United States Congress is making measurable progress in putting online trafficking sources out of business – or in jail – but it is contended that more needs to be done to eradicate the problem.
The Communications Decency Act was passed in 1996 with a good purpose in mind, but as Lisa Thompson of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation told OneNewsNow, the law has been misused by human traffickers for decades.
“This law unintentionally has been shielding websites that provide platforms that basically provide the superstructure for sex trafficking to happen,” Thompson asserted. “Basically, what you have is people posting ads for prostitution and so forth on these websites.”
Authorities have been able to use the trafficking ads to track down pimps and prosecute them – but this is not the case with operations such as Backpage and Craig’s List, which have a history of posting the ads.
The U.S. Senate now has the opportunity to send the two a message to stop peddling adults and children on their websites.
“We’re optimistic,” Thompson insisted. “There have been like 67 supporters or co-sponsors of this Senate bill that has been put forward already, so what we need now is to get this passed so that we can restore rights to victims of sex trafficking and really hold these traffickers accountable.”
