Craigslist personals, some subreddits disappear after FOSTA passage

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: March 24, 2018 at 3:25:23 PM EDT
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Craigslist personals, some subreddits disappear after FOSTA passage
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> Craigslist personals, some subreddits disappear after FOSTA passage
> EFF: "Online platforms will have little choice but to become much more restrictive.”
> By CYRUS FARIVAR
> Mar 23 2018
> <https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/03/craigslist-personals-some-subreddits-disappear-with-fosta-passage/>
>
> In the wake of this week’s passage of the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) bill 
> in both houses of Congress on Wednesday, Craigslist has removed its "Personals" section entirely, and Reddit has 
> removed some related subreddits, likely out of fear of future lawsuits.
> FOSTA, which awaits the signature of President Donald Trump before becoming law, removes some portions of Section 230 
> of the Communications Decency Act. The landmark 1996 law shields website operators that host third-party content 
> (such as commenters, for example) from civil liability. The new bill is aimed squarely at Backpage, a notorious 
> website that continues to allow prostitution advertisements and has been under federal scrutiny for years.
>
> In a bizarre turn of events, the Department of Justice also warned the House in February 2018 that the bill "raises a 
> serious constitutional concern," as it would apply retroactively—a seeming violation of the Constitution's ex post 
> facto clause. Congress passed it anyway.
>
> On Thursday, in a brief statement on its website, Craigslist wrote:
>
> Any tool or service can be misused. We can't take such risk without jeopardizing all our other services, so we are 
> regretfully taking craigslist personals offline. Hopefully we can bring them back some day.
>
> To the millions of spouses, partners, and couples who met through craigslist, we wish you every happiness!
>
> In what appears to be a related move, on Wednesday, Reddit announced that it would ban a number of subreddits, 
> including any that allow users to "solicit or facilitate any transaction or gift involving certain goods and 
> services," including firearms, narcotics, alcohol, stolen goods, and "paid services involving physical sexual 
> contact," among others. However, some related subreddits, such as /r/sexsells, will stay.
> Neither Craigslist nor Reddit immediately responded to Ars’ request late Thursday evening for further comment.
>
> [snip]
>
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