The Elctronic Frontier Foundation is fighting a Washington law that requires companies to confirm the ages of all people depicted in advertisements for sex workers before publishing the ads.
A case playing out in Washington courts could have an impact on companies and organizations around the country that allow user-generated content to be posted on their websites and in print.
The digital privacy and free-speech lobby group Electronic Frontier Foundation, on behalf of the digital library company Internet Archive, has joined online classified advertisement company Backpage.com in filing a complaint against the State of Washington to stop enforcement of a law passed earlier this year aimed at stopping sex trafficking of minors.
The law, SB 6251, requires companies to confirm the ages of all people depicted in advertisements for sex workers, such as escorts and adult massage services, by checking government-issued identification before publishing the advertisement. If a company directly or indirectly publishes an illegal ad, it could be held criminally responsible.
The EFF calls the law vague, drawing particular attention to the fact that a publishing company like Backpage.com, which is owned by the Village Voice and provides the advertisements at the back of The Seattle Weekly (also owned by Village Voice), could be held responsible for any illegal ad it published, even if it did not know that the person depicted in an ad was a minor.
But the EFF argues that that responsibility would continue beyond the initial publisher to internet archive organizations, aggregating websites and libraries that store the data.
?We strongly support law enforcement efforts to combat child sex trafficking, but this new law could endanger libraries and other entities that bring access to websites and user-generated content,? Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle said in a press release.
Emily Parkhurst covers the technology industry for the Puget Sound Business Journal/TechFlash.
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