The impact of the FOSTA-SESTA clusterfuck continues to be felt online and by sex workers. Sadly, I think this is just the start of it. The much bigger impact will be after the bill has been signed into law and a prosecutor picks his first set of victims to go after. That’ll focus minds and trigger a much bigger wave of censorship and purging of voices from the internet.
There’s an online partition against the bill available here. It took me just 30 seconds to sign it and click on a link. Please do the same. I don’t know what difference it’ll make with the current executive in charge but, at the very least, hitting the required signature count will raise awareness and potentially lead to more articles like this. Reversing these things is never about a single dramatic gesture, but more a slow chipping away and winning over the minds of people who might not otherwise think about these issues. So go sign it.
As a reward for those readers who sign it – here’s a delightful video of a pair of dommes reenacting the famous pottery scene from the move Ghost. Although in this case there’s rather less clay and rather more enormous dildos covered in lube. But remember – no watching unless you sign the partition! You’re on the honor system here.
The video starred Mistress Evilyne and Goddess Anastaxia (pictured above) and was created by ‘Filmed by Duke‘. If the two dommes sound familiar, that’s because they were featured in this heart warming post last month.
You have a number followers not living in the US who are just as worried and alarmed by these developments as you are.
Would it be appropriate for us “outsiders” to step up and sign this petition as well? Or would it be wiser to stay away from it and leave it entirely to US citizens? This is their proposed bill after all; not ours.
But by becomming the law of the land, the consequences will be felt all over the web and all over the world.
Wish you a very good weekend 🙂
You’re entirely right that it’ll affect people outside the US. In fact it already has. People around the world used backpage, and that appears to have just been seized, blocking it for everyone.
As far as signing for non US citizens, I’ve no idea. I would assume, given it’s all about ‘We The People’ that it would only be US citizens. That’d be logical. But having read the site, there’s actually nothing there that makes it clear one way or another. It doesn’t say it’s limited like that. So frankly, I’ve no clue. The incompetence of the government apparently runs wide and deep.
-paltego
Exactly the question I wanted to ask.
The US has exerted extra-territorial jurisdiction on several occasions and consequently, residents of countries outside the US may be impacted by this legislation.
Haven’t read the actual bill, but it sounds like there might be a serious challenge under the First Amendment. I am not a lawyer, but the impact on free speech is clearly evident.
Otherwise, setting up an overseas website seems the only immediate solution, and I seriously doubt any US law enforcement types would ever venture outside the US to do what exactly?
I’m sure there will be a challenge under the first amendment. Unfortunately, that’ll take a while, and a lot of people are going to suffer in the meantime. And with the current court and political climate, it’s hard to be confident they’ll rule in the right way.
An overseas site helps, but it doesn’t really solve the problem for the people in the US. The site would have to not only be hosted outside the US, but also managed that way. Because if they could trace it back to anyone in the US, the fact the server was abroad wouldn’t really help. I suspect there’s going to be a lot of new services and industries springing up in countries to provide resources to sex workers in the US.
-paltego
Yeah, it’s a good question, and like I said to Marga and Titia, not one I have an answer to I’m afraid. The petition site says nothing about who can and can’t sign it as far as I can see. It’s absolutely going to impact people all over the world. Yet it doesn’t appear to be getting significant public discussion in the US, let alone more broadly.
-paltego
We already suspected you could not answer our question, paltego. So we will not interfere, not open that link and not press that button. Neither of us will put her foot in and we’ll leave it to ‘Them The People’.
And preaching to the already converted, we recommend this link: https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/30/congress-just-legalized-sex-censorship-what-to-know/
Regards
Things like FOSTA-SESTA makes me question whether democracy is such a good thing. Most of the voters aren’t very considerate towards people who are different from themselves. These days, it’s sex workers and their customers who are being harassed by the majority. Not that long ago, it was homosexuals who were treated badly by the majority. Would it really be any worse if the US was 50 different kingdoms with different laws, and you could move to one that suited you? Or even an “authoritarian” society like China? They seem more tolerant towards sex workers these days than the US. And in the old days, they were more tolerant towards gays than the Western world.