Guest Larstrup Posted December 10, 2016 Posted December 10, 2016 By JULIET WILLIAMS, Associated Press 8 hrs ago SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California judge rejected pimping charges Friday against the operators of a major international website advertising escort services that the state attorney general has called the "world's top online brothel," citing federal free speech laws. California Attorney General Kamala Harris had charged Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer and former owners Michael Lacey and James Larkin, but Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman sided with attorneys for the men and the website in ruling that the speech was allowed under the federal Communications Decency Act. The section of the act that applies to the case protects websites from content posted by third parties, such as restaurant or shopping reviews from being held accountable for scathing reviews left by customers or online news sites from vicious reader comments. "This Court finds it difficult to see any illegal behavior outside of the reliance upon the content of speech created by others," Bowman wrote in Friday's ruling. "The whiff of illegality is detected only when considering the alleged content of the statements contained in the ads." Bowman's action Friday makes final a previous tentative ruling. Ferrer, 55, was charged with pimping a minor, pimping and conspiracy to commit pimping. Lacey, 68, and Larkin, 67, both from Arizona, were charged with conspiracy to commit pimping. Ferrer was arrested Oct. 6 at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport, having arrived from Amsterdam after his Dallas headquarters was raided. Lacey and Larkin are the former owners of the Village Voice alternative newspaper in New York City. "I think this is a victory for the rule of law more than it is for Backpage," said Robert Corn-Revere, who represents Backpage. "Judge Bowman's ruling made clear that the protections of the First Amendment exist for a reason. I suppose that reason is to prevent this kind of abuse of power." Harris, a Democrat who was elected to the U.S. Senate last month, alleged that more than 90 percent of Backpage revenue — millions of dollars each month — comes from adult escort ads that use coded language and nearly nude photos to offer sex for money. She said in a statement that she disagreed with the court's ruling and will pursue every avenue under the law to hold the operators accountable. "The Communications Decency Act was not meant to be a shield from criminal prosecution for perpetrators of online brothels," Harris said in the statement. "We will not turn a blind eye to the defendants' exploitative behavior simply because they conducted their criminal enterprise online rather than on a street corner." Added: it's worth noting that when Craigslist was charged by the government (at least to my knowledge) it was charged with sex-trafficking and sexual exploitation of children . I'm not sure if this is a state and locale thing thing where pimping is considered a lesser crime of the two, but we've probably not heard the end of this quite yet. Quote
Members JKane Posted December 13, 2016 Members Posted December 13, 2016 Hmm, that might have given me second thoughts voting for Kamala Harris. Quote
Guest Larstrup Posted December 26, 2016 Posted December 26, 2016 ......Now that money-laundering has been thrown into the complaint charge there will most likely be more possibility of a prosecution here. Atty. Gen. Harris Files New Pimping, Money-Laundering Charges Against Operators of Backpage.com By: Alene Tchekmedyian Dec 23, 2016 Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris announced new criminal charges Friday against the operators of classified ad website Backpage.com, accusing them of laundering earnings from escorts as well as pimping children and adult women on their websites. The charges come two weeks after a Sacramento judge threw out pimping charges against the same three men, ruling that websites such as Backpage.com — which Harris had condemned as the “world’s top online brothel” — are protected from lawsuits when they publish speech posted by other people. But in the new 40-count criminal complaint, Harris accused the operators of personally creating profiles for thousands of women, including minors, to increase revenue from the illegal sex trade. The profiles appeared on their two other websites, BigCity and EvilEmpire, which were used to draw Web traffic to Backpage’s prostitution business, the complaint said. The complaint listed 10 victims whose profiles were created without their knowledge. In one case, a woman contacted Backpage to remove her photograph from EvilEmpire, but was told by Backpage staff that the two companies were not affiliated and therefore her picture could not be removed, according to the complaint. Backpage Chief Executive Carl Ferrer, 55, along with the site’s former owners Michael Lacey, 68, and James Larkin, 67, are charged with more than two dozen counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit pimping. Ferrer is also charged with 12 counts of pimping, seven of which involve minors. Harris said the charges are based on new evidence. Lawyers for the men previously pointed to the federal Communications Decency Act, which frees online publishers from liability over user postings and has been repeatedly interpreted to trump state criminal laws. The men argued that Harris was well aware that they were protected because she signed a 2013 letter with other state attorneys general that unsuccessfully lobbied for an amendment to the law that would have allowed for state-level criminal prosecutions. On Friday, an attorney representing the men said the latest complaint is a “rehash” of the same charges that were thrown out. “Harris admitted in 2013 that her office cannot bring state-law charges against Backpage, and the Superior Court’s orders earlier this month confirmed this,” attorney James Grant said via email. “She cannot avoid First Amendment protections, federal law, or her obligations to follow the law, although her new complaint is a transparent effort to do exactly that.” Backpage has long been a target in the crusade against human trafficking. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported about 2,900 cases of suspected child sex trafficking via Backpage to law enforcement agencies in California since 2012, officials said. The company has contended that it is a host — not a publisher — of content generated by third parties, namely, consenting adults. In the latest case, the attorney general’s money-laundering charges stem from alleged efforts to hide prostitution-related transactions. According to the complaint, the men created new companies and classified websites — including Ymas, Postfastr and Truckrjobs – to handle transactions for Backpage customers after credit card companies refused to process payments to the site because of its “overtly sexual content.” When American Express notified Backpage operators in 2015 that the company would soon stop processing Backpage transactions, Ferrer directed his employees to guide cardholders on how to purchase “credits” through Postfastr, which could later be used on Backpage. Over the next two months, American Express transactions from Backpage’s female escort section in California dropped from $48,289 to $31,786, while Postfastr.com credits purchased via American Express increased from $7,904 to $16,152, the complaint said. Between Aug. 1, 2013, and Oct. 31, 2016, Backpage operators received more than $45 million from transactions initially purchased through the website’s escort categories in California, the complaint said. In a statement, Harris said the three men preyed on and profited from vulnerable victims, including children. “My office will not turn a blind eye to this criminal behavior simply because the defendants are exploiting and pimping victims on the Internet rather than on a street corner,” she said. Founded in 2004, Backpage originated in the classified section in the back of alternative newspapers. It also lists apartments, cars and jobs. When operators were charged the first time, Backpage denied any wrongdoing and accused Harris of pursuing a politically motivated prosecution as she entered the final weeks in her campaign for U.S. Senate. She was elected last month and is scheduled to be sworn in Jan. 3. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael G. Bowman ruled that the Communications Decency Act of 1996 protects websites such as Backpage.com from lawsuits when they publish speech posted by other people. He said the law “struck a balance in favor of free speech” in keeping Internet service providers protected from liability. At the time, Harris said she was “extremely disappointed” by the ruling. “To all those who have been victimized by pimps online and trafficked through Backpage.com, you are not alone and the fight for justice is not over,” she said. “We are exploring all legal options and will continue to advocate for all victims and to aggressively prosecute those who prey on and exploit the vulnerable.” Quote
Guest Larstrup Posted January 10, 2017 Posted January 10, 2017 http://sandiego.backpage.com/ Ironically, as it turns out, backpage was an incredibly helpful tool and resource in tracking child predators, helping in the prosecution of them and finding children who had been used as sex slaves. As the article indicates, with the censorship of Backpage's adult section The hope for finding and helping these children has now come to an end. Quote
TotallyOz Posted January 10, 2017 Posted January 10, 2017 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/01/10/backpage-com-shuts-down-adult-services-ads-after-relentless-pressure-from-authorities/?utm_term=.1db5fee9e229 Quote
Members JKane Posted January 10, 2017 Members Posted January 10, 2017 I wonder if Backpage can survive this... Who used it over Craigslist for anything other than adult services ads? And now CL has the k/o by still having operational adult categories but not explicitly participating in (somewhat discouraging actually) escort ads in addition to having all the legit revenue... I always enjoyed the more diverse selection including occasional first timer non-pros on CL over Backpage but it sucks to lose another choice. And if this and especially Rentboy.com is what happens in a supposedly liberal administration... what are we in for? (Then again the closet-case hypocrites probably relied on these services more so...) Quote
AdamSmith Posted January 10, 2017 Posted January 10, 2017 Anyone know what financial resources backpage has to pay for lawyering to keep fighting this, and survive? Their escort ads -- M4M, TS, and women for men -- were the sole source here in RDU. Rentmen and Eros.com are both waste lands by comparison. Quote
Members RockHardNYC Posted January 10, 2017 Members Posted January 10, 2017 1 hour ago, AdamSmith said: Anyone know what financial resources backpage has to pay for lawyering to keep fighting this, and survive? That's a good question. Me thinks the fight may not be financially worth it. I've never used Backpage, but the street-thug look has never been my thing. Quote
Guest Larstrup Posted January 10, 2017 Posted January 10, 2017 2 hours ago, RockHardNYC said: the street-thug look has never been my thing. That's always been reserved for your forum posting persona. Quote
Guest Larstrup Posted January 10, 2017 Posted January 10, 2017 4 hours ago, AdamSmith said: Anyone know what financial resources backpage has to pay for lawyering to keep fighting this, and survive? Just an uniformed guess on my part, but it would seem likely that most, if not all assets (personal too?) would be frozen, until at least the money laundering allegations can be resolved one way or the other. Quote
Members Latbear4blk Posted January 18, 2017 Members Posted January 18, 2017 All the advertisers are now in the dating section. Quote
Guest Cornelius Posted January 29, 2017 Posted January 29, 2017 Backpage was a staple in the escort community. Always a place for guaranteed traffic since it's popularity rivaled craigslist. It's still very discouraging to see that prostitution is illegal, simply because it always has been. (at least that's the way I see it). When in reality if it were a legal act, it could be taxed, which would bring revenue for the people. Not to mention legalization would make it a safer business by erasing the need for pimps, allowing people to register as a prostitute/client without worrying about being labeled a criminal, doing away the scary back alley deals Quote
Members BigK Posted January 31, 2017 Members Posted January 31, 2017 On 1/29/2017 at 10:28 AM, Cornelius said: Backpage was a staple in the escort community. Always a place for guaranteed traffic since it's popularity rivaled craigslist. It's still very discouraging to see that prostitution is illegal, simply because it always has been. (at least that's the way I see it). When in reality if it were a legal act, it could be taxed, which would bring revenue for the people. Not to mention legalization would make it a safer business by erasing the need for pimps, allowing people to register as a prostitute/client without worrying about being labeled a criminal, doing away the scary back alley deals Totally agree. Quote
