Pornhub squarely targeted in bipartisan bill to regulate sex work online

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/12/pornhub-squarely-targeted-in-bipartisan-bill-to-regulate-sex-work-online

by Anon1096 • 6 years ago

15 6 6 years ago

arstechnica.com

y-c-o-m-b• 6 years ago

I wish they would put some effort into these bills instead of taking the archaic approach of making everything a pain in the ass for legitimate users while doing almost nothing towards solving the actual problems it intends to solve.

What's to stop the content from appearing on another site or outside of the US? The PirateBay is still going strong since 2003 despite all the raids and efforts to remove it.

They should be allocating more resources towards collaborating with PornHub to stop these abuses, not by introducing legislation against it.

Even more disappointing that this was introduced by Jeff Merkley - the senator I just voted for - typically known for doing actual research and not lazily introducing legislation.

boublepop• 6 years ago

As with all legislation like this the base premis for the people making the law is: “someone is making money doing something they should not be doing” and they are aiming at the “making money” element.

It’s always the same, and this is why the Pirate Bay is still alive because they simply cannot even begin to conceptualize that maybe something is happening that is not 100% focused around profits. And even if that was so they really don’t care because no parent has ever made a campaign contribution “just because we are happy that our children didn’t get abused”.

However you can be absolutely certain that pornhub is going to be making strategic donations now, just to avoid the hassle.

Anon1096• 6 years ago

It's clear that the Wild West style of the Internet is coming to an end. However, this bill is particularly worrying because as written, it may end up affecting even porn art sites. It seems that there isn't a distinction between porn drawings and actual human porn, so the knock on effects could be huge.

For context, this bill comes following Visa and Mastercard dropping Pornhub as a result of an NYT expose on Pornhub hosting child porn and rape videos. Pornhub then removed all non-verified content from the platform.

Previously discussed on Hacker News:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25418862

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25378155

Barrin92• 6 years ago

I'm generally in favour of stricter rules concerning these sites because as I see it with the Pornhub model of just letting essentially everyone post there is really no effective way to stop abusive material from making it through.

I also dislike the general tone when topics around this come up. Defense of the liberalisation of sex work has become fairly dogmatic. I remember the same when it came to prostitution here in Germany more than a decade ago, and contrary to claims beforehand we saw a significant increase in human trafficking, criminality, abuse and so on. Due to the very nature of the industry it makes it hard to tell what's legitimate and what is not.

"Sex workers are disproportionately women of color, transgender, and are by definition the most marginalized in our society. They don't have people chasing their boats. They don't have people seeking their contributions,"

I'm also all in favour of supporting marginalised groups in all sorts of ways including financially, but I also don't like that it has often become an argument in these debates.

underseacables2• 6 years ago

IIRC the costs have come way down where sex is cheaper than a nice dinner. The wild west of the Internet has made pornography essentially free, it’s amazing how much money the industry does create. Do you think the driving down of prices for prostitution has made things worse?

underseacables2• 6 years ago

Feels like a Scarlett letter for people who make, watch, or facilitate porn, waiting to happen. I’m all in favor of cracking down on these kids with OnlyFans and the absurdly easy sexual exploration of young people, but forcing your name to be attached to it might be a bit far. Then again...it did wonders for the pseudoephedrine “smurfs.”