AdamSmith Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 Friday, February 20, 2015, 2:48pm EST Mass. AG supports human trafficking lawsuit against Backpage.com Mary Moore Boston Business Journal Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has filed an amicus brief in a federal lawsuit against website Backpage.com, urging the court to move forward a case alleging that the website assisted in human trafficking. The amicus brief was filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts. Ropes & Gray filed Doe vs. Backpage.com LLC on behalf of three women who allege that they were sold for sex through the website. Some of them were minors at the time. The original complaint included just two women plaintiffs and a third woman was added in late 2014, said a spokesman for the law firm. The amicus brief filed by the AG's office comes in response to Backpage.com's request that the court dismiss the case. "Websites that actively facilitate human trafficking should be held liable for this serious and widespread problem in the commonwealth," Healey said in a press release from the AG's office. "Backpage is known for advertising commercial sex, and its recent growth and dominant position in the market call into question its supposed efforts to curb prostitution and child exploitation." The complaint alleges that one of the women was sold for sex in 2012 and 2013 when she was 15-and-16-years-old through the backpage.com website. Between June and September 2013 alone, she was was sold for sex more than 1,000 times at locations in Greater Boston and in Rhode Island, according to Ropes & Gray. Another plaintiff alleges she was sold for sex when she was 15-years-old in Boston, Saugus, Cambridge and Somerville between 2010 and 2012, according to the complaint. The women allege that, when they were sold for sex, pimps use Backpage.com to identify and communicate with customers. The named defendants are Backpage.com, Camarillo Holdings LLC and New Times Media LLC. None could be immediately reached for comment. http://m.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2015/02/20/mass-ag-supports-human-trafficking-lawsuitagainst.html?r=full lookin 1 Quote
Guest callipygian Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 I still disagree that a website should be held accountable for the content and authenticity of a classified ad. It's a slippery slope, and, while human sex-trafficking is a terrible thing - those Ginsu-knives that I purchased last year on backpage were not ginsu-knives at all, but mere rip-offs of the real thing. Should backpage have known the seller was trafficking in fake merchandise and be closed down or fined for the seller's misrepresentation? Quote
Members RA1 Posted February 23, 2015 Members Posted February 23, 2015 It partly depends upon what representations they make. Some publishers refuse to take ads on various grounds without actually endorsing those they do take. The TOS herein is similar. Best regards, RA1 Quote
AdamSmith Posted February 23, 2015 Author Posted February 23, 2015 Main point of interest to me is whether this sex trafficking charge is a government fig leaf for stamping out all sex work, or instead is a legitimate concern over specific instances of sex trafficking.Knowing nothing about the case other than this report, all I can observe is that it seemed a rather progressive (= good) indicator that governments appeared to leave Craigslist more or less alone until one (more?) of its sex ads led to violent crime a couple of years ago.This case will bear watching for its effect on backpage's overall policy toward sex work ads. Quote
Members lookin Posted February 23, 2015 Members Posted February 23, 2015 Now San Francisco has joined Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Philadelphia and Portland in filing friend of the court briefs in support of the Massachusetts lawsuit.I guess I'm a bit unclear on what these folks have in mind for a strategy to curb what they call "sex trafficking", particularly as it relates to minors. If I were serious about tracking down underage prostitutes and their pimps, I think I'd be inclined to use Backpage as a very handy list of the folks I want to track down, along with their current contact info. I'd be setting up appointment after appointment to find these underage, unwilling prostitutes and get them into supportive environments before another week went by. I'd also get them to help me find their pimps and lock them up, again on a very aggressive timetable.It seems that shutting down Backpage before I snared all these folks would take a very useful tool out of my hands before I had a chance to use it.Perhaps these attorneys general think that, by shutting down Backpage, all the underage prostitutes will go back to school and all their pimps will find lawful employment elsewhere; but I'm gonna need some convincin'. MsGuy 1 Quote
AdamSmith Posted February 23, 2015 Author Posted February 23, 2015 Agree all. And a public campaign against backpage is far cheaper and easier than rooting out the traffickers themselves. Also will help sweep the problem out of the eye of the electorate, the gummints' primary concern. MsGuy and lookin 2 Quote
Members RA1 Posted February 23, 2015 Members Posted February 23, 2015 Rome exists and it is us. Best regards, RA1 Quote
Members MsGuy Posted February 23, 2015 Members Posted February 23, 2015 Also will help sweep the problem out of the eye of the electorate, the gummints' primary concern. My own speculation would be that the primary concern is getting some prosecutors quality face time on local TV. AdamSmith and lookin 2 Quote
AdamSmith Posted February 23, 2015 Author Posted February 23, 2015 My own speculation would be that the primary concern is getting some prosecutors quality face time on local TV. Aha! All together now: Mike Nifong! Quote
