A bipartisan Senate bill to combat online sex trafficking has 60 co-sponsors, said S-1693 sponsors Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Wednesday. The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) would clarify Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to ensure that websites that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking can be held liable so victims can file civil suits. The Senate Commerce Committee unanimously approved the bill Nov. 8 (see 1711080042). Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., an original author of Section 230, immediately placed a hold on SESTA. He told us he remains opposed to the bill.
Section 230
House Judiciary Committee approval Tuesday of HR-1865 as expected (see 1712110052) to punish online sex traffickers sets up a clash with a similar S-1693 that victims’ rights groups said is better. The committee approved the bill on voice vote with little debate, although ranking member Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said he would oppose the amended measure if it moves to the floor as is. The Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), sponsored by Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., was amended without being “fully vetted,” Nadler said. The bill has 172 co-sponsors.
HR-1865 to create tougher penalties on online sex traffickers enjoys tech industry support and appears headed for approval Tuesday in a House Judiciary Committee markup (see 1712080026), lobbyists, aides and lawyers told us. A manager’s amendment adds a provision making it illegal to promote prostitution through “means of interstate or foreign commerce,” with violators subject to fines and imprisonment up to 10 years. “We support the bill, and find this a much better approach” than the Senate’s Stop Enabling Online Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) (S-1693), said Rachel Wolbers, policy director of the tech startup group Engine. Victims' rights groups will oppose the bill.
An FCC draft order to undo Title II net neutrality appears legally strong, said some attorneys on a Phoenix Center panel, but another questioned aspects. Chairman Ajit Pai's draft to restore a less-regulatory Communications Act Title I broadband framework has precedent, deference and investment arguments in its favor, said Tom Navin, a Wiley Rein attorney and ex-Wireline Bureau chief. At around the same time Tuesday, a pro-Title II panel was held (see 1712050057).
The House should move forward with legislation to combat online sex trafficking, Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said at a Thursday hearing on a House bill to amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Congress is confronting the “very ugly subject” of sex trafficking and “driving toward effective action,” Blackburn said. She's committed to finding the right legislative solution that gives victims "adequate recourse" (see 1711290052). Ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., hopes legislation can soon be marked up and go to the floor for a vote, a move officials told us is likely early next year.
House Communications and Digital Commerce subcommittees are expected to delve further into their concerns about tech companies' data privacy policies during a Wednesday hearing, we are told. The hearing, on how use of algorithms affects consumer privacy and choice with online content, follows scrutiny elsewhere on Capitol Hill last month about tech firms' handling of online advertising in Russian-led disinformation campaigns during the 2016 U.S. presidential election (see 1711210025, 1711020001 and 1711210025). The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
FCC Democratic commissioners urged net neutrality advocates to rise up in defense of open internet regulation that appears to be in the crosshairs of Chairman Ajit Pai and fellow Republicans. "Time to call foul. Time to raise a ruckus. Time to save #NetNeutrality," tweeted Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Friday, linking to a Slate article in which she called for FCC hearings across the country to allow Americans to comment on Pai's plans.
The Senate should quickly pass the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (S-1693), said sponsor Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, noting a Toledo Blade editorial. The bill would update Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which "was good when it was signed into law in 1996" but has "unwittingly" provided cover to websites that facilitate online sex trafficking, Portman said. The Senate Commerce Committee passed the bill (see 1711080042) and discussions are ongoing to reconcile differences with a similar House bill (HR-1865) sponsored by Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo. (see 1711130062).
Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., HR-1865’s sponsor, said her Communications Decency Act update makes narrow amendments “to make sure the congressional intent is clear” and “that bad actors can’t hide behind Section 230.” The House bill’s approach is slightly different from the 2017 Stop Enabling Sex Trafficking Act (S-1693), but goals are the same and lawmakers “are working out the differences,” she said Saturday on C-SPAN's Communicators. SESTA, with 46 co-sponsors, cleared the Senate Commerce Committee Thursday (see 1711080042), but floor action isn't likely until closer to the end of the year or early next year, a Senate aide said. Internet companies support principles behind bills to curb online sex-trafficking but fear the wrong approach could worsen the problem, NetChoice General Counsel Carl Szabo said. He said the two bills gaining political momentum are worthy efforts but could have “unintended consequences.” Rather than altering 230, which gives website providers immunity from prosecution over content on their sites, Szabo said, legislation should amend the criminal code to give law enforcement tools they need. “Our member companies are working tirelessly -- they have armies of people looking at and identifying” offensive content, which they refer to law enforcement, he said. Smaller internet companies might not have the resources to do such monitoring, he said.
Free State Foundation plugged a "commercial reasonableness" standard with "rebuttable deregulatory presumptions" for FCC case-by-case review of open internet disputes if it concludes it has broadband regulatory authority. The agency "should require findings, based on clear and convincing evidence of demonstrated market failure and consumer harm, before any enforcement action is taken against an ISP," said Free State filings (here, here) this week in docket 17-108 on meetings with Commissioner Brendan Carr and an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai. It opposed broadband regulation based on Title II or Section 706 of telecom law. Meeting with the Pai aide, AT&T argued for moving from a Title II to Title I classification and cited FCC authority to pre-empt state broadband regulation, something Verizon recently touted (see 1710190057). In meetings with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly and Pai Chief of Staff Matthew Berry, Tech Freedom discussed two "sleeper issues" it said may force Congress to act: did Title II broadband classification constitute a "major question" requiring legislative authorization, and what does Section 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act mean for FCC enforcement of a no-blocking rule and implementation of the Telecom Act? Hosting Commissioner Mignon Clyburn in New York, Etsy opposed undoing Title II regulation that it said helped its 1.8 million sellers -- most operating out of homes -- utilize its platform. To facilitate public review of the record, an FCC public notice made all filings in the docket available via links to downloadable files.