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from the looking-for-love-in-all-the-wrong-places dept.
Amazon and Microsoft employees caught up in sex trafficking sting
The tech industry has a clear history of sexism and misogyny, but a recent Newsweek report highlights another problem. The publication got its hands on a slew of emails sent to brothels and pimps between 2014 and 2016 that document the industry's patronage of brothels and purchasing of services from trafficked sex workers. Among the emails, which were obtained through a public records request to the King County Prosecutor's Office, were 67 sent from Microsoft employee email accounts, 63 from Amazon accounts and dozens more from companies like Boeing, T-Mobile, Oracle and local Seattle tech firms.
Some of the emails were collected during a 2015 sting operation that targeted sex worker review boards and resulted in the arrest of 18 individuals, including high-level Amazon and Microsoft directors. Two opted for a trial, which is currently set to begin in March.
Seattle's sex industry has grown right alongside its tech industry and the city's authorities have said that some men spend up to $50,000 per year on sex workers. Brothels are even known to advertise how close they are to tech offices. Alex Trouteaud, director of policy and research at the anti-trafficking organization Demand Abolition, told Newsweek that the tech industry is a "culture that has readily embraced trafficking."
Newsweek: Tech Bros Bought Sex Trafficking Victims by Using Amazon and Microsoft Work Emails
Related: "Pimping" Charges Against Backpage Executives Dismissed
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday December 27 2017, @04:01AM (3 children)
If you truly think sex is nothing but a transaction, I pity you immensely. That kind of zero-sum thinking is corrosive to the soul.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 27 2017, @05:30AM
People have always sought out other people for the sole purpose of sex. Recreational sex.
Not exactly the same thing the GP poster said, but there is some truth in what he said, in that FREQUENTLY it is transactional or at least selfish.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by OrugTor on Wednesday December 27 2017, @05:15PM (1 child)
Sex is a biological transaction. In the case of humans it is tainted by sentience. It becomes a control transaction. That is most of what you need to know about sex.
(Score: 2) by http on Wednesday December 27 2017, @07:07PM
I am so very glad my theory of mind is failing me here. Every parse attempt gets uglier before heap overflow.
And while I'm sorry that your existance is miserable, that it is is not my fault. So, no, I'm not paying for your therapy.
I browse at -1 when I have mod points. It's unsettling.