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> "At the outset of this investigation, it was anticipated that we would find evidence of candid discussions among [Backpage] principals about the use of the si

> "At the outset of this investigation, it was anticipated that we would find evidence of candid discussions among [Backpage] principals about the use of the site for juvenile prostitution which could be used as admissions of criminal conduct," wrote McNeil and Swaminathan in their 2013 update. "It was also anticipated that we would find numerous instances where Backpage learned that a site user was a juvenile prostitute and Backpage callously continued to post advertisements for her. To date, the investigation has revealed neither." So, they found no evidence for the things that Backpage was alleged to have engaged in. And they decided to bring charges anyway? There was a similar situation up in Seattle where a group of sex workers and clients got busted. Police referred to the operation a human trafficking ring and called the women sex slaves. The was no evidence that the women had any nonconsensual sex - the police justified their allegations that these women were enslaved by pointing out that some of the women were in the US on expired visas and that it is policy to assume that sex workers on expired visas are victims of human trafficking. This eventually led to one of the clients killed himself. It's pretty astounding how much damage people are willing to cause to keep people from selling sex.

klyrs 7y ago
In Canada, where sex work is legal, I was granted a work permit that forbade sex work (and related employment). This is, presumably, justified by its impact on "sex trafficking" but all it does is further criminalize the sex workers. I have a few friends who used backpage. Their favorite feature was a listing of "bad dates" so they could vet new potential customers. Sex work without backpage is scarier, riskier -- yet again, efforts pitched as "for wellbeing of women and children" have the opposite impact.
Fins 7y ago
That's pretty much the case with just about every "sex trafficking" bust, isn't it? Lots of talk about rescuing children and what not, but in the end women, who are supposedly being helped, are hauled off to the slammer, customers, too, and not a single trafficking victim is found. But that doesn't make for good headlines, so the latter part is rarely reported. Backpage got caught in a perfect combination of "baptists and bootleggers" where, except for people who actually do try to help trafficking victims, exploited kids, etc., who all found BP quite useful and cooperative, everybody, left and right, wanted to shut it down for purely ideological reasons. In the end, nobody came out ahead.
- paggle 7y ago
  It’s doubly sad because sex trafficking definitely exists (cf Epstein) but finding some single mom giving handjobs to widowers is much easier for cops to handcuff and call “sex trafficking.”
  - Fins 7y ago
    Oh, definitely. I'm sure that even the kind of trafficking that Backpage was accused of aiding and abetting also exists, although obviously to far lesser degree than people who feed off of fighting it would want us to believe. But busting some Chinese grandma giving handies in a parlor (after getting some at taxpayers' expense) is so much easier than running after gangbangers, and gives points with voters, so that's what we get...

klyrs 7y ago

In Canada, where sex work is legal, I was granted a work permit that forbade sex work (and related employment). This is, presumably, justified by its impact on "sex trafficking" but all it does is further criminalize the sex workers. I have a few friends who used backpage. Their favorite feature was a listing of "bad dates" so they could vet new potential customers. Sex work without backpage is scarier, riskier -- yet again, efforts pitched as "for wellbeing of women and children" have the opposite impact.

Fins 7y ago

That's pretty much the case with just about every "sex trafficking" bust, isn't it? Lots of talk about rescuing children and what not, but in the end women, who are supposedly being helped, are hauled off to the slammer, customers, too, and not a single trafficking victim is found. But that doesn't make for good headlines, so the latter part is rarely reported. Backpage got caught in a perfect combination of "baptists and bootleggers" where, except for people who actually do try to help trafficking victims, exploited kids, etc., who all found BP quite useful and cooperative, everybody, left and right, wanted to shut it down for purely ideological reasons. In the end, nobody came out ahead.

paggle 7y ago
It’s doubly sad because sex trafficking definitely exists (cf Epstein) but finding some single mom giving handjobs to widowers is much easier for cops to handcuff and call “sex trafficking.”
- Fins 7y ago
  Oh, definitely. I'm sure that even the kind of trafficking that Backpage was accused of aiding and abetting also exists, although obviously to far lesser degree than people who feed off of fighting it would want us to believe. But busting some Chinese grandma giving handies in a parlor (after getting some at taxpayers' expense) is so much easier than running after gangbangers, and gives points with voters, so that's what we get...