The highest court in the country has spoken, and now Backpage.com, considered one of the most common places for child sex trafficking victims to be advertised, must finally release subpoenaed files to a U.S. Senate committee investigating the website’s practices. Backpage.com has long resisted the Senate’s subpoena, even after lawmakers held the website in contempt. In a victory for anti-trafficking advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to block the Senate subpoena, and Backpage.com must deliver the requested files within ten days.
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is seeking information about the practices of the website after evidence emerged to indicate the website has been accepting and editing advertisements to conceal the age of those selling sex for cash. It is the first time in 20 years that the Senate has held an organization in contempt for ignoring a subpoena. Backpage.com and its CEO Carl Ferrer argued unsuccessfully that the subpoena threatened their First Amendment rights, but a U.S. District Court judge ruled in August that “[u]nderstanding the magnitude of Internet sex trafficking and how to stop it substantially outweighs Mr. Ferrer’s undefined interests.” The Supreme Court agreed.
For years, Backpage.com has hidden behind the Communications Decency Act, arguing that it merely publishes content that others write, much like Facebook or other bulletin board sites. Backpage.com argues that Internet Service Providers cannot be considered accountable for what people post on them, or the internet would grind to a halt.
But in a staff report from the Investigations Committee, there’s clear proof that Backpage.com officials, including Mr. Ferrer himself and an Indian company hired to monitor escort ads, were involved in editing questionable ads, apparently having a hand in shaping the content on the site. According to the report:
We find substantial evidence that Backpage edits the content of some ads, including by deleting words and images, before publication. The record indicates that in some cases, these deletions likely served to remove evidence of the illegality of the underlying transaction.
A 2012 memo from the moderation company noted: “IF IN DOUBT ABOUT UNDERAGE: the process for now should be to accept the ad and note the link.”
We know all too well that ads for kids made it through these shoddy screenings.The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports a family member who wrote to Backpage.com pleading:
“Please remove this. This is my 16 year old daughter’s picture. I e-mailed already. Whoever’s posting this please block their card or email from posting.”
The auto-response from Backpage?
“If you accidentally reported this ad, do not worry. It takes multiple reports from multiple people for an ad to be removed.”
Senator Rob Portman, chair of the Senate investigations committee, noted that a Backpage.com ad had appeared on the site with a missing child poster in the background, including the name and age of the girl being sold, as well as topless photos of her.
“We’d certainly like to know what supposedly market-leading screening and moderation procedures missed that one,” he said.
In courts and in state legislatures across the country, we see increasing efforts to keep vulnerable young people from being sold online. In shelters and police stations across the country, we see the broken, traumatized kids trying to escape lives of serial rape and exploitation. Here at Covenant House, we know the trauma endured by young trafficking survivors. We have safe houses for trafficked youth in Guatemala and Honduras and opened a safe house for trafficking survivors near New York City in 2015. This month we are opening our newest residence, atransitional home for trafficking survivors in Toronto.
I am grateful to the U.S. Senate and look forward to the day Backpage.com no longer profits from the exploitation of kids.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-m-ryan/a-supreme-court-step-to-f_b_12046042.html