Senate launches bill to remove immunity for websites hosting illegal content

barry@paragon-DS-7:/media/barry/5...../hmantraff$ egrep -i 'servitude' victims_of_trafficking_and_violence_protection_act _of_2000
slavery, and involuntary servitude, to reauthorize certain Federal
involuntary servitude, peonage, and other forms of forced labor
market. Within the context of slavery, servitude, and labor or
conduct that amounts to a condition of servitude, victims are
(13) Involuntary servitude statutes are intended to reach
cases in which persons are held in a condition of servitude
absent a definition of involuntary servitude by Congress. As a
servitude that is brought about through use or threatened use of
involuntary servitude is among those unalienable rights.
involuntary servitude in 1865, recognizing them as evil
involuntary servitude, violence against women, and other
(5) Involuntary servitude.--The term ``involuntary
servitude'' includes a condition of servitude induced by means
for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude,
servitude, or forced labor
servitude, or forced labor
servitude, or forced labor.
peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, or forced labor.
of peonage, involuntary servitude, slave trade offenses, and
servitude, and slave trade offenses; and
involuntary servitude, being held hostage or being
involuntary servitude; slave trade; kidnapping;

barry@paragon-DS-7:/media/barry/....../hmantraff$ egrep -B25 -A100 -i 'porn' victims_of_trafficking_and_violence_protection_act _of_2000

https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-1...106publ386.htm

SEC. 101. <<NOTE: 22 USC 7101 note.>> SHORT TITLE.

This division may be cited as the ``Trafficking Victims Protection
Act of 2000''.

SEC. 102. <<NOTE: 22 USC 7101.>> PURPOSES AND FINDINGS.

(a) Purposes.--The purposes of this division are to combat
trafficking in persons, a contemporary manifestation of slavery whose
victims are predominantly women and children, to ensure just and
effective punishment of traffickers, and to protect their victims.
(b) Findings.--Congress finds that:
(1) As the 21st century begins, the degrading institution of
slavery continues throughout the world. Trafficking in persons
is a modern form of slavery, and it is the largest manifestation
of slavery today. At least 700,000 persons annually, primarily
women and children, are trafficked within or across
international borders. Approximately 50,000 women and children
are trafficked into the United States each year.
(2) Many of these persons are trafficked into the
international sex trade, often by force, fraud, or coercion. The
sex industry has rapidly expanded over the past several decades.
It involves sexual exploitation of persons, predominantly women
and girls, involving activities related to prostitution,
pornography, sex tourism, and other commercial sexual services.
The low status of women in many parts of the world has
contributed to a burgeoning of the trafficking industry.
(3) Trafficking in persons is not limited to the sex
industry. This growing transnational crime also includes forced
labor and involves significant violations of labor, public
health, and human rights standards worldwide.
(4) Traffickers primarily target women and girls, who are
disproportionately affected by poverty, the lack of access to
education, chronic unemployment, discrimination, and the lack of
economic opportunities in countries of origin. Traffickers lure
women and girls into their networks through false promises of
decent working conditions at relatively good pay as nannies,
maids, dancers, factory workers, restaurant workers, sales
clerks, or models. Traffickers also buy children from poor
families and sell them into prostitution or into various types
of forced or bonded labor.
(5) Traffickers often transport victims from their home
communities to unfamiliar destinations, including foreign
countries away from family and friends, religious institutions,
and other sources of protection and support, leaving the victims
defenseless and vulnerable.
(6) Victims are often forced through physical violence to
engage in sex acts or perform slavery-like labor. Such force
includes rape and other forms of sexual abuse, torture,
starvation, imprisonment, threats, psychological abuse, and
coercion.
(7) Traffickers often make representations to their victims
that physical harm may occur to them or others should the victim
escape or attempt to escape. Such representations can

[[Page 114 STAT. 1467]]

have the same coercive effects on victims as direct threats to
inflict such harm.
(8) Trafficking in persons is increasingly perpetrated by
organized, sophisticated criminal enterprises. Such trafficking
is the fastest growing source of profits for organized criminal
enterprises worldwide. Profits from the trafficking industry
contribute to the expansion of organized crime in the United
States and worldwide. Trafficking in persons is often aided by
official corruption in countries of origin, transit, and
destination, thereby threatening the rule of law.
(9) Trafficking includes all the elements of the crime of
forcible rape when it involves the involuntary participation of
another person in sex acts by means of fraud, force, or
coercion.
(10) Trafficking also involves violations of other laws,
including labor and immigration codes and laws against
kidnapping, slavery, false imprisonment, assault, battery,
pandering, fraud, and extortion.
(11) Trafficking exposes victims to serious health risks.
Women and children trafficked in the sex industry are exposed to
deadly diseases, including HIV and AIDS. Trafficking victims are
sometimes worked or physically brutalized to death.
(12) Trafficking in persons substantially affects interstate
and foreign commerce. Trafficking for such purposes as
involuntary servitude, peonage, and other forms of forced labor
has an impact on the nationwide employment network and labor
market. Within the context of slavery, servitude, and labor or
services which are obtained or maintained through coercive
conduct that amounts to a condition of servitude, victims are
subjected to a range of violations.
(13) Involuntary servitude statutes are intended to reach
cases in which persons are held in a condition of servitude
through nonviolent coercion. In United States v. Kozminski, 487
U.S. 931 (1988), the Supreme Court found that section 1584 of
title 18, United States Code, should be narrowly interpreted,
absent a definition of involuntary servitude by Congress. As a
result, that section was interpreted to criminalize only
servitude that is brought about through use or threatened use of
physical or legal coercion, and to exclude other conduct that
can have the same purpose and effect.
(14) Existing legislation and law enforcement in the United
States and other countries are inadequate to deter trafficking
and bring traffickers to justice, failing to reflect the gravity
of the offenses involved. No comprehensive law exists in the
United States that penalizes the range of offenses involved in
the trafficking scheme. Instead, even the most brutal instances
of trafficking in the sex industry are often punished under laws
that also apply to lesser offenses, so that traffickers
typically escape deserved punishment.
(15) In the United States, the seriousness of this crime and
its components is not reflected in current sentencing
guidelines, resulting in weak penalties for convicted
traffickers.
(16) In some countries, enforcement against traffickers is
also hindered by official indifference, by corruption, and
sometimes even by official participation in trafficking.

[[Page 114 STAT. 1468]]

(17) Existing laws often fail to protect victims of
trafficking, and because victims are often illegal immigrants in
the destination country, they are repeatedly punished more
harshly than the traffickers themselves.
(18) Additionally, adequate services and facilities do not
exist to meet victims' needs regarding health care, housing,
education, and legal assistance, which safely reintegrate
trafficking victims into their home countries.
(19) Victims of severe forms of trafficking should not be

Federal Mann Act

The Mann Act is a federal statute that prohibits interstate or foreign transportation of an individual with the intention of engaging such individual in sexual activity or prostitution. The Mann Act is also known as the White Slave Traffic Act. The Act made it a felony to transport knowingly any person in interstate commerce or foreign commerce for prostitution, or any other immoral purpose. It also made it a felony to coerce an individual into such immoral acts.

Under the Mann Act, transportation for the purpose of prostitution need not be with a commercial intention to be made liable. If a person is transported for non-commercial for sexual activity, it will amount to an offense under Mann Act[i]. The Act also applies when a male takes his under-age girlfriend to a neighboring state, or a female transports an underage boy across the state line for sexual purposes.