June 8, 2015

OneNews Now "Looking close the Loophole" By Charlie Butts
 

OneNews Now - "Looking to Close the Loophole"

Monday, June 8, 2015 / By Charlie Butts/ (OneNewsNow.com)

 

"As human trafficking, including children, has moved from the streets to the Internet, and one organization that aims to make the Internet safer for children and families says it will take Congress and the media to make needed changes. 

A federal judge in Massachusetts has ruled in favor of Backpage.com, which became a classified website even though three women sued claiming the site was used to traffic them when they were underage. The court cited an exemption in the Communications Decency Act.

'It allows for service providers who make good-faith efforts to protect children from pornography, from sexual exploitation, and even prostitution,' explains Donna Rice Hughes, who heads Enough is Enough. 'If they make a good-faith attempt to protect children, then they will have civil immunity from any type of prosecution.'

But unfortunately, Hughes says operations like Backpage.com take advantage of that Good Samaritan provision. In addition, Backpage.com has not made an effort to do anything about it.

'They could exercise greater corporate responsibility by tightening up their acceptable use policies and simply saying, 'This is not allowable. You cannot post these kinds of ads on our site, and if you do, we will take them down,' Hughes suggests.

She also calls for Congress to take action to close the loophole so that businesses like Backpage.com can be held legally liable for trafficking people, whether underage or not."

To read the entire article click here.