the protection granted to the site by the act (Goldman & Eric, 2018). The law fights more than to stop sex trafficking. The law targets the online sites where the users are discussing sex work, and any other topics related to the owners of the sites are greatly affected since they are liable to prosecution even in an event where the users are strangers and unknown to the owners. They can still be arrested even when there is no evidence of sex trafficking. The law is such that any website with sex work content created before the FOSTA was passed, is still liable for prosecution. Online platforms are open to criminal liabilities for hosting any propaganda or support sex work at federal and state levels

Beyond limiting the sex work and trafficking, the acts have infringed the rights of many online users. Online communities are essential for socialization, learning, and many other important cultural activities. SASTA -FOSTA acts makes ordinary people face the challenge of being shut out from speaking out and socializing. The law does not punish the sex traffickers as it claims, it has instead infringed the rights of citizens to give out speech and freely interact. Since its inception, websites that are promoting lawful activities have closed down permanently while others have censored even the legal events. The online communities that have thrived for so long under the protection of section 230 against any liability of the actions by the users are no longer existent. This has affected the existence of nonprofit websites that are usually essential tools of communication. Section 230 has always been important in ensuring the continuity in the freedom of speech online (Goldman & Eric, 2018). There is a need for communication authorities to check on the acts to ensure that the unconstitutional elements in it are removed and replaced by ones that consider the citizens' rights and freedom of speech.

Impacts of SASTA-FOSTA on the Sex Workers Community

The law has had several effects on the sex worker community. The direct effects include the loss of their ability to make advertisements as they had earlier on done. The community of sex workers can no longer use the online platforms for advertising their presence hence have to move back to the streets to find clients. The physical search for clients in the streets exposes them to many risks, including the possibilities of murder rape and even assault. According to research on the closure of websites. Several ads on craigslist put up by the sex workers are missing. Their emails are being targeted, and they cannot peacefully conduct their businesses as before. These authors of the same research indicated that since sex workers adopted the online methods of getting clients, there has been a significant reduction in the number of deaths and homicides by 17.4% (Goldman & Eric, 2018). The erotic services by Craiglist resulted in the street prostitutes staying indoors and having clients who could be trusted. It was unfortunate when craigslist announced that it had closed the service due to the pressure it was receiving from the law society. The low-prices advertisements have been removed, making those who cannot afford more expensive ones liable to being locked out. The support system on the case and the rights of sex workers has tried all it can to advocate for their reasons. It was explained that the law is a torment to the community of sex workers. The advocates have pointed out that sex workers have not only lost their advertising platforms but also their online communication with clients. The communal lousy date lists and the private threads have been compromised, leaving the sex workers behind in a virtual world where no effort by activists can help them. The lousy date list, which acts as a tool against rapists, stalkers, and fake people, has been disabled, making the workers prone to every danger out there in the world. Harm- reduction tools have been disabled, making the business difficult and risky to conduct.

The laws are impacting the efforts by the advocates to decriminalize sex work. Sex workers are working legally and have a right to be protected by the law (Goldman & Eric, 2018). The trade is on a free-will basis; hence no need to make it look like a criminal activity. Criminalization will expose the sex workers to many severe cases of abuse, such as exploitation by the officials of the law, such as the police. They may be physically and verbally get abused. It should be decriminalized to make the sex workers free from staying in unsafe working conditions in an attempt to avoid the law enforcers. This makes them vulnerable to violence and even murders. If the sex workers are criminalized, their chances of seeking justice are undermined. They are scared of testifying in law courts for fear of the nature of their work.

The sex workers' community is just but an example of several other communities that have been affected. Many other communities need to share information but cannot, due to the available enforcements.

D'Adamo, a sex worker activist, has been affected by the acts in her profession. In an interview with a magazine, she reveals that she has witnessed people free information on Google drive, lose their emails permanently, and presentations on sex workers (Goldman & Eric, 2018). She is scared every day and always has to question her step, whether to share or host information that can be a threat to her cyberspace. She feels like partnering and associating with sex workers is a criminal activity. She and her peers feel insecure and do not know what the future holds for them

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are two sides to the SASTA/FOSTA. One positive side is that the government is trying to get rid of websites that promote sex trafficking. Sex trafficking has been a significant challenge throughout the world, the removal of immunity on the sites that might be hosting these activities. The negative side of this is the vulnerability of the information of people and their freedom of speech. It is a free world, and the removal of immunity on websites risks the loss of communication and rights of some people like the sex workers, who depend on the online platforms to screen clients and reduce deaths.

Work Cited

Goldman, Eric. "The Complicated Story of Fosta and Section 230." First Amend. L. Rev. 17 (2018): 279.