Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20140313

We explore the World Wide Web at twentyfive. Talking about the internet is like talking about whether electricity is good or bad, or oxygen is good or bad. Its just this powerful thing that connects all of us and that has become an invisible part of our lives. Woodruff those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff ukraines embattled woodruff beijing today released this image and two others taken sunday over the South China Sea. It came after another day of fruitless searching. John sparks of independent Television News reports from kuala lumpur. After five days of confusion, the location of a sophisticated jet is still unknown, and its the sort of thing that makes people nervous. Obviously, im a bit concerned, a bit anxious. So the malaysian government put their cards on the table today before a large group of international journalists. Firstly, said the transport minister, they needed more help. Ladies and gentlemen, we need to analyze both the civilian and the military data in the east or in the west, on land or in the water, and that is exactly what we are doing today. Reporter they need more help because they dont know where flight 370 is. Heres what they said. At 12 41 a. M. Saturday, it left kuala lumpur for beijing. The Authorities Say they lost contact with it 50 minutes later. The aircrafts transponder which sends out information about direction and speed also stopped working. But after reviewing military radar, officials saw an aircraft alter course. It may have been flight 370, but theyre not sure. It was tracked 200 miles off the coast and disappeared 2 15 a. M. As it headed out to sea. In the east, theres a possibility that this aircraft did a turnback, but we are not sure whether it is the same aircraft. Reporter with little to go on, the malaysians have expanded the search area, though there seems little chance of finding anyone left alive. But to understand whats happened, they have to find the aircrafts black box. While the government tries to clarify, the public has been offering their prayers to the relatives and friends of the missing, because nobody needs an explanation more than them. Woodruff at a white house minisummit, ukraines embattled interim government got a vote of american support today. President obama warned u. S. And other major democracies will not recognize any vote in crimea to break free of ukraine. Hari sreenivasan looks at the u. S. Role in the crisis, right after the news summary. The president also made ready today to order beefedup overtime protection for millions of american workers. Its aimed at salaried workers, such as fast food supervisors and store managers, who now work more than 40 hours a week without getting overtime. Betsey stevenson is with the president s council of economic advisers. Without overtime and minimum wage protections there are many people who arent able to get that basic promise which is that when you work hard you get a fair wage. And what hes going to do is to make sure that we modernize this rule so that people are able to get treated fairly in the labor force and that people are rewarded for a hard days work with fair pay. Also today, the white house issued a report aimed at the gender wage gap. It said women who work fulltime still earn just 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. Thats even though women have surpassed men in earning college degrees, and made inroads into maledominated occupations. Snow and bitter cold are back in the midwest and northeast, after a hint of spring. A new storm swept across the countrys midsection today. Chicago and detroit saw 6 and 8 inches of snow, respectively. In detroit, the total for the entire winter could top a record set 133 years ago. A thunderous explosion blew apart two apartment buildings in new york today, killing two people and injuring more than 20. More a dozen others were unaccounted for. The fiery blast ripped through an east harlem neighborhood amid reports of a possible gas leak. It touched off a fivealarm fire that more than 250 firefighters battled. Meanwhile, crews in San Francisco mopped up one of the largest fires there in recent years. It burned through the night at a construction site. Woodruff in turkey, riot police battled demonstrators again today after a night of protests triggered by a teen agers death. Thousands turned out in istanbul and other cities to mourn a 15 yearoldboy who was hit by a teargas canister last summer, and never regained consciousness. Police fired water cannon and smoke grenades today, while protesters threw stones and molotov cocktails. The Israeli Parliament has voted to induct ultraorthodox jews into the military. Theyd been largely exempted, to pursue religious studies, but thats become a sore point with other israelis. Today, lawmakers approved limits on the exemptions from compulsory military service. A number of ultraorthodox lawmakers walked out, calling it a black day. A man who spent 26 years on louisianas death row enjoyed his first full day of freedom today. 64yearold glenn ford walked out of prison last evening, after a judge voided his conviction in a 1983 murder. New evidence backed up his claim that he was not involved. Ford said it feels good to be free, but he resents all the years he lost. I cant go back and do anything, i should be doing when i was 35, 38, 40, stuff like that. My sons, when i left, was babies, now theyre grown men. Woodruff under Louisiana State law, ford may be eligible for a total of 320,000 in compensation for being wrongly jailed. In economic news, average cash bonuses at wall street securities firms rose 15 last year, to 164,000 dollars. Thats the highest since 2008. Meanwhile, the markets were little changed today. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 11 points to close at 16,340. The nasdaq rose 16 points to close at 4,323. The standard and poors 500 rose half a point to finish at 1868. Still to come on the newshour, the interim Prime Minister of an embattled ukraine appeals for u. S. Aid. Does a florida special election win mean the wind is at republicans backs this fall . The World Wide Web turns twenty five. Plus, a landmark report delves into the sex trade. Woodruff as tensions with russia continue to rise over crimea, one of ukraines new leaders arrived at the white house seeking assurances from president obama. Hari sreenivasan reports. Sreenivasan it was a public show of solidarity meant to bolster ukraine and deter russia. The interim ukrainian Prime Minister, arseniy yatsenyuk, used it to appeal again for u. S. And western backing. We fight for freedom, independence and we will never surrender. Sreenivasan the president said washington does stand ready to aid ukraine with a billion dollars in loan guarantees. And he insisted again, the u. S. Will not accept russias takeover of crimea. If he does not, im very confident that the International Community will stand behind the iraqian government in preserving is unity and its territorial integrity. Sreenivasan the white house meeting unfolded as the u. S. Navy began joint exercises with the navies of bulgaria and romania in the black sea, just across from crimea. Russia continues to hold Ukrainian Military bases there, and says its acting to protect ethnic russians. But ukraine argues a 1994 agreement obligated russia, the u. S. And britain to protect its territorial integrity, after ukraine gave up its sovietera Nuclear Weapons. The russians have so far ignored such claims, and crimea plans to vote sunday in a referendum on whether to leave ukraine and become part of russia. Today, the g7 countries, the u. S. Plus britain, canada, france, germany, italy and japan, warned and, they said we would not recognize the outcome. It can get ugly fast if the wrong choices are made. And it can get ugly in multiple directions. Sreenivasan ahead of the crimea vote, secretary of state john kerry announced hell meet with the Russian Foreign minister in london on friday. He spoke at a house hearing. We do not seek a world in which we have to apply additional costs to the choices that have been made thus far. But we will do what we have to do if russia cannot find the way to make the right choices here. Sreenivasan any additional costs could come in the form of sanctions, endorsed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today. Theyd target russian officials deemed responsible for the crimea incursion. Woodruff so, how much should the white house support ukraines new government . And how far should it go to extract costs for moscows actions . For that we get two views Adrian Karatnycky is a senior fellow at the atlantic council. And stephen walt professor of International Relations at harvard university. Adrian, well start with you. You met with the interimPrime Minister earlier this afternoon. Is he satisfied with the support president obama said we would lay out . I think this is a work in progress from the point of view that he is getting reassurances of aer are deep and significant engagement on the part of europe and the United States both dealing with the economic travails and problems that face ukraine and trying to come up with a muscular or assertive response, not military, but an assertive response to the russian invasion incursion into crimea, i think he is satisfied. But i would say everyone is waiting to see how far mr. Putin will go and i think the types of responses that will come will be commensurate to the gain that mr. Putin plays out in the coming weeks and months. Sreenivasan youve seen what the president said. Any more insight into what the administration is willing to do . I think what president obama said is fairly restrained. 1 billion in loan guarantees is really not a very substantial pledge, and he didnt make any military commitments to use force to try and reverse what has happened. I think the key thing to understand here is the United States wants to defend ukraines territorial integrity but it also needs to start issuing some reassurances about ukraines future geopolitical alignment. Our interest is for ukraine to remain a neutral state between east and west with good relations on both sides, not to become something that russia regards as a bulwark of the west against it. Thats the tap root of this crisis and the one thing thats been missing so far is an attempt to play that card back at putin and try to work this out diplomatically as soon as possible. Sreenivasan is it possible events today like the photo op, the shaking hands, solidarity of support actually backfires and we look like were clearly on one side . Russia kept moving the goalposts. Russia was initially opposed to ukraines Movement Toward nato, theres no consensus in ukraine. Theres opposition to ukraine being part of the military alliance. But there was support, a majority support for joining the European Union. If russia keeps moving the goalpost and suggesting that somehow an economic Free Trade Agreement with the European Union is a sign of a threatening security issue for russia, then i think the problem is with the brungs side not with the ukrainian or the west. Sreenivasan lets talk about the economic sanctions and possibilities here, do we have enough leverage over russia where economic sanctions would act as a deterrent for what theyre doing in crimea now . I think we probably dont. Remember, the United States has various sanctions we could impose, but russia has various ways to retaliate against that. For example, they can start cutting off Energy Supplies to ukraine and also to other states in europe, which gets about 30 of its energy, now, from russia. So, in a sense, as we start down that particular road, we have to recognize its going to impose significant costs on us and significant coasts on our allies. Most important of all, this is an issue that matters far more to russia than it does to us because of where ukraine is located, because of the historic ties there and because of russian perceptions that we have been expanding our geopolitical influence into what they regard as a vital security sphere. Theyre going to be willing to pay a much bigger price than were likely to be willing to pay, and thats why we need to be starting to look for ways to diffuse this, get it resolved as quickly as possible, preserve ukraines territorial integrity but also reestablish its neutral status. Sreenivasan adrian, what about that . Right bank ukraine was historically integrated into polish life for many centuries as well. There are cultural ties between romania and the southwest of ukraine as well. So the idea ukraine is a state of russia is not born out by the facts. Ukraine is a european state. Odessa is on the border close to romania so borders hungary and a lot of the Central European countries. Its not really a country in the sphere of russian influence, its in central and Eastern Europe and should be perceived that way. Sac to the cost, yes, russia must be willing to bear more costs. The gdp of russia is the gdp of italy, full stop. Yes it has disproportionate military weapons, but as an economic power it has very little to play and the jostled by sanctions and could have a very debilitating effect and mr. Putin may, if there is a firm response, pay a political price several years down the line for this reckless action. Sreenivasan youre in favor of the ukraine showing more teeth, ramping up the National Guard and possibly creating guerilla groups . They have to prepare because we dont im not encouraging the west to be a party to this. What im saying is ukraine has to have a very vigorous deterrent and i think, over time, the west, if things stabilize, should help quiet ukraine to help improve its military capability. Thats the reality. If you have been invaded and that invasion is an accomplished fact several years down the line, you cant ignore it. Ukraine has to change its defense posture. It got rid of Nuclear Weapons presumably on russian assurances and has made steps, and military is behaving with great restraint which is to be admired. I agree with stephen walt, this has to be handled diplomatically. But if we fail, the west has to have a backup plan and that plan is sanctions, building up ukraines deterrent capability and helping the country survives an eastern outpost of a newlydivided europe at russias at ukraines eastern border. Thats the regrettable result of mr. Putins fouly. Sreenivasan stephen, what are the options in trying to build up ukraines deterrent ability . I think those are not effective options. The United States is not going to commit itself militarily to defend ukraine at this stage. If russia were to do more say go into eastern ukraine, that, i think, would be a huge blunder on their part because then the western part of ukraine would gravitate towards nato. The United States, nato and russia at odds over a united ukraine, thats not in russias interest but also not in our interest either. Our interest is again making sure the political system gets back in order. Sreenivasan . And then tries to go spoke about it today in washington. Stephen walt, Adrian Karatnycky, thank you both. Thank you. Woodruff republicans today basked in the glow of their victory in floridas hotly contested special election, a result that could forecast trouble ahead for democrats. Woodruff voters in floridas 13th Congressional District delivered their verdict in a special election that gained the national spotlight. Only 40 of those registered, turned out, and they narrowly favored republican david jolly. I am honored and humbled to have received the support of my community and have the opportunity to serve as your next representative from floridas 13th Congressional District. Woodruff jolly took 48 of the vote, to 46 for democrat alex sink. They battled in a tampaarea district that has leaned republican. The g. O. P. Has held the congressional seat for some 60 years. But democrats hoped votes would swing in their favor after president obama carried the district in the last two president ial elections. National parties and outside groups looked to tuesdays contest for early clues to next novembers midterm elections. Especially, how the president S Health Care law will play. 300,000 floridians will lose their Current Health coverage because of obamacare. Alex sink supported it. And she still does. Whose behind these ads smearing alex sink . Insurance companies and special interests. They spent millions on david jolly. Woodruff the nonprofit Sunlight Foundation reports overall spending on the race topped 11 million. Sink outspent jolly by more than three to one on television ads. But outside groups helped make up the difference for the republican. We had a big win last night in florida. Woodruff today, House Speaker john boehner, and the white house, had decidedly different takes. Its about the economy. Its about obamacare. Listen, ive stood here after losing some special elections. I tried to put lipstick on a pig, but it was still a pig. So you can bet theyll try to put lipstick on it today, but you all know what the facts are. Its a race where, again, republicans held the seat for 58 years, where they routinely won that seat by 30 or more points. And last night they won by less than two points. So it is what it is. Woodruff jolly will fill the seat of the late congressman bill young who died last october, in his 21st term. Woodruff we examine the outcome in yesterdays special election and what it means going forward, with stu rothenberg of the rothenberg political report and roll call newspaper. And susan macmanus, professor of Political Science at the university of south florida. Welcome to you both. Susan macmanus, you know the state very well. Describe this district for us and where it is. Its part of st. Petersburg, and who lives there. Yes, its a district that pin pinellis county where st. Petersburg is carved out. Its predominantly a white district, voters, over half are seniors, but most no Party Affiliation and only 2. 4 difference between republicans and democrats with the republicans having an upper hand. Its been evolving into a competitive district and democrats were hopeful to pick the seat up. Woodruff stu, did one way or another the democrat or republican have an advantage going in . In terms of partisan numbers, no. It is a tossup district. The president won it twice, george bush won it in 2004. All the indices show an evenly divided district but i think its clear alex sink had the advantage going into the actual special election. Republican jolly had a primary challenge. His record, he was a washington lobbyist. That is not a great credential to go to a special election. Christmas just a few months ago, alex sink had a Million Dollars in the bank, jolly had just over 100,000 and in the middle of a primary contest. Alex sink has won this district before, and then she ran statewide a couple of times. So all indications were that she had the advantage going into this race. Race. Woodruff susan macmanus, what was the message coming from each one of the candidates some. Pure and simple, it was about washington. So if you were in favor of the president S Performance in office and obamacare, it was clear sink was your candidate. On the other side, if you didnt like what was going on up here, you were very opposed to obamacare, you wanted to get rid of it, then jolly was your person. This is one of the clearest races in terms of choices ive seen in florida in a long time. You had a libertarian in the race as well who was sort of overlaying on each of them but in certain polls drawing 6 or 7 support there. But it was absolutely Crystal Clear the issues were at a dividing line and it came down to your views on obamacare and the president. There were some personal attacks so that the republicans complained about alex sinkS Performance when she was chief Financial Officer of the state, the use of an airplane. Democrats talked about jollys ethics, raising questions about him. But i think susan is right, this boiled down to millions of dollars of ads where democrats said, you cant trust david jolly, hes a lobbyist, a republican, a conservative, hes going to cut medicare and privatize Social Security, and the republicans saying its all about obamacare, barack obama, bigger government, more spending. Woodruff so, susan, were you able to drill down and find out more about what voters reactions are to the healthcare law . I dont think its really clear coming out of this other than it mirrors the national a polls which show a slight majority are in favor of getting rid of it. But she really tried to segue or pivot away from obamacare and focus on Social Security and medicare and alex sink. And i dont think that worked well which is something i know democrats were thinking about trying in other districts. But there is another factor is he tried to cast her as a carpet bagger, someone who intentionally moved into the district just to run for this and, at first, i didnt think this was significant because twothirds of florida voters were from someplace else, but there are a number of people in the county over there, i observed it was significant and i think hurt her a bit in the end. Woodruff still, i have been reading some analysis today that the democrat alex sink never came up with an adequate explanation on the president s healthcare law, on o. K. Care, that she was on the defensive, didnt explain it well. What are National Democrats saying about it today . Well, National Democrats have a totally different analysis than most people. Some of them are saying that this is a heavilyrepublican electorate and that sink did relatively well because she answered the questions about obamacare and healthcare, generally. They continue to stress the numbers of the kinds of people who voted, that these were republican voters. Reporter it was a lower return. Yeah, absolutely. Democrats do often have trouble with low turnout elections. Remember, elections are not about what americans think, theyre about what the particular voters think. So theres no doubt here. But there is a problem for democrats. The fact that the electorate was so republican suggests republican enthusiasm and maybe lack of democratic enthusiasm and democrats will have to deal with this in november in the midterms as well. Reporter . Woodruff susan, pick up on that. I think a loot of it is democrats do well in florida and elsewhere when they get a large share of Younger Voters. Its exactly who helped obama win in the last hours were the Younger Voters that turned out higher than people ever anticipated in florida. She was not able to really engage them and i think some of the fault comes from the national ads which featured just about 100 older people in there. There is nothing that really drew younger people to the polls at all, and its spring break time in florida. Woodruff well, it is the first of many elections well be watching this year. We thank you both, susan macmanus, stu rothenberg. Thank you. Woodruff the World Wide Web turns 25 years old today. The date marks the publication of a paper that originally laid out the concept, which eventually led to the vast system of internet sites we now use. Jeffrey brown looks at how its changed the world we live in. Brown one way to do that is look at how individual americans think about the internet and its impact on their lice. The Pure Research internet project did that in a survey just out, among much else it finds that 87 of American Adults now use the internet and the number goes up to 97 for young adults from 18 to 29. 90 of Internet Users say the internet has been a good thing for them personally, though the number drops to 76 when asked if the internet has been a good thing for society generally, with 15 saying its been bad for society and 53 of Internet Users say the internet would be, at minimum, very hard to give up. Were joined by three people whove watched the growth of the internet from different angles. Jenny is journalist and editor at weblog boing boing which covers technology and culture. Katherine is a clinical and Consulting Psychologist at harvard middle school, author of big disconnect protecting child and family relationships in the digital age and daniel teaches Computer Science and internet Public Policy in at m. I. T. From 2011 to 2012, deputy u. S. Chief Technology Officer in the white house. Welcome to you all. Daniel, you worked with one of the main people who started all this 25 years ago. What surprises you now sitting here 25 years later about where were at . Well, it does surprise me how tremendously the internet and web has grown into every aspect of our lives. I think a lot of us who were involved in the early days of the internet and the web hoped it could really reach the whole world and theres no question tim whose architecture of the web helped it grow, had it represent everything in the world, but its amazing how far weve come. Sreenivasan katherine, you look at the interaction between individuals and our technology and each other. That has cut both ways, i guess, at least from what we hear from people. What do you see . I think that possibilities for people to connect to one another around the world where a grandma and a grandchild across the state and the country are phenomenal but weve all come to a moment in time where were sort of thinking we need to rethink, are we using these tools to connect in the best possible way, and we have to outsmart our smartphones or they really can take control over us. Brown fill that in a little bit. What do you mean take control over us . Well, the first example is texting and driving. You know, when youre driving and your phone goes off, you have the sense of urgency and something really important might be happening and you better answer it right away, and that part of our brine gets quickly engaged and wants to react very fast and we forget or ambient awareness and empathy and the fact that the children who we love more than anyone else are sitting next to us in the car and were risking their safety. So we have to get smarter about how we react to this technology. Well, jenny, thats a very specific example that hits us all in our daily lives. Continue thinking about pros and cons from your approach. Well, you know, i think talking about the internet is like talking about whether electricity or oxygen is good or bad. Its this powerful thing that connects all of us and has become an invisible part of our lives and i think were all from the last generation that began when there was no internet. And to really understand where things are going for the future, we might want to have a 14yearold or 15yearold at the table. Brown they would be looking at their screen. Yeah, i work with an independent Publishing Company that would not have been possible, boing boing couldnt have existed before the internet as a commercial enterprise, we have been around 25 years, too. And i can see from my experience as a Breast Cancer patient, i was diagnosed young and didnt know the first thing about managing this disease. I connected with mentors through the internet that would have been these friendships, these mentorships were so important to me. I think they saved my life and i credit the internet with that. Brown well, daniel, this has been a year for example where weve learned a lot about privacy issues between Edward Snowden and surveillance and data mining of companies, thats certainly something new. Its new in your category of whats inspected. I do think the internet and the web have come to reach into our lives in a much more intrusive way, in fact a comprehensive way such that we now have to deal with the world in which just about everything we do as individuals is recorded and visible not only to ourselves and our friends and facebook friends but to institutions that are interested in us, governments that maybe interested for good or for ill, criminals who can watch what were doing and take advantage of us, and, so, i think that, you know, the internet is and the web has this incredible tension to me between extraordinary individual empowerment i mean, everything that jenny and katherine have said about all the things were able to do with the internet. At the same time, a lot can be done to us and a lot can be observed about us. As a society, i think were really still adapting to how to handle up a this information in a respectful, fair and safe manner and how to make sure that institutions that are large and inherently powerful, whether governments or corporations, have some balance, because their power is being increased in a substantial way because of all this information. Brown katherine steiner, pick up on that. How much are people, individuals adapting to that . How much are we aware of whats going on and how much concern do you sense from people . I think people are becoming increasingly concerned and i think one of the good friends in schools i work in are schools are doing more intentional education around social emotional intelligence, teaching kids digital citizenship, cultural literacy, helping them understand that multitasking doesnt help you get your homework done at all and really trying to help children understand the disinhibiting effects of being on the internet can lead them to say and do and act in ways that are not their best selves. Brown jenny, another theme i want to bring out is the mix of free information and the commercialization of the web, because i think that was not well, you can tell me how much that was part of the original idea, but certainly were in a much more commercialized space. Yeah, obviously, when the internet began, this was something that evolved out of the government and out of the Public Sector and it wasnt intended as a big shopping mall. You know, this was something where we could communicate in times of a disaster, our government could function in times of a disaster, and the history is all but forgotten, now, where everything i hardly go to stores anymore. I buy almost everything from my home off amazon or zappos or what have you, i buy digital movies and watch digital tv and so on. Just as the internet enables interesting new kinds of independent businesses that wouldnt have been possible before, the sense of power and commerce consolidated into the hands of a few extraordinarily powerful companies i think should be concerning. The fact that, for instance, google is providing, you know, the fiber to our homes or facebook are providing the drones that will fly above delivering wireless internet, at the same time theyre connecting us socially and becoming the platform for commerce, its a little weird. This tension of the public and the private, the commercial and noncommercial, as jenny said, was with the internet from the very beginning. One to have the first Public Policy debates about the internet was whether to allow commercial traffic on the internet at all. It was originally a network built for universities and research organizations. Frankly, a lot of my colleagues liked it that way. It was their own private playground and was a very highminded kind of place. Many of us, though, felt it was important to open the internet and the web up to commercial traffic, in some part because it was the only way we could really imagine the internet actually being able to spread all around the world. We did not think it was either feasible or even a good idea for the government to own the entire internet, from a Civil Liberties perspective we didnt want a governmentowned medium where the government could control who could say what on it. Brown different alternatives. So we inevitably ended up in a situation where we rely on the commercial marketplace and on private investment to bring much of the infrastructure and services to us. Certainly at the large end of that where Companies Get too big, we have antitrust concerns, but i think we are inevitably in this situation that this infrastructure we rely on for both public and private goods is operated as a commercial enterprise. Brown katherine steiner, whats your sense of where we are in this evolution . I think one thing has particularly important to think about two things, actually is when text replaces tone in the way we communicate. This is the first generation of teenagers to think about texting is great and talking on the phone is weird and intrusive and awkward. But we are really rethinking about one of our most essential forms of human connection, our capacity to hear one another and speech, to read social cues, to look somebody in the eyes. You cant look into someones eyes the same way when youre skyping. Texting can be good but it cant teach us to be alone and quiet with ourselves and thats important. Brown well finish this up here. Whats your sense of where we are and the same question, the evolution. Well, its interesting. What if some of the problems were talking about now are just design limitations . What if the technology that comes, perhaps after were gone, allows us to communicate with more nuance and to drift in and out of that mindfulness and presence in the same kind of subtle and natural way that we all did before there were tv and phones . As we think about how far weve come in 25 a years in the evolution of the technology and our social lives built around it as katherine is suggesting, i think its really important to recognize that all of these technologies, the web is really a work in progress, still. It is changing so much, and i think our goal ought to be make sure its changing in response to human needs. We see in so many ways that even Large Commercial Services like facebook and google, when they do things that anger their users, they know it, and their users react, and very often those services change. So as long as were in an environment where that can be that kind of flexibility, i think well continue to head in the right kind of humane direction. Brown well gather in 25 years and see where were at. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Woodruff well be right back with the first indepth report on the commercial sex trade in cities across america. But first this is pledge week on p. B. S. This break woodruff now, a landmark study, funded by the u. S. Justice department, to learn more about how the underground commercial sex market in this country operates, and to better gauge its scope. Hari is back with that. Sreenivasan it may be the worlds oldest profession, but little about the true economics of the illicit sex industry has ever been quantified, until now. A study done by the urban institute, and released today, estimates that the underground sex market in each of seven u. S. Cities generates between 40 million to almost 300 million a year. It also found that sex traffickers often operate with formal business models, some even doing market research. Meredith dank is the lead author of the report, and a Senior Research associate at the urban institute. So what was the point of the report . Why did we need to do it in the first place . We didnt understand the scope of the underground sex economy. Anecdotally we heard a lot of stories but this gives a blueprint of pathways into it, how to recruit others into the underground commercial sex economy and how they ultimately operate their business. Sreenivasan so you studied the different cities. Were there patterns repeated, notable finds . Two cities that stood out as far as the size of the underground commercial sex economy was atlanta, in the year 2007 we estimated they brought in about 290 million, and seattle between the years 2003 and 2007 had grown you know, twice the amount of money. So went from 53 million to 112 million. Sreenivasan when you say the sex economy, its not just about the person making the one transaction between sex and money, youre talking about drivers, hotel rooms and lots of support services. Its almost like a strong business structure. You have the head, which is typically the pimp or facilitator, and in some cases the bottom, which is the ontimes girl who helps the daytheday management, then the drivers, and the legal businesses assisting with this, like ho telings, rental car services, cell phone businesses. Sreenivasan we just had a conversation marking the 25t 25th anniversary of the web. How has the internet changed sex trafficking in the u. S. . The internet essentially biefercated the market. Primarily it was a streetbased market and now you have with the advent of the internet ways they can market and recruit other employs in addition being able to create partnerships with other traffickers and pimps. Sreenivasan is street level trafficking down with online . About 50 were using internet to post classified ads and about 40 still using the street. So what we are often told is if the money isnt coming in through the internet and are not getting calls, they will go to the street because it is fast money and there will be demand out there. Sreenivasan in all of the interviews, how do most people get into the sex trafficking business . So from the pimps 57bd the facilitator sides, one is generational pimping, their father was a pimp, their mother a sex worker, so it was normalized, a Family Business of sorts. Others are neighborhood context. They would see it every day one pimp said, i came from a disadvantaged neighborhood, if we didnt succeed in school, it was either the streets or jail, and in the streets you chose drugs, sex or in some cases sex, so it was normalized. Sreenivasan you also explored child pornography. Tell us more about that. When we essentially first received the proposed to the n. I. J. To study this, we considered child pornography to be part of the underground commercial sex business. But we found the commercial aspect is not in the United States but images traded for free and the urgency and proliferation of child pornography because in order to get into more of the deeper membership communities you have to produce your own child pornography. Sreenivasan so whether a department of justice or a local police that reads this report, what do they get out of it . I think that now that we have entry pathway of recruitment, at least from a prevention side, we can figure out not only how to prevent individuals an other victims from being reviewed but figuring out strategies to prevent future pimps from entering. As far as intervention, psychological coercion is used quite often to retain their employees so a lot more services need to be provided for the victims to leave that life for Mental Health purposes. One element we saw was the organized criminal element, particularly in latino brothels, asian massage parlors and one person said they dont have enough funding to infiltrate that and more funding would be needed. Thanks so much. You. Woodruff again, the major developments of the day. China reported satellite images of suspected debris in the South China Sea from the missing malaysian airliner. And president obama hosted ukraines interim Prime Minister, warning again that russia will pay a price if it does not defuse the crisis. On the newshour online right now one family, three different immigration challenges. Meet the fofanas, who fled to the u. S. More than a decade ago from mali to prevent the mutilation of their daughter. Now they live in constant fear of deportation as they try to navigate the complexities of the immigration system. So many situations and we dont know what would happen, you know. We could be deported. We dont know. Thats why we need to move from this situation. So to go forward. Woodruff read the full story and more on our website, newshour. Pbs. Org. Woodruff and thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff, well see you online and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. 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