First Craig's List and now Backpage

[TotallyOz]

AGs wants online ads for illegal activities gone

Attorney General Michael Delaney and 46 other state attorneys general on Wednesday requested information about how the website Backpage.com attempts to remove advertising for sex trafficking, specifically advertisements that could involve minors.

The website has been involved in several cases this year in New Hampshire, involving advertisements for items ranging from drugs to escort services.

In a letter to the online classified site’s lawyers, the attorneys general say that Backpage.com claims it has strict policies to prevent illegal activity, but legal officials in numerous states, including New Hampshire, have found hundreds of ads on Backpage.com’s regional sites that would appear to involve illegal services.

The letter states, “Nearly naked persons in provocative positions are pictured in nearly every adult services advertisement on Backpage.com and the site requires advertisements for escorts, and other similar ‘services’ to include hourly rates. It does not require forensic training to understand that these advertisements are for prostitution.”

The letter says the website is a popular destination for individuals seeking to exploit minors and points to more than 50 cases, in 22 states over three years, involving the trafficking or attempted trafficking of minors through Backpage.com.

“These are only the stories that made it into the news; many more instances likely exist,” the attorneys general wrote.

“Traffickers who exploit runaways and other disadvantaged kids shouldn’t be provided with a tool that makes that process so much easier,” said Delaney. “The only way for Backpage.com to completely stop child sex trafficking on its site is to take down adult services advertisements altogether and take aggressive steps to be sure such posts don’t appear elsewhere on the site.”

Attorney General Delaney added that kids aren’t capable, legally or otherwise, to consent to be sold for sex. And regardless of a prostitute’s age, it’s difficult to know whether the person advertised is being coerced.

“I don’t know of any specific instances involving advertisements involving minors taking place in New Hampshire, but it is well documented that these advertisements appear on the site across the country,” said Delaney.

Last January, a Manchester man, Harold R. Maylone, 32, was charged with intent to commit sale of a controlled drug, after police said he tried to sell OxyContin tablets for $2,550 to an undercover officer, after posting an ad for $50 a pill on Backpage.com. In May, ETEA Weight Loss Spa in Salem was forced to cease and desist operations, after the owner, Lori Barron, 47, of Salem was charged with two counts of prostitution-related offenses after allegedly posting ads at the website to hire people to give massages and provide sex services (and advertising those services at the site as well).

Last January, Portsmouth police say a 16-year-old girl was advertised and sold as a prostitute through the site.

There were 59 advertisements for escort services in the state of New Hampshire at the site just yesterday.

Backpage.com, owned by Village Voice Media, LLC, is a top provider of ‘adult services’ advertisements. The multimedia company, which owns 13 weekly newspapers in the United States, admits its involvement in advertising illegal services. In a meeting with staff at the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, Village Voice board member Don Moon readily acknowledged prostitution ads appear on the Web site. And in a June 29 article published nationally by the Village Voice, the corporation criticized those concerned about child sex trafficking as “prohibitionists bent on ending the world’s oldest profession,” acknowledging that, as a seller of adult services ads, “Village Voice has a stake in this story.”

Industry analysts suggest that Village Voice’s stake in adult services advertisements is worth about $22.7 million in annual revenue.

Many state attorneys general believe that Backpage.com is attempting to minimize the impact of child sex trafficking because they fear it will turn attention to the company’s robust prostitution advertising business. While Backpage.com has ramped up its effort to screen some ads for minors, the attorneys general involved in today’s letter believe that “Backpage.com sets a minimal bar for content review in an effort to temper public condemnation, while ensuring that the revenue spigot provided by prostitution advertising remains intact.”

The letter from state attorneys general makes a series of requests to Backpage.com, asking that the company willingly provide information in lieu of a subpoena. The letter asks that Backpage.com describe in detail its understanding of what it considers to be “illegal activity,” and whether advertisements for prostitution fall into that category. The attorneys general also ask, among other requests, how many advertisements in its adult section and subsections have been submitted since Sept. 1, 2010, how many of those advertisements were individually screened, how many were rejected and how many were removed after being discovered to be for illegal services.

In 2008, 42 attorneys general reached an agreement with Craigslist to crack down on illegal listings, in an effort to reduce crimes like human trafficking. Craigslist ultimately removed its “erotic services” section altogether in May 2009. In September 2010, 21 attorneys general wrote Backpage.com to request that the adult services section be closed.

The states signing on to the letter are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming and the territory of Guam.

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20110901/NEWS03/709019981

Read the comments afterwards in support of legalizing prostitution.

[BiBottomBoy]

If they legalized prostitution the official unemployment rate would quickly drop. And the tax money could reduce the deficit!

[Guest JamesIvory]

Our economy is in shambles, our citizens are out of work in mega numbers, our nation is dealing with one war and a recent major hurricane plus crime in the states is outrageous. But the AGs focus is on erotic and escort postings in backpages.com? Our nations leaders priorities are fucked up.

[Guest Allessio77]

Our economy is in shambles, our citizens are out of work in mega numbers, our nation is dealing with one war and a recent major hurricane plus crime in the states is outrageous. But the AGs focus is on erotic and escort postings in backpages.com? Our nations leaders priorities are fucked up.

James, you got that right. Of course, all those other problems are costly, difficult, and important. Escort posting are a real easy target for lazy politicians.

[BiBottomBoy]

Given that the Internet is infinite any attempt to stop escort postings is an exercise in futility.

That said, if I was a web businessman, what I'd do right now is build a new site for escorts to post their ads to. Odds are it would take the feds two years or more easily to find it and do anything about it. If you set up offshore hosting and banking for the transactions you'd be able to just make money off of it for at least 24 months with no hassles.

All you'd have to do is use a URL that wouldn't be obvious to the feds and then leak the name on targeted communities and word of mouth would spread it on it's own.

[xenophile]

Given that the Internet is infinite any attempt to stop escort postings is an exercise in futility.

That said, if I was a web businessman, what I'd do right now is build a new site for escorts to post their ads to. Odds are it would take the feds two years or more easily to find it and do anything about it. If you set up offshore hosting and banking for the transactions you'd be able to just make money off of it for at least 24 months with no hassles.

All you'd have to do is use a URL that wouldn't be obvious to the feds and then leak the name on targeted communities and word of mouth would spread it on it's own.

That's been a dream of mine as well - the current ad sites all have major downsides and there's a perfect sweet spot for a startup listings site in there somewhere. gayromeo.com is quite a nice compromise in that it's located in Hilversum, Netherlands where escorting is legal and the escorts ads are free, I wish the hell more US guys knew about it, nice and out of reach of those malicious AG motherfuckers, damn their spiteful moralistic asses.

[BiBottomBoy]

Oz should create the site!