OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2017
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
JIM VAN NOSTRAND, Managing Editor
JEREMY FELDMAN, Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
ach week we recognize those people and organizations
in the community deserving of public praise for the good
things they do to make the North Coast a better place to
live, and also those who should be called out for their actions.
E
SHOUTOUTS
Google trying to kill bill
on sex trafficking websites
By NICHOLAS KRISTOF
New York Times News Service
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Coast Guard personnel, who recently returned from performing rescue
operations in Texas after Hurricane Harvey, took time to recount their
experiences for a press conference on Tuesday at Air Station Astoria.
• Members of two Coast Guard Sector Columbia River
air crews, who returned this week from the Gulf Coast where
they participated in rescue and relief operations in the after-
math of Hurricane Harvey. The two air crews were sent south-
ward and were deployed to Sector Mobile in Alabama and then
to Air Station Houston. They were credited with directly rescuing
about 40 people from the floodwaters and devastation and assist-
ing many more. The returning crewmen said seeing the storm’s
massive destruction was jarring and they described the scene as
organized chaos. They credited their rigorous training, camarade-
rie and dedication to saving others in helping them throughout the
deployment.
• Jason Harte, a retired Navy veteran from Ocean Park,
Washington, who has been assisting in relief efforts in Texas
as a volunteer with the national nonprofit Sheep Dog Impact
Assistance group. The organization consists of retired military, law
enforcement and fire-rescue personnel, and takes its name from
the concept of sheep dogs, which traditionally protect the herd.
More than 60 members from the organization’s 23 chapters across
the country have traveled to Texas to help. Harte said the group he
is with is coordinating with the National Guard and is concentrat-
ing on offering assistance in Houston’s hard-hit neighboring cities.
• Mo’s Restaurants, which raised $7,500 for back-to-school
supplies for local elementary schools during July and August.
The donations to the schools came from the proceeds of the
Motivation for Kids Table inside each of Mo’s locations, and the
money will be used by the schools to purchase and provide items
like binders, pencils and pens to those youngsters in need.
• TD&M Enterprises, and company president Mark Utti,
for launching an effort to restore the historic Times Theater in
Seaside. The theater, which closed nearly 30 years ago and is
a recognizable fixture with its outdoor murals at the corner of
Broadway and Columbia Street, originally opened in 1941. It
closed in 1989. Utti said TD&M Enterprises, which now owns
the property, has plans to restore the theater while also renovating
the building to include a brew pub and event space, with the pos-
sibility of live entertainment, sports viewing and even some sec-
ond-run movies. The renovation work has begun with a goal of a
January opening.
• U.S. Bank, which recently awarded Camp Kiwanilong a
$3,000 grant for continuing operations. The camp’s staff and board
are currently working toward accreditation through the American
Camp Association and are also planning the development of a
pilot family camp program.
ex traffickers in America have
the police and prosecutors
pursuing them, but they do
have one crucial
(if secret) ally:
Google.
Google’s motto
has long been
“Don’t be evil,”
and I admire lots
about the company.
But organizations it funds have for
years been quietly helping Backpage.
com, the odious website where most
American victims of human traffick-
ing are sold, to battle lawsuits from
children sold there for sex.
Now Google is using its enor-
mous lobbying power in Washington,
D.C., to try to kill bipartisan leg-
islation that would crack down on
websites that promote sex trafficking.
“I wanted to bring to your atten-
tion an issue that is picking up steam
in the Senate and the House,” a
Google lobbyist, E. Stewart Jeffries,
wrote in a letter to congressional
offices last month.
He urged House members not to
co-sponsor the legislation targeting
sex trafficking.
It’s not that Google is taking ads
from Backpage (it doesn’t) or giving
it money. But as Backpage fights off
prosecutors and worries about the
legislation, the Stop Enabling Sex
Traffickers Act, Google has emerged
as its behind-the-scenes champion.
Why? Why would Google ally
itself with Backpage, which is
involved in 73 percent of U.S. cases
of suspected child sex trafficking,
which advertised a 13-year-old
whose pimp had tattooed his name
on her eyelids?
The answer has to do with
Section 230 of the Communications
Decency Act, which protects internet
companies like Google (and The
New York Times) from lawsuits —
and also protects Backpage. Google
seems to have a vague, poorly
grounded fear that closing the loop-
hole would open the way to frivolous
lawsuits and investigations and lead
to a slippery slope that will damage
its interests and the freedom of the
internet.
That impresses few people out-
side the tech community, for the Stop
Enabling Sex Traffickers Act was
crafted exceedingly narrowly to tar-
S
CALLOUTS
Suggestions?
Do you have a Shoutout or Callout you think we should know about?
Let us know at news@dailyastorian.com and we’ll make sure to take a look.
get only those intentionally engaged
in trafficking children. Some tech
companies, including Oracle, have
endorsed the bill.
“This bill only impacts bad-actor
websites,” notes Yiota Souras, gen-
eral counsel at the National Center
for Missing & Exploited Children.
“You don’t inadvertently traffic a
child.”
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio,
the lead sponsor of the legislation,
says that it would clearly never affect
Google.
“We’ve tried to work with them,”
Portman told me.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal,
D-Conn., another sponsor, adds that
“it’s truly baffling and perplexing”
that some in the tech world (Google
above all) have dug in their heels. He
says the sex trafficking bill gathered
28 co-sponsors within a week,
making it a rare piece of bipartisan
legislation that seems likely to
become law.
I write about this issue because
I’m haunted by the kids I’ve met
who were pretty much enslaved,
right here in the United States in the
21st century. I’ve been writing about
Backpage for more than five years,
ever since I came across a terrified
13-year-old girl, Baby Face, who had
been forced to work for a pimp in
New York City.
Baby Face said that when she
balked, the pimp threw her down a
stairway. Finally, one day she was
hurting badly and could not bear
to be raped any more. So when
her pimp sold her on Backpage in
Brooklyn and waited outside the
building, Baby Face pounded on the
door of another apartment, begged to
use the phone and called her mom.
Police rescued her and the pimp went
to prison.
But it’s not enough to send a
few pimps to prison; we should also
go after online marketplaces like
Backpage. That’s why Google’s
myopia is so sad.
The Stop Enabling Sex
Trafficking Act won’t end trafficking
any more than laws end bank rob-
bery, but 50 attorneys general around
the country have signed a letter say-
ing that this kind of legislation would
help — an astonishing unanimity.
In response to my inquiries,
Google issued a statement:
“Backpage acted criminally to
facilitate child sex trafficking, and
we strongly urge the Department of
Justice to prosecute them for their
egregious crimes against children. …
Google will continue to work along-
side Congress, antitrafficking organi-
zations and other technology compa-
nies to combat sex trafficking.”
Fine, but then why oppose
legislation? Why use intermediaries
to defend Backpage? To me, all
this reflects the tech world’s moral
blindness about what’s happening
outside its bubble. Even if Google
were right that ending the immunity
for Backpage might lead to an occa-
sional frivolous lawsuit, life requires
some balancing.
For example, websites must try
to remove copyrighted material if
it’s posted on their sites. That’s a
constraint on internet freedom that
makes sense, and it hasn’t proved
a slippery slope. If we’re willing to
protect copyrights, shouldn’t we do
as much to protect children sold for
sex?
I asked Nacole, a mom in
Washington state whose daughter
was trafficked on Backpage at the
age of 15, what she would say to
Google.
“Our children can’t be the cost of
doing business,” she said.
Google understands so much
about business, but apparently not
that.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Wake up, Marquis
• The Oregon Department of Transportation, which received
mixed results in an audit released this week by the Secretary of
State’s Office. On the positive side, the audit found that ODOT’s
new fuels tax system accurately assesses and collects fuels taxes
for Oregon and other local jurisdictions. During 2016, the sys-
tem processed approximately 14,000 fuels tax returns and col-
lected more than $565 million in fuels taxes. The audit determined
the system’s calculations to be correct for 99.5% of all returns.
The remaining 0.5% of records differed due to rounding errors or
manual overrides of calculations by department staff. However,
the audit also identified design flaws that may allow for certain
fuels tax refunds to be issued for more than what was owed, and
has caused inaccuracies in some key reports. The audit also iden-
tified security weaknesses which could put the system and its data
at risk. The report included nine recommendations to ODOT man-
agement to correct the weaknesses.
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
Is Google giving cover to Backpage.com and enabling sex traffickers?
s a voter in Clatsop County, I
support the American Civil Lib-
erties Union of Oregon and its “They
Report to You” campaign. District
attorneys need to be held account-
able to the voters, and Josh Marquis
is no exception. After years of the sta-
tus quo, a wake-up call is in order
for Josh Marquis: You work for the
voters.
GLENDA PHILLIPS
Seaside
A
Accountability?
istrict attorneys like Josh Mar-
quis need to stop being so wor-
ried about being held accountable
(“ACLU puts heat on elected pros-
ecutors,” The Daily Astorian, Aug.
29). Why is he so afraid? Voters?
Instead of fighting the American
Civil Liberties Union of Oregon’s
“They Report to You” district attor-
ney accountability campaign, dis-
D
trict attorneys like Marquis should
embrace it. They can use it as a way
to connect better with constituents,
to find out what voters want, and to
create a criminal justice system that
reflects our shared values.
For example, I want a system that
is effective, fair and just. I believe the
system should be focused more on
education, treatment, recovery and
re-entry support, and less on incarcer-
ation and punishment tactics that the
research shows are more expensive
and less effective. What’s so scary
about that?
MONICA J. VAN STEENBERG
Astoria
Aug. 29). Many people in our region
don’t realize what a district attorney
is, or what makes a district attorney
so powerful.
I want our current district attor-
ney, Josh Marquis, to be more in
touch with the values of the voters
he represents. I hope, thanks to this
campaign, district attorneys like him
will more often do basic things, like
answering voters’ phone calls and
having public policy agendas. We
should expect more from people like
Marquis than just maintaining the
status quo.
REV. KIT KETCHAM
Astoria
Expect more from DA
Who cares, Hillary?
s a voter in Clatsop County, I
was excited to read about the
American Civil Liberties Union of
Oregon “They Report to You” cam-
paign (“ACLU puts heat on elected
prosecutors,” The Daily Astorian,
H
A
illary Clinton is currently on
tour to promote her latest book
titled “What Happened.” The obvious
answer to that title is “Who Cares?”
E. ROBERT NASSIKAS
Astoria