Members Candyman Posted April 6, 2018 Members Posted April 6, 2018 Quote Feds seize classified ad site Backpage.com over sex trafficking ads The federal government has seized Backpage.com, the popular classified advertising website, CBS News' Paula Reid reported Friday. The site is frequently used for sex trafficking of adults and children. The Justice Department says the site has earned $500 million in revenue from prostitution since it was created. The government is currently in the process of blocking the website. Parts of it are accessible, while other parts may trigger a notice specifically saying the feds have seized it. On Friday, some visitors to the site were greeted with a message that said, "backpage.com and affiliated websites have been seized as part of an enforcement action" by the FBI, the Postal Inspection Service and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. Another agency participating in the action is the Justice Department's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. More info here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/feds-seize-classified-ad-site-backpage-com-over-sex-trafficking-ads/ Quote
Members Latbear4blk Posted April 6, 2018 Members Posted April 6, 2018 Yeah. It is true. http://backpage.com Quote
AdamSmith Posted April 7, 2018 Posted April 7, 2018 2 hours ago, Latbear4blk said: Yeah. It is true. http://backpage.com Pragmatic answer is to move the host servers overseas. Then we'll see what happens. Quote
AdamSmith Posted April 7, 2018 Posted April 7, 2018 4 minutes ago, AdamSmith said: Pragmatic answer is to move the host servers overseas. Then we'll see what happens. Far easier and cheaper than a US Court fight. Quote
TotallyOz Posted April 7, 2018 Posted April 7, 2018 I split this thread as I think it is important to read the new info on Backpage. Quote
Members tassojunior Posted April 7, 2018 Members Posted April 7, 2018 Important that this was done under existing law, not SESTA. JKane 1 Quote
AdamSmith Posted April 7, 2018 Posted April 7, 2018 2 hours ago, TotallyOz said: I split this thread as I think it is important to read the new info on Backpage. NP. Post link to the other thread you created? Can't find it. Quote
Members tassojunior Posted April 7, 2018 Members Posted April 7, 2018 The norm now has become to treat escorting and child sex trafficking as the same thing. SESTA does that and the ad from the NYPD does that. Now Backpage too. The logical extension of this will be to treat porn also as child sex trafficking because some sex trafficking is to film "victims" in porn. Plus porn is basically paying someone to have sex. And what of bars that have "private dance areas" where people are paid to have sex. Certainly promoting them on the internet would be a crime. Maybe just their existence. Who knows how far this slippery slope will go. What we're seeing now is just the result of the crackdown on sex and even nudity that Google, Instagram and Facebook have been doing for months. It's just the tip of the iceberg. The US government, both the executive and Congress, has been bristling at what they see as an internet full of criticism of the government over which the government in the US has very little control. Government means to assert it's control over the internet in a very mean and harsh way. JKane 1 Quote
Members BigK Posted April 7, 2018 Members Posted April 7, 2018 Here's Reuters take on this: https://www.yahoo.com/news/sex-ads-website-backpage-shut-down-u-authorities-003228741.html Quote
