{"id":2350468,"date":"2024-10-03T21:14:49","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T01:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/booker-blocks-cruzs-ai-revenge-porn-bill-to-help-his-buddy-win\/"},"modified":"2024-10-03T21:20:04","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T01:20:04","slug":"booker-blocks-cruzs-ai-revenge-porn-bill-to-help-his-buddy-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/booker-blocks-cruzs-ai-revenge-porn-bill-to-help-his-buddy-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Booker Blocks Cruz&#8217;s AI Revenge Porn Bill To Help His Buddy Win"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbooker-blocks-cruzs-ai-revenge-porn-bill-to-help-his-buddy-win%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2350468&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Last week, Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, became a focal point in a contentious political situation by blocking \u200cthe Take It Down Act, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bipartisan-bill-would-create-independent-oversight-of-federal-prisons\/\" title=\"Bipartisan Bill Would Create Independent Oversight of Federal Prisons\">bipartisan bill introduced<\/a> by Republican Senator Ted Cruz \u200bfrom Texas. This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pentagon-refuses-to-provide-key-details-about-38-billion-ukraine-funding-request\/\" title=\"Pentagon Refuses to Provide Key Details About  Billion Ukraine Funding Request\">proposed legislation aimed<\/a> to criminalize AI-generated deepfakes involving revenge porn with minors. Booker&#8217;s last-minute objection during the voting process drew criticism as he \u2062did not provide an explanation for his stance. Observers \u2063speculate that his actions were politically \u200cmotivated, potentially to undermine Cruz&#8217;s\u2064 chances of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/these-democrats-once-said-you-shouldnt-raise-taxes-during-a-recession-and-now-they-are\/\" title=\"These Democrats Once Said You Shouldn&#039;t Raise Taxes During a Recession - And Now They Are\">legislative win ahead<\/a>\u200c of Cruz&#8217;s competitive Senate race against Booker\u2019s ally,\u2064 Colin \u2062Allred.<\/p>\n<p>The issue\u200d resonated \u2064with victims like Francesca Mani, a 15-year-old who had been\u2062 targeted by classmates using\u200c AI tools to create explicit images of \u2064her and her classmates. Despite being a constituent of \u2064Booker, she chose to collaborate\u200b with Cruz \u200cto seek justice for those suffering from such harassment.\u200c Critics question \u2062whether the opposition\u2062 to Cruz\u2019s bill is justified, especially given\u2062 real incidents like the tragic case of a young man who died by suicide due to blackmail, highlighting the serious implications of \u200conline harassment.<\/p>\n<p>The article argues that issues of online \u2063bullying and harassment have escalated beyond parental oversight and school \u2062discipline, necessitating legal intervention. It\u200c acknowledges that while preventive\u2062 education about online threats is essential, the complexity and severity \u2064of cyberbullying\u2014especially involving sexual exploitation\u2014demand a robust legislative response for the protection of minors.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Last week, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., once a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-spike-in-florida-coronavirus-cases-despite-no-mask-mandate\/\" title=\"No Spike in Florida Coronavirus Cases Despite No Mask Mandate\">presidential hopeful<\/a>, became relevant again by <a href=\"https:\/\/catholicvote.org\/dem-senator-blocks-ted-cruzs-bill-to-protect-children-from-ai-deepfake-revenge-porn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">blocking the Take It Down Act<\/a>, introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. The bill would have criminalized AI-generated deepfakes of revenge porn involving minors. When the bipartisan bill came up for a vote, Booker <a href=\"https:\/\/broadbandbreakfast.com\/booker-blocks-passage-for-cruzs-take-it-down-act\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filed a last-minute objection<\/a> that prevented its passage. When asked to explain what his objection actually was, he said nothing.<\/p>\n<p>This has led observers to <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/4900148-cruz-gets-heated-after-booker-blocks-deepfake-revenge-porn-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">conclude<\/a> that Booker&rsquo;s primary motive was to deny Cruz a legislative victory during an election, since Booker is good friends with Rep. Colin Allred, Cruz&rsquo;s opponent in this year&rsquo;s Texas Senate race. Cruz understandably <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/4900148-cruz-gets-heated-after-booker-blocks-deepfake-revenge-porn-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sounded off<\/a> on this likelihood: &ldquo;I sure hope he&rsquo;s not standing up here denying victims of this abuse relief simply to score partisan political points &hellip; in order to believe he wouldn&rsquo;t do such a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/despite-insistence-by-democrat-politicians-and-medical-elites-empirical-evidence-does-not-conclusively-show-that-masks-reduce-the-spread-of-covid\/\" title=\"Despite Insistence by Democrat Politicians and Medical Elites, Empirical Evidence DOES NOT Conclusively Show that Masks Reduce the Spread of COVID\">thing<\/a>, he needs to actually explain some reason for his objection.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Even more angry was 15-year-old Francesca Mani, who, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7012803\/francesca-mani\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Time magazine<\/a>, &ldquo;learned that boys in her class had used AI software to fabricate sexually explicit images of Mani and her female classmates.&rdquo; Despite being one of Booker&rsquo;s constituents in New Jersey, she ended up working with the senator from Texas to help bring justice for the victims of this harassment and &ldquo;sextortion.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>If Cruz&rsquo;s bill amounted to useless political virtue signaling, Booker&rsquo;s dissent might have more merits. However, as Mani&rsquo;s experience attests, the Take It Down Act really does address a growing problem. Cruz also mentioned the tragic story of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/pennsylvania-father-helps-fbi-track-down-scammers-led-his-teen-son-suicide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gavin Guffey<\/a>, who was blackmailed by a scammer threatening to publicize explicit photos of him to his classmates. Eventually, he committed suicide. Although the photos were real, not AI-generated, the impact on his reputation and mental well-being was effectively the same.<\/p>\n<h2>Parents Need Legislative Help<\/h2>\n<p>Even so, it&rsquo;s tempting for some to dismiss this whole issue as something that&rsquo;s better resolved with more watchful parenting and safer school environments than another federal law. Speaking as both a parent and a high school English teacher, such thinking is seriously misguided.<\/p>\n<p>It should be understood from the outset that we are well past the point of handling online bullying and harassment in-house, mainly because much of what falls under the rubric of cyberbullying is far worse than the typical adolescent delinquency. This is nothing less than sexual exploitation and the production of pornography, activities that are already punishable with heavy jail time for adults.<\/p>\n<p>And at the moment, there&rsquo;s little that parents and teachers can really do about this. Already we have countless advisory lessons over the dangers of sexting, cyberbullying, and everything in between, and most parents are well aware of the online predators and what can happen online. Nevertheless, even the most careful student can fall victim if a predator is motivated enough.<\/p>\n<p>Contrast this with the relatively innocent times of the 1990s and early 2000s when I was a student. Instances of bullying were largely put down with anti-bullying campaigns and strict protocols for bullying on campus &mdash; sometimes too strict, as zero-tolerance policies made my school feel like an oppressive police state. This is impossible to recreate today since cyberbullying exists outside the boundaries of most adult supervision.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, there needs to be some legal recourse for the victims of cyberbullying and sexual exploitation, which is why Cruz&rsquo;s bill was so important. Sadly, for obviously political reasons, Cory &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/spartacus-cory-booker-spartacus-moment-brett-kavanaugh\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spartacus<\/a>&rdquo; Booker torpedoed this effort.<\/p>\n<h2>How Democrats Operate<\/h2>\n<p>What&rsquo;s ironic (but unsurprising) is this kind of political sabotage is the same thing Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris routinely accuses Donald Trump of doing with the border. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=1IJz3s6N_mA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">her telling<\/a>, Trump directed Republicans in Congress to vote against the Democrats&rsquo; border bill last year so that he could make his opponent look weak on the border. Unlike Booker though, Trump and the rest of the GOP had very good reasons for voting against the bill, the biggest one being that Biden and Harris already have all the power they need to close the border now.<\/p>\n<p>Hypocrisy and projection aside, Allred will now be accusing Cruz of &ldquo;getting nothing done&rdquo; as a senator so he can nab a few more votes. Because he&rsquo;s trying this on a well-known conservative like Ted Cruz &mdash; and not an empty-suit like the other Texan senator John Cornyn &mdash; it&rsquo;s hard to see such a charge going anywhere. More than anything, it&rsquo;s yet another lesson in how Democrats operate and what Americans can expect if they vote for them this November.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Auguste Meyrat is an English teacher in the Dallas area. He holds an MA in humanities and an MEd in educational leadership. He is the senior editor of <a>The Everyman<\/a>  , a senior contributor to The Federalist, and has written for essays for The American Mind, The American Conservative, Religion and Liberty, Crisis Magazine, and elsewhere. Follow him on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MeyratAuguste\">X<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Cory Booker blocked the Take It Down Act last week<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":551,"featured_media":2350469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/48021562066_fecf0d93c4_k-e1727721262462.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[14505,16630,4105,42314],"class_list":["post-2350468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-ai","tag-booker","tag-cruz","tag-revenge-porn"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/48021562066_fecf0d93c4_k-e1727721262462.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/551"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2350468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2350469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2350468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2350468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2350468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}