backpage wasn't prted -- prosecuted. judges across the country wouldn't allow civil suits by trafficking victims who were sold through backpage.com as pointed out by ann wagner. all because of a law written before the internet or human trafficking was really understood. sex 230 of the communications decency act. today, congress will change that law. god willing it passes in the senate and will be signed by the president. today we can protect our children and free speech, too. h.r. 1865 as amended will allow state prosecutors to prosecute and it empowers trafficked women victims to sue the middle man who facilitated and profited from their slavery. the status quo of rampant online child sex trafficking is more than unacceptable, it is absolutely abhorrent to anyone who believes in human dignity and human rights. this is a tremendous bill. again i thank ann wagner for her leadership and yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlelady from alabama reserves. the gentlelady from texas is recognized. ms. jackson l

or to j.s., who in fact was victimized in seattle, raped and put on backpage, rescued by her family, and failed in court before this legislation. my legislation is very simple. does this bill work? what more can we we do? so i'm asking for a g.a.o. study, the g.a.o. will be instructed to assess the damages awarded to victims and restitution amounts imposed against defendants as a result of this bill. victims of the -- of sex trafficking require a multifaceted response to rebuild their lives. that includes housing, counseling, job training, and in many cases drug treatment and rehabilitation. we as members of congress need to be able to know, does it work? a citizen-led movement called fight for us along with a team of influential citizens called the houston 20 work to fill in the gaps and strengthen the services for victims and survivors in the city of houston. i was proud to meet with them at the community of faith church a socially motivated church led by bishop james dixon. jackie is the lead and they were all committed, children at risk, and many other organizations, to eliminati

but the law apparently couldn't touch backpage because of section 230.o change that. i think if we don't address this issue with a targeted exception, i think that section 230 could be injeopardy down the road altogether. what i would rather see is a targeted exception that actually prevents sex trafficking, and still preserves the enormous free—speech and innovation that section 230 promotes, and i think that is possible. i think if we don't address this issue, i would be very worried that that could cause more sweeping changes to section 230, which i think would be very dangerous. but there is a worry that once section 230 is chipped away at, it won't end there. they might start with laws to restrict sex trafficking, but the politicians would soon come back for more. there is already an appetite to restrict the right to publish what is known as fake news. people have the right to speak their mind, and no one can get into the business of censoring opinion. people can have wildly different opinions on the same event but as long as that event is true and

other aspect, and i think we can wrap up with this, i have heard you mention advertising through backpage twice in your speech. certainly from the perspective of the child exploitation section here, we have seen numerous cases and sting operations through online advertising. how do you see the advertising platforms playing into the problem? does that create investigative opportunities as well? >> well, as we have found in many human trafficking cases involving sex, many roads lead to online web-based advertisements. they are the modern version of the old, truly back page of whatever rag was being printed in the local city. it has increased the volume we are seeing. it is just part of the challenge of prosecuting these cases. but there is evidence that one can use from those sites, right? and of course, good agents are capturing screenshots as we speak right now investigating their human trafficking cases. as is anything, when the media changes, and remember, i did not know much about some of the social apps i talked about earlier, you have to be nimble as a prosecutor to view that as a po

this piece of legislation is supposed to go after what sites like backpage that are being used to sell sex. they are being accused of facilitating the commercial sex trait but as an expert witness i don't think that should happen and i think that website is the leading catalyst rescues and arrests. quite frankly i don't think they should be blamed for something that happens across the internet and has been modernized and something that's been done for hundreds of years and the most rare piece i have appear this is a blue book and it is a brothel guide from the early 1900s, of where you could find sex workers and brothels in new orleans. these were distributed in san antonio, texas so it didn't begin there. before that we saw the same type of brothel guides in england with the harris list in the early 1700s. this existed for hundreds of years but has just evolved. evolved over time. you have brothel guide lists and mail order bride catalog and i hope you come up and take a look at these because they are interesting in their showing how the commercial sex industry in our country has pers