Groundbreaking Legislation: Survivors Will No Longer be Silenced!

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed the NCOSE-endorsed Speak Out Act
– a groundbreaking piece of legislation which will stop the silencing of countless survivors!

The Speak Out Act prohibits the use of nondisclosure agreements which employees are often made to sign that would prevent them from speaking publicly or pursuing legal action should they experience sexual assault or harassment in the workplace. Such pre-dispute nondisclosure agreements have robbed survivors of their rights and their voice, while sheltering perpetrators and covering up systemic abuse.

“Today, 1 in 3 workers is subjected to NDAs that hide sexual misconduct in order to protect a business’s reputation,” lawmakers said. “We’re taking the gag off of survivors and pushing businesses to create safer work environments.”

2022: A Year Pornographers and Traffickers Would Like to Forget!

As we enter the last month of the calendar year, for many this becomes a time of reflection on the events of the year past. For the Internet pornography industry and sex traffickers, it will not be a positive reflection. Instead, it will be more of a nightmare, as they see the foundations of their corrupt empires continue to crumble – thanks to the work of the NCOSE Law Center and our valued partners.

Just a few years ago, holding Internet pornography websites accountable under the law for their role in hosting, distributing, and profiting from child sexual abuse material (CSAM), rape, sex trafficking, and sexual abuse images seemed to be an impossible task.

It is impossible no more! 2022 is the year the Internet pornography industry, a.k.a “Big Porn,” started tumbling down.

Read about how the NCOSE Law Center is bringing down Big Porn!

Newsy: Can Twitter Tackle Child Exploitation, When Musk Cut Team In Charge?

Newsy interviewed Lina Nealon, Director of Corporate and Strategic Initiatives at NCOSE, on Elon Musk's promise to tackle child sexual exploitation on Twitter:

Over the last few weeks, Twitter CEO Elon Musk repeatedly tweeted that the company's top priority is to address issues of child sexual abuse material appearing on his platform...

What remains to be seen is how Musk intends to deal with the problem after gutting teams dedicated specifically to dealing with this content. Bloomberg reported that Musk slashed about half of the specialists that review reports of child porn showing up on the platform.

Critics also say the problem could be exacerbated by new features that Musk's Twitter is looking to rush out — namely a paywalled video feature that the Washington Post reported is in development.

"People would pay to unlock content, creators would be paid and Twitter would also be getting a cut," Nealon said. "It's very similar to the OnlyFans model, which we know is widely used with those in the pornography and prostitution industry. Twitter's own analysts said because Twitter can't even get a handle on the child sex abuse on the platform, that a feature like paywalled video — which would make it even harder to detect that type of material — it would only increase the risk."

NCOSE Applauds Bumble and TikTok for Stepping Up to Confront Image-Based Sexual Abuse

NCOSE applauds Bumble and TikTok for joining Facebook and Instagram in an industry partnership to confront image-based sexual abuse (IBSA). The tech companies have agreed to share identified IBSA to block and expedite removal across platforms.

Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) involves creating, threatening to share, sharing, or using recordings (still images or videos) of sexually explicit or sexualized materials without the consent of the person depicted.

“Under current federal law, survivors have no rights to get this material removed, so it is imperative that digital platforms do all they can do curb sexual abuse from proliferating," said Dawn Hawkins, CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. “We are hopeful that when tech leaders work together, that image-based sexual abuse will be stopped. More must be done, and Congress should prioritize passing the PROTECT Act, which would ensure that federal law protects victims of image-based sexual abuse from websites monetizing and distributing their abuse."

Read more here.

Sincerely,

Having trouble viewing this email? View it in your web browser

Unsubscribe or Manage Your Preferences