Seated in a McDonald’s in Phoenix, picking at a burger and fries with long, nervous fingers, Raquel, a trans woman of 29, recounted the horror of street prostitution that has followed the demise of the online listings giant Backpage.com. “It’s…
You’re unlikely to find a photo online of U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill sporting a pussy hat (oh, how we tried!), but the Missouri Democrat, who’s seeking a third term, has done her best to harness the energy of the January…
Critics of H.R. 1865, the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), which passed the U.S. Senate 97 to 2 on March 21, warned that the bill’s broad language targeting online adult ads would have a devastating effect on freedom of…
If you didn’t know that the Backpage case was about online classified advertising, you might think the U.S. Department of Justice was mounting a prosecution against the Mafia. Late on Thursday, the DOJ announced that it has turned Backpage CEO…
UPDATE 4/9/18, 2:43 PM: The indictment has just become available, and you can read it here. Along with Lacey and Larkin, other erstwhile Backpage execs are indicted. CEO Carl Ferrer’s name is not among the indicted, though a “C.F.” is…
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden pretty much threw himself in front of the proposed Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) on Wednesday, offering a lonely but impassioned speech on the Senate floor in opposition to the legislation, which seeks to make online adult…
UPDATE: On Wednesday afternoon the U.S. Senate passed FOSTA Frankenstein 97 to 2. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden was the only senator to speak in opposition to the bill. The Senate overwhelmingly voted down his amendment to allocate funding for sex…
Senator Ron Wyden is taking a page from Mel Brooks’s 1974 comedy classic Young Frankenstein in a bid to alter the disastrous Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) — a.k.a. the “Frankenstein bill” — which is galumphing toward a vote…
The Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), which detractors have dubbed the “Frankenstein bill,” just lurched one step closer to passage by the U.S. Senate. On Wednesday, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell moved to limit debate on the controversial anti-sex-trafficking measure,…
The U.S. House on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a poorly conceived bill to combat sex trafficking, notwithstanding an 11th-hour letter from the Department of Justice declaring that the legislation is “unconstitutional.” Dubbed the “Frankenstein bill” by its critics, H.R. 1865, the Fight Online…
