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The California investigation which resulted in the CEO of Backpage getting arrested (along with two major shareholders, interestingly enough) "was prompted, in

by Kadin 10y ago

The California investigation which resulted in the CEO of Backpage getting arrested (along with two major shareholders, interestingly enough) "was prompted, in part, by reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of thousands of instances of child sex trafficking through Backpage." [1] Backpage's management was hiding behind the 3rd-party provisions of the CDA (and the usual last-defense-of-scoundrels, "free speech" absolutism) but were helping to edit and revise ads [2,3] to conceal obviously illegal activity. Thus they were complicit in it. It's unfortunate, because there's probably a place for a responsibly-managed online clearinghouse for adult services. But there's no indication that the management of Backpage was attempting to offer that; they were hiding under a veil of 'free speech' when it suited them, while at the same time profiting from activity they should have known was illegal (and beyond illegal, morally repugnant even to those of us who take no issue with what consenting adults do between themselves and find prostitution laws outdated and sexist). [1]: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/10/07/497006100/ceo-of-backpage-com-arrested-charged-with-pimping http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/10/07/497006100/... [2]: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2016/1007/Backpage-CEO-arrested-in-child-trafficking-probe-Why-the-controversy http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2016/1007/Backpage-CEO-... [3]: https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/subcommittees/investigations/reports https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/subcommittees/investigations/re...

jonlucc 10y ago
"It's unfortunate, because there's probably a place for a responsibly-managed online clearinghouse for adult services." This is interesting, but unfortunately, doing so would probably be illegal, so it will likely be shady characters doing the work.
syshum 10y ago
>>the usual last-defense-of-scoundrels, "free speech" absolutism Sigh.... you either have free speech or you don't, there is no way to be a "free speech absolutist" If you are for censorship, of any type even "hate speech" or other speech you do not personally like you do not support freedom of speech, it really is that simple >Backpage's management was hiding behind the 3rd-party provisions of the CDA Following the law is not "hiding", Backpage, nor any other website should be legally responsible for the content posted by people using their platform, that is a very dangerous precedent >It's unfortunate, because there's probably a place for a responsibly-managed online clearinghouse for adult services. Government has shut all of these down before targeting BackPage. See myRedBook, theReviewBoard, and several others as examples
hendersoon 10y ago
If you read the senate complaint, they were editing the ads to remove anything that looked suspicious or potentially illegal. I wouldn't necessarily attribute intent to conceal to that. The problem is that you can't edit ANYTHING and still be protected by the CDA. And they clearly did it.
wang_li 10y ago
California passed a law making it unlawful to prosecute underage hookers. Whoever proposed this law has not thought this through. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1322 https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml...

by Kadin 10y ago

jonlucc 10y ago

"It's unfortunate, because there's probably a place for a responsibly-managed online clearinghouse for adult services." This is interesting, but unfortunately, doing so would probably be illegal, so it will likely be shady characters doing the work.

syshum 10y ago

>>the usual last-defense-of-scoundrels, "free speech" absolutism Sigh.... you either have free speech or you don't, there is no way to be a "free speech absolutist" If you are for censorship, of any type even "hate speech" or other speech you do not personally like you do not support freedom of speech, it really is that simple >Backpage's management was hiding behind the 3rd-party provisions of the CDA Following the law is not "hiding", Backpage, nor any other website should be legally responsible for the content posted by people using their platform, that is a very dangerous precedent >It's unfortunate, because there's probably a place for a responsibly-managed online clearinghouse for adult services. Government has shut all of these down before targeting BackPage. See myRedBook, theReviewBoard, and several others as examples

hendersoon 10y ago

If you read the senate complaint, they were editing the ads to remove anything that looked suspicious or potentially illegal. I wouldn't necessarily attribute intent to conceal to that. The problem is that you can't edit ANYTHING and still be protected by the CDA. And they clearly did it.

wang_li 10y ago

California passed a law making it unlawful to prosecute underage hookers. Whoever proposed this law has not thought this through. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1322 https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml...