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…
UPDATE: Late Tuesday afternoon, February 27, 2018, the U.S. House approved the full “Frankenstein bill,” and it wasn’t even close. Despite concerns from some members that the Walters amendment discussed below was unconstitutional, the House voted 308 to 107 to…
UPDATE: As anticipated, on Monday, February 26, the U.S. House Rules Committee sent FOSTA 2.0 and a SESTA-like amendment from Rep. Mimi Walters to the House floor for debate and a vote on Tuesday. This FOSTA/SESTA “Frankenstein bill” passed on…
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the Republican chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, took aim Tuesday at the world’s oldest profession, adding yet another legislative proposal to address a problem that is largely overhyped: online sex trafficking. Goodlatte’s remarks came during…
