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Amazon and Microsoft Employees Caught Up in Sex Trafficking Sting

posted by martyb on Wednesday December 27 2017, @12:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the looking-for-love-in-all-the-wrong-places dept.

Fnord666 writes:

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

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 28 2017, @07:29AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 28 2017, @07:29AM (#615021)

    Note how vices snuggle up to high-tech and capital cities - DC has a thriving "industry", Wellington NZ is home to the richest whoremasters (ex-China). It all has to do with industrial and political espionage and leverage. The "marks" get entangled and ensnared one way or another. Resistance is futile. Come "relax" with us, let your guard down, maybe talk about that secret program, that wonderful new AI software tech, have another drink, leave me your email...
    Note how the US _used_ to have it together and the Manhattan Project was run in strict isolation.