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Hey, thanks for the concern. We take this very seriously. We also didn't build this in an echo chamber. I've worked for five years in this space and am very fam

Hey, thanks for the concern. We take this very seriously. We also didn't build this in an echo chamber. I've worked for five years in this space and am very familiar with concerns about sex workers, poverty, desparation, and exploitation. I can say with confidence that law enforcement, particularly human trafficking investigators, are also sensitive to these distinctions, generally. This used to not be the case, but a lot is changing and very quickly. An example: An investigator I spoke to the other day said they used to be called a "VICE" unit, but they changed their name to the "counter-exploitation unit". This is similar to many agencies across the US and Canada. We reserve the right to revoke a user's license if they are using our platform to harass persons, but so far this has not been a problem. In fact, just the opposite.

MichaelGG 12y ago
Probably changed their name because "vice" obviously sounds like enforcing a questionable moral code (while having fun), whereas "counter-exploitation unit" sounds more important and serious. Underage sex work and human trafficking was already illegal in Canada, but they recently shut a lot legitimate sex workers down. How are you actually auditing LE to make sure they're only targeting trafficking/minors or other real offenses? Edit: To be clear, how do we know this isn't a sham like drug laws? No drug user I've ever known, even the ones that OD'd and died, ever benefitted at all from drug laws. Quite the opposite in fact. So forgive us for being skeptical about another morality law enforcement system that might have a similar damage ratio. Even the first question that comes to me: Is the sex market so bad that buyers are interested in coerced workers? Sure, some people might be into underaged (regardless of the cutoff), and I suppose some people might be into abusive stuff they couldn't buy from willing participants. But does that make up the majority even? Or is it really just a lot of bored, or ugly, or busy, or curious, etc. etc. buyers? More pointedly, where are your morals? Are you pushing for better laws, despite that they might hurt business?
- vdaniuk 12y ago
  >Are you pushing for better laws, despite that they might hurt business? Come on now, they founded a for-profit startup and are raising money from the VCs. The conflict of interest is obnoxiously obvious.
prutschman 12y ago
If you are not working with groups like http://www.swopusa.org/ http://www.swopusa.org/ already, you need to start now, or you will likely end up hurting more people than you help.

MichaelGG 12y ago

Probably changed their name because "vice" obviously sounds like enforcing a questionable moral code (while having fun), whereas "counter-exploitation unit" sounds more important and serious. Underage sex work and human trafficking was already illegal in Canada, but they recently shut a lot legitimate sex workers down. How are you actually auditing LE to make sure they're only targeting trafficking/minors or other real offenses? Edit: To be clear, how do we know this isn't a sham like drug laws? No drug user I've ever known, even the ones that OD'd and died, ever benefitted at all from drug laws. Quite the opposite in fact. So forgive us for being skeptical about another morality law enforcement system that might have a similar damage ratio. Even the first question that comes to me: Is the sex market so bad that buyers are interested in coerced workers? Sure, some people might be into underaged (regardless of the cutoff), and I suppose some people might be into abusive stuff they couldn't buy from willing participants. But does that make up the majority even? Or is it really just a lot of bored, or ugly, or busy, or curious, etc. etc. buyers? More pointedly, where are your morals? Are you pushing for better laws, despite that they might hurt business?

vdaniuk 12y ago
>Are you pushing for better laws, despite that they might hurt business? Come on now, they founded a for-profit startup and are raising money from the VCs. The conflict of interest is obnoxiously obvious.

prutschman 12y ago

If you are not working with groups like http://www.swopusa.org/ http://www.swopusa.org/ already, you need to start now, or you will likely end up hurting more people than you help.