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The difficulty with this case is that it's very difficult to find a source that genuinely steel-mans backpage. I noticed one thing, for example, which I will t

The difficulty with this case is that it's very difficult to find a source that genuinely steel-mans backpage. I noticed one thing, for example, which I will try to describe in a steel-manning way. It appears backpage, at least in part, was working with law enforcement and human trafficking activists. Perhaps not to the extent that those activists would have liked, but I suspect those activists would have preferred them to shut down completely. In assisting authorities/activists, certain keywords were filtered from ads, keywords which might have indicated that someone was under-age. This act of removing those keywords is what now has them in trouble, because the plaintiffs are arguing that backpage is now the "author" of that material rather than just a platform. If this is true, that seems like a dirty trick. The authorities/activists trick you into "helping" in such a way that you actually become a criminal, and then they come after you for it.

Nasrudith 8y ago
It is definitely a dirty trick and doing the typical win-oriented prosecutor thing of spinning every possible reaction as proof of guilt. Crying for your dead wife? Really remorse because you murdered her! Not crying? Remorseless psychopath! If that standard stands then they are asking for everything to be either user moderated or an absolute cesspool since taking any non-mandatory moderation action would make you responsible for contents. In which case they won't be able to beat up on social media companies for any of their content since they were the ones who tied their hands. That would make for a hilarious Zuckerberg congress meeting part two. "I would love to help with election meddling but my lawyers can't agree on anything that I could do that wouldn't leave me legally liable for high level felonies."
DanBC 8y ago
> It appears backpage, at least in part, was working with law enforcement and human trafficking activists. But it was not doing this. Backpage was in fact doing things that made it harder for law enforcement to take action. When people describe Backpage's actions as really fucking evil it's not because no-one is steel-manning backpage. It's because Backpage genuinely was really fucking evil. When someone posts an ad saying something like "16 year old escort" a non-evil company would have alerted law enforcement. Backpage didn't. Backpage returned an error message saying "Oops! Sorry, the ad poster must be over 18 years of age." (This is the real error message). It would then allow the poster to make an ammendment to the ad and re-submit it. Backpage would not keep this information. Please read this report, because it clearly details what Backpage did. And don't forget, this document just lists the things that Backpage have said they did. https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report%202017.01.10%20FINAL.pdf https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report...
- Consultant32452 8y ago
  Even the link you provided suggests Backpage was working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The context that it mentions this suggests that Backpage "may have manipulated" the reports, but doesn't describe exactly what that means. Manipulated could mean something as innocuous as erring on the side of protecting consenting adults, only reporting more obvious cases of exploited children. We don't know though, because in spite of the fact that this negative language "manipulation" was used no details are given. So even in the report written by the people who are trying to put Backpage owners in prison, written in the most negative light possible, I was able to find redeeming information in just a few seconds of skimming.
- segmondy 8y ago
  I heard over a talk radio show recently, that numerous law enforcement officers around the country miss backpage because it was their funnel for stings and arrests and they now don't know where to look for traffickers.

Nasrudith 8y ago

It is definitely a dirty trick and doing the typical win-oriented prosecutor thing of spinning every possible reaction as proof of guilt. Crying for your dead wife? Really remorse because you murdered her! Not crying? Remorseless psychopath! If that standard stands then they are asking for everything to be either user moderated or an absolute cesspool since taking any non-mandatory moderation action would make you responsible for contents. In which case they won't be able to beat up on social media companies for any of their content since they were the ones who tied their hands. That would make for a hilarious Zuckerberg congress meeting part two. "I would love to help with election meddling but my lawyers can't agree on anything that I could do that wouldn't leave me legally liable for high level felonies."

DanBC 8y ago

> It appears backpage, at least in part, was working with law enforcement and human trafficking activists. But it was not doing this. Backpage was in fact doing things that made it harder for law enforcement to take action. When people describe Backpage's actions as really fucking evil it's not because no-one is steel-manning backpage. It's because Backpage genuinely was really fucking evil. When someone posts an ad saying something like "16 year old escort" a non-evil company would have alerted law enforcement. Backpage didn't. Backpage returned an error message saying "Oops! Sorry, the ad poster must be over 18 years of age." (This is the real error message). It would then allow the poster to make an ammendment to the ad and re-submit it. Backpage would not keep this information. Please read this report, because it clearly details what Backpage did. And don't forget, this document just lists the things that Backpage have said they did. https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report%202017.01.10%20FINAL.pdf https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report...

Consultant32452 8y ago
Even the link you provided suggests Backpage was working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The context that it mentions this suggests that Backpage "may have manipulated" the reports, but doesn't describe exactly what that means. Manipulated could mean something as innocuous as erring on the side of protecting consenting adults, only reporting more obvious cases of exploited children. We don't know though, because in spite of the fact that this negative language "manipulation" was used no details are given. So even in the report written by the people who are trying to put Backpage owners in prison, written in the most negative light possible, I was able to find redeeming information in just a few seconds of skimming.
segmondy 8y ago
I heard over a talk radio show recently, that numerous law enforcement officers around the country miss backpage because it was their funnel for stings and arrests and they now don't know where to look for traffickers.