Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017

 
Consumer Watchdog Calls for Immediate Congressional Hearings on Bipartisan Bill to Change Internet Law So Child Sex Trafficking Websites like Backpage.com Can Be Held Accountable

SANTA MONICA, Calif., July 20, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Consumer Watchdog today called on the House Commerce Committee and Judiciary Committee to hold immediate hearings on a bill amending a key Internet law so websites like Backpage.com that facilitate child sex trafficking can be held accountable by victims and state attorneys general.

The bipartisan bill, Rep. Ann Wagner's H.R. 1865, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017, has 34 co-sponsors. It would amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. That section provides that a website can't be held liable for what's posted on its site by third parties. Tech companies and other defenders of CDA Section 230 claim it promotes and protects free expression on the Internet.

"Internet freedom must not come at the expense of children who are sex trafficked," said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog Privacy Project Director. "Just as the First Amendment does not allow you to shout fire in a crowded movie house, or to assist hit men and drug dealers in their criminal activity, CDA Section 230 must not be allowed to protect an exploitative business that is built on child sex trafficking"....

"One of the most notorious websites, Backpage.com, has become a virtual hub for child sex-trafficking.  By one count 73% of child trafficking reports in the United States involve this cynical website," wrote Simpson.  "Backpage hides behind the cloak of Sec. 230 while too many in the tech industry blindly and reflexively claim that needed amendments would undermine Internet freedom."....

Google, CDT, EFF and other tech industry representatives may claim to be protecting free speech and Internet freedom, but their activities have done little more than protect a notorious sex-trafficking hub from being held accountable by its victims, Consumer Watchdog said. Backpage's abuses and the fight by its victims to hold it accountable are the subject of a new documentary film, I am Jane Doe.  (http://www.iamjanedoefilm.com)
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/consumer-watchdog-calls-for-immediate-congressional-hearings-on-bipartisan-bill-to-change-internet-law-so-child-sex-trafficking-websites-like-backpagecom-can-be-held-accountable-300491489.html 

Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017

This bill amends the Communications Act of 1934 to specify that communications decency provisions protecting providers or users of interactive computer services from liability for the private blocking or screening of offensive material shall not be construed to impair the enforcement of, or limit availability of victim restitution or civil remedies under, state or federal criminal or civil laws relating to sexual exploitation of children or sex trafficking.

The bill amends the federal criminal code to specify that the violation for benefiting from "participation in a venture" engaged in sex trafficking of children, or by force, fraud, or coercion, includes knowing or reckless conduct by any person or entity and by any means that furthers or in any way aids or abets the violation.

A provider of an interactive computer service that publishes information provided by an information content provider with reckless disregard that the information is in furtherance of a sex trafficking offense shall be subject to a criminal fine or imprisonment for not more than 20 years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1865 

Backpage has always claimed it doesn’t control sex-related ads. New documents show otherwise, Randy Noblitt and His Research

   


Backpage has always claimed it doesn’t control sex-related ads. New documents show otherwise.
By Tom Jackman and Jonathan O'Connell July 11, 2017

A contractor for the controversial classifieds website Backpage.com has been aggressively soliciting and creating sex-related ads, despite Backpage’s repeated insistence that it had no role in the content of ads posted on its site, according to a trove of newly discovered documents.

The documents show that Backpage hired a company in the Philippines to lure advertisers — and customers seeking sex — from sites run by its competitors. The spreadsheets, emails, audio files and employee manuals were revealed in an unrelated legal dispute and provided to The Washington Post.

Workers in the Philippine call center scoured the Internet for newly listed sex ads, then contacted the people who posted them and offered a free ad on Backpage.com, the documents show. The contractor’s workers even created each new ad so it could be activated with one click.

Workers also created phony sex ads, offering to “Let a young babe show you the way” or “Little angel seeks daddy,” adding photos of barely clad women and explicit sex patter, the documents show. The workers posted the ads on competitors’ websites. Then, when a potential customer expressed interest, an email directed that person to Backpage.com, where they would find authentic ads, spreadsheets used to track the process show.

For years, Backpage executives have adamantly denied claims made by members of Congress, state attorneys general, law enforcement and sex-abuse victims that the site has facilitated prostitution and child sex trafficking. Backpage argues it is a passive carrier of “third-party content” and has no control of sex-related ads posted by pimps, prostitutes and even organized trafficking rings. The company contends it removes clearly illegal ads and refers violators to the police.

The discovery could be a turning point in the years-long campaign by anti-human trafficking groups, and Congress, to persuade Backpage to stop hosting prostitution ads, which many teenage girls have claimed were used to sell them for sexual exploitation. Lawsuits and criminal prosecutions of Backpage in the United States have nearly all failed because Backpage cites in its defense the federal Communications Decency Act, which grants immunity to websites that merely host or screen content posted by others.....

An investigation by a Senate subcommittee revealed earlier this year found that Backpage was editing ads to remove language indicating underage girls were available, rather than removing the ads. “Backpage has been righteously indignant throughout our investigation,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), a subcommittee member, “about how we were infringing on their constitutional rights, because they were a mere passthrough.” She noted, however, that Backpage was not only changing ads but also was also guiding posters in how to conceal their true intentions.

“But that’s nothing compared to this” new information, McCaskill said after The Post described the data. “This is about as far from passive as you can get. This is soliciting. This is, really, trickery. .?.?. So I hope this opens the floodgates of liability for Backpage. Nobody deserves it more.”....

Among the sex ads posted on Backpage.com are those for underage boys and girls, authorities and advocacy groups say. The National Association of Attorneys General has described Backpage as a “hub” of human trafficking, which involves children or adults who are forced or coerced into prostitution. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said that 73 percent of the 10,000 child sex trafficking reports it receives from the public each year involve ads on Backpage.....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/backpage-has-always-claimed-it-doesnt-control-sex-related-ads-new-documents-show-otherwise/2017/07/10/b3158ef6-553c-11e7-b38e-35fd8e0c288f_story.html  


Randy Noblitt

Information on Randy Noblitt and His Research
https://ritualabuse.us/smart/randy-noblitt/

Noblitt, PhD, J. R. – An Empirical Look at the Ritual Abuse Controversy  http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/an-empirical-look-at-the-ritual-abuse-controversy-randy-noblitt-phd/

Fran’s Day Care – Keller Case – Randy Noblitt, PhD
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/frans-day-care/

Florida man reveals childhood of being 'trafficked by his FAMILY, who made thousands from clients that choked and raped him'

- Florida man reveals childhood of being 'trafficked by his FAMILY, who made thousands from clients that choked and raped him'
- Local man tells horrifying tales of child sex slavery
- For victims of child sex trafficking there is no Christmas

'I was a five-year-old sex slave': Florida man reveals childhood of being 'trafficked by his FAMILY, who made thousands from clients that choked and raped him'

    Jerome Elam said he was forced into sexual slavery as a young boy
    Says he was beaten and abused, and forced to appear in pornography
    Described to news station how doctors and lawyers paid to abuse him
    Said he is sharing his story to give hope to other abused children

By Kieran Corcoran For Dailymail.com  10 January 2015

A man has revealed his horrifying childhood as a five-year-old sex slave in Florida, where he says a member of his family made thousands forcing him to indulge the pedophile desires of pillars of the local community.

Jerome Elam said that he was taken advantage of by a relative, who kept him in servitude for seven years and made him participate in child pornography and take drugs.

He said that clients of his trafficker would beat, choke and rape him - and punish him severely whenever he tried to escape his life of abuse.

Elam told local station WTLV how he was dragged in and out of school in Jacksonville to fulfill the whims of his relatives' clients, whom he claims were often doctors and lawyers with a 'darker side'....

In a first-person account for the Communities Digital News website, Elam told how he was subjected to beatings and rape by each member of a pedophile ring before he was turned over to the clients.

He wrote: 'My indoctrination to the “group,” as they often referred to themselves in private, consisted of being raped and beaten by each member....

According to child abuse experts, pimps can make as much as $200,000 per year from a single child, and often have as many as six under their control at any given time....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2905025/I-five-year-old-sex-slave-Florida-man-reveals-childhood-trafficked-FAMILY-thousands-clients-choked-raped-him.html

Local man tells horrifying tales of child sex slavery
Heather Crawford, WTLV  May 31, 2014
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Human sex trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States according the Department of Justice, and it's happening right here on the First Coast. Some of the victims are young children forced to have sex dozens of times a day....
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/life/people/2014/05/31/human-trafficking-fbi-jacksonville/9794747/

For victims of child sex trafficking there is no Christmas
by Jerome Elam - Jan 9, 2015

....My mother had married a man who forced me into being a sexual slave as the property of the pedophile ring that he belonged to. My fate had been sealed so long ago as I was ushered into this world and set adrift on a sea of dysfunction, a rudderless ship whose sails rose and fell at the whim of my mother’s addiction to chaos.

While many children were filled with the glow of the holiday spirit and the expectation of dreams fulfilled on Christmas morning, my childhood was filled with hopeless desperation. I had seen violence in my life and most often times been the target, but seeing the bottomless evil that dwelled in the eyes of my traffickers scared me down to the depths of my very soul.

....My stepfather and the pedophile ring he belonged to were on a whole different level. We are often told stories about evil but most of us are oblivious to its presence as it silently moves among us. My indoctrination to the “group,” as they often referred to themselves in private, consisted of being raped and beaten by each member. Many of the members enjoyed inflicting pain on innocent children as they were tied up, but several were as unhinged as a barn door in a tornado. Children were choked unconscious to satisfy the twisted sexual appetites of a select few of the members, and many clients of the trafficking ring also shared this sick practice.

Those who employed the “services” of my traffickers were pillars of society and the type of people who would sit beside you in church. There was a transformation that took place when I was forced into a room with them.

....The Department of Justice estimates that between 100,000 and 300,000 children are at risk of being trafficked in this country right now. Human trafficking is a $9.5 billion a year business in the U.S. according to the United Nations, and within the first forty-eight hours of leaving home a runaway child will be approached by a human trafficker. Human trafficking is second only to the drug trade as the largest criminal enterprise, according to the Justice Department. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) reports that pimps can make from $150,000 to $200,000 per year for each child. The NCMEC also reports a pimp has an average of four children, and the Polaris Project, an anti-trafficking non profit, reports the average victim of sex trafficking is forced to have sex 20-48 times a day.
http://www.commdiginews.com/life/for-victims-of-child-sex-trafficking-there-is-no-christmas-33031/

Child Sex Trafficking Rescue: FBI Saves 105 Victims in 'Operation Cross Country', Michael Madison Indicted For Deaths Of 3 Ohio Women

Child Sex Trafficking Rescue: FBI Saves 105 Victims in 'Operation Cross Country' 07/29/2013 

child sex trafficking rescue

The FBI has rescued 105 child sex-trafficking victims, FBI Assistant Director Ronald Hosko announced Monday.

The youngest of the rescued children was 9 years old, according to Reuters....

"Many times the children that are taken in in these types of criminal activities are children that are disaffected, they are from broken homes, they may be on the street themselves," FBI Acting Executive Assistant Director Kevin Perkins said, according to the network. "They are really looking for a meal, they are looking for shelter, they are looking for someone to take care of them."

Another victim, identified as "Alex," told interviewers she became a prostitute at the age of 16, when she felt she had no other options to feed and clothe herself.

The raids also resulted in the arrests of 150 "pimps" and other individuals, according to an FBI press release.

The rescues were the product of Operation Cross Country, a three-day nationwide initiative to aid victims of underage prostitution....

Since 2003, the Innocence Lost National Initiative has netted the rescue of more than 2,700 children.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/child-sex-trafficking-rescue-fbi-announcement_n_3670749.html


Michael Madison Indicted For Deaths Of 3 Ohio Women
By REGINA GARCIA CANO 07/29/13
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A man accused in the deaths of three women whose bodies were found wrapped in trash bags was indicted Monday on 14 counts including multiple charges of aggravated murder and kidnapping.

Michael Madison is being charged in connection with the deaths of Shirellda H. Terry, Angela H. Deskins and Shetisha D. Sheeley....

A Cuyahoga County grand jury charged Madison with six counts of aggravated murder, two for each victim under different legal theories, plus three counts of kidnapping, three counts of gross abuse of a corpse, one count of rape and one count of having weapons under disability, the county prosecutor's office announced Monday....

The indictment states that Madison raped Terry between July 10 and July 19. Terry's family has said she was last seen July 10, leaving a Cleveland elementary school where she had a summer job.

Madison was classified as a sex offender in 2002, when he was sentenced to four years in prison for attempted rape, according to Cuyahoga County court records. He had previous convictions in 2000 and 2001 for drug-related charges....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/michael-madison-indicted-_n_3673198.html 

Durham girl testifies in alleged child sex trafficking case

Durham girl testifies in alleged child sex trafficking case   
June 12, 2013 DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Durham teenager detailed how she was lured away from her family on social media and kidnapped in a court room Wednesday.

Two men are accused of running a possible child sex trafficking ring. Authorities say 20-year-old Ryan Wurvel and 22-year-old Hang Wu were in a stolen car and were moving teens across the country. Deputies said it was mostly teenage girls and that child sex trafficking was potentially taking place.

The 14-year-old girl from Durham said she met Wurvel on a website called Experience Project. The website is a forum for teens who want to runaway. She then started chatting with Wu and Wurvel on Skype....
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news%2Flocal&id=9136824 


National sex trafficking ring possibly cracked with Durham arrests
May 31, 2013   DURHAM (WTVD) -- Local authorities have busted a possible child sex trafficking ring across several states.

Investigators say the suspects were using the internet to encourage underage kids to meet up with them.

It all started when a car was pulled over early Thursday morning along U.S. Highway 70 in Durham.

Deputies suspected DWI, but the Sheriff's Office said deputies learned 22-year-old Hang Wu and 20-year-old Ryan Wurvel were in a stolen car and that child sex trafficking was potentially taking place.

There were runaway teens inside the car. According to the Sheriff's Office there were four girls, and one boy. They came from Michigan, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and one from Durham.

Authorities said Wurval and Wu meet the teens online. The men are being held at the Durham County Jail....
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=9123395 
 

An uneasy Backpage alliance - Anti-trafficking activists

An uneasy Backpage alliance
Anti-trafficking activists may turn to the site for tips, but some say we're ultimately better without it
By Tracy Clark-Flory
Saturday, May 12, 2012

In the fight against child sex trafficking, Backpage.com is seen as both friend and foe. The online classified site screens ads, reports thousands of potential cases of exploitation, assists in police investigations and acts as a resource for those searching for trafficked kids. But even some activists who use the site for good see greater benefit in the site shutting down its adult section — a move called for recently in Senate and House resolutions. This uneasy alliance reveals the complexities of the problem at hand.

In the past 16 months — the length of time Backpage has been screening and reporting potential trafficking ads — the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received nearly 5,000 tips from the site. The center’s president, Ernie Allen, tells me, “There’s no question they have undertaken the screening and reporting process very aggressively.” Ultimately, though, the question is whether it’s enough.

After working with Craigslist in a similar fashion for almost two years, he says, “What we basically concluded was that it wasn’t working. The price you pay to allow this kind of activity to proliferate was too great.” Eventually, Craigslist shuttered its adult section and, Allen says, “the total volume of these ads dropped dramatically, and most of that has not come back.”

If Backpage were to do the same thing, “it would dramatically reduce the scale and scope of the problem,” he says. “Some of it would relocate, but I don’t think it would proliferate at the same level.” Allen says that NCMEC doesn’t make “public pronouncements about the policy stuff,” but his message is clear: Shuttering Backpage’s adult section would make things better — but, short of that, NCMEC is devoted to helping the site reduce harm.... http://www.salon.com/2012/05/13/an_uneasy_backpage_alliance/singleton/

Sex Trafficking of Americans: The Girls Next Door - 300,000 young American girls

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Underage sex trade still flourishing online

Underage sex trade still flourishing online By Amber Lyon and Steve Turnham, CNN January 20, 2011

Editor's note: Hundreds of thousands of girls under the age of 18 are sold as sex slaves in the U.S. In a yearlong investigation, CNN's Amber Lyon reveals the devastating realities of the business of underage sex. Don't miss CNN Presents "Selling the Girl Next Door" this Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on CNN.

Las Vegas, Nevada (CNN)....STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Selena, 13, was sold for sex on backpage.com
* Advocacy groups have accused the website of facilitating the trafficking of underage girls
* Neither backpage.com nor its owner would comment on those accusations....

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, there are at least 100,000 underage girls being sex trafficked in America today. That's a conservative estimate based on what little hard data currently exists; NCMEC believes the real number could be as high as 300,000.
Most are runaways, suffering from psychological problems or drug dependence, picked up and sold by pimps for staggering profits. According to studies, pimps can make up to half a million dollars a year, and they frequently prey on the young and the vulnerable.

The pimps ply their trade on the web, the new marketplace for underage sex trafficking. Last year, victims' advocates called the internet classified site Craigslist's Adult Service Section the "Walmart of child sex trafficking."

CNN investigated Craigslist, posting an ad and receiving numerous calls from men seeking sex. That investigation helped spark a national conversation and outrage, as well as a call from 17 attorneys general around the country for Craigslist to shut down its adult services section.

But when Craigslist shut down its section, the escort ads migrated to another site, backpage.com. We decided to investigate Backpage after advocacy groups accused the website, which is owned by the Village Voice Media Group, of facilitating the trafficking of underage girls.

According to the AIM Group, an internet consulting firm, Backpage's escort site earned an estimated $20 million in 2010. Its profits soared after Craigslist decided to pull the plug on its adult services section....Last fall, Backpage hired internet security advisor Hemu Nigam to implement "a holistic plan centered around preventing criminal activity on our site." We wanted to know what that "holistic plan" was, but Nigam wouldn't talk to us either.

Full nudity appears to have disappeared from the site, but suspect ads with tag lines such as "Daddy's Little Girl" are common.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/20/siu.selling.girl.next.door.backpage/index.html

Congress Holds Hearing on Child Sex Trafficking, H.R.3244

also: H.R.3244 -- Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000

Congress Holds Hearing on Child Sex Trafficking
By James R. Marsh on September 17, 2010
On Wednesday, the House Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing on DOMESTIC child sex trafficking.
At the hearing, former Congresswoman Linda Smith testified that more than 100,000 children are exploited in the sex trade in the United States every year:
"Domestic minor sex trafficking is the name we have given to the sexual exploitation of U.S. citizen children through prostitution, pornography and sexual entertainment," she said. "The name reflects the fact that this exploitation is human trafficking as defined in the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. The crime therefore is a federal crime of trafficking and the victims should receive the full range of protections, services and rights outlined in the TVPA."
http://www.childlaw.us/2010/09/congress-holds-hearing-on-chil.html

H.R.3244 -- Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (Enrolled Bill [Final as Passed Both House and Senate] - ENR) http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c106:H.R.3244.ENR:

Irish Bishop secrecy oath, Afghan Boy Sex Slaves, Cambodia Child Sex Trafficking

Bishop admits involvement in secrecy oath for abuse victims By Fergus Black March 22 2010 ANOTHER Irish bishop has admitted being involved in an investigation into clerical abuse claims in which victims were made to sign oaths of secrecy. The Bishop of Clogher, Joseph Duffy, said in a statement that he had been been party to at least one civil settlement involving a claim made against the diocese in which a non-disclosure agreement was signed between the diocese and the claimant.

He told a Sunday newspaper that it was to his "regret" he did not pass on the abuse claims to police when he first became aware of the allegations in 1989. Bishop Duffy, who was unavailable for comment last night, told the 'Sunday Business Post' he was bound to secrecy by the victim's parents at the time of the offence, but that he would not now be restricted by such a condition. Last week, a spokesman for Bishop Duffy said he had co-operated fully with the statutory authorities by sharing "all known records with them". Irish Independent
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/bishop-admits-involvement-in-secrecy-oath-for-abuse-victims-2106660.html

Afghanistan's Boy Sex Slaves By Michael Mechanic Mar. 19, 2010 Say what you will about the Taliban. They're small-minded, repressive, religious zealots who exert their power through fear and intimidation. But certain aspects of Afghan society can make the black turbans look downright righteous. Consider the ancient tradition of Bacha Bazi, which means "boy play." Banned by the Taliban, this illicit activity is on the upswing across Afghanistan. The Guardian reported on it last fall, and on April 20, Frontline is airing a special report with the same title: The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan.
Here's how the Frontline producers describe it: Hundreds of boys, some as young as eleven, street orphans or boys bought from poor families by former warlords and powerful businessmen, are dressed in woman's clothes, taught to sing and dance for the entertainment of male audiences, and then sold to the highest bidder or traded among the men for sex.

With remarkable access inside a Bacha Bazi ring operating in Northern Afghanistan, Najibullah Quraishi, an Afghan journalist, investigates this practice, still illegal under Afghan law, talking with the boys, their families, and their masters, exposing the sexual abuse and even murders of the boys, and documenting how Afghan authorities responsible for stopping these crimes are sometimes themselves complicit in the practice. http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/03/afghanistan-boy-sex-slaves-taliban


The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan - On air and online April 20, 2010 at 9:00pm In Afghanistan today, in the midst of war and endemic poverty, an ancient tradition--banned when the Taliban were in power--has re-emerged across the country. It's called Bacha Bazi, translated literally as "boy play."

Hundreds of boys, some as young as eleven, street orphans or boys bought from poor families by former warlords and powerful businessmen, are dressed in woman's clothes, taught to sing and dance for the entertainment of male audiences, and then sold to the highest bidder or traded among the men for sex. With remarkable access inside a Bacha Bazi ring operating in Northern Afghanistan, Najibullah Quraishi, an Afghan journalist, investigates this practice, still illegal under Afghan law, talking with the boys, their families, and their masters, exposing the sexual abuse and even murders of the boys, and documenting how Afghan authorities responsible for stopping these crimes are sometimes themselves complicit in the practice. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/dancingboys/

In Cambodia, American Evangelicals Fight to End Child Sex Trafficking Christian Volunteer: 'There Is a Deep Fulfillment in Laying Your Life Down for Somebody Else' By DAN HARRIS, ALMIN KARAMEHMEDOVIC, AUDE SOICHET and SIDNEY WRIGHT IV - SVAY PAK, Cambodia, March 21, 2010 Butler runs a community center in the village of Svay Pak, the epicenter of Cambodia's raging child sex trafficking epidemic. It's a place where, on any given night, many of the children will be sold - by their own parents - for sex with strangers. He is one of many American Christians who have come to this impoverished, war-ravaged country to protect some of the world's most vulnerable children.
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/cambodia-children-sold-slavery/story?id=10163645