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posted by martyb on Saturday April 07 2018, @04:13PM   Printer-friendly
from the Taking-a-si-SESTA dept.

Notorious website backpage.com has been seized according to NY Daily News.

Sex ads platform Backpage.com was seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Friday hours after its founder's Phoenix home was raided.

Visitors to the site landed on a notice from the federal government announcing its seizure.

"Backpage.com and affiliated websites have been seized as part of an enforcement action by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, with analytical assistance from the Joint Regional Intelligence Center," the announcement read.

Founder's home also raided by the FBI Friday morning.

U.S. Government Seizes backpage.com

The FBI, Justice Department, and other agencies have seized backpage.com, and one of the co-founders had their home raided:

On Friday, federal law enforcement authorities seized Backpage domain names, including Backpage.com and Backpage.ca. In addition, the Arizona Republic reported that on Friday morning, law enforcement raided the Sedona-area home of Michael Lacey, a co-founder of the site.

For years, Backpage has acted with impunity as a place that offered thinly veiled online prostitution ads. In December 2016, Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer and his co-defendants beat back a state prosecution in California.

Sex workers aren't happy, and could be endangered by the move as well as the recent passage of the Stop Enabling Sex Trafficking Act (SESTA). SESTA is not yet in effect.

Also at CNN, WSJ, The Hill, and The Verge.

Previously: Supreme Court Chief Justice Blocks Congressional Subpoena Over First Amendment Rights
Backpage's Dallas Offices Raided, CEO Charged With "Pimping"
"Pimping" Charges Against Backpage Executives Dismissed
After Release of U.S. Senate Report, Backpage Shuts Down U.S. Adult Section

Related: Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act - 20 Years of Protecting Intermediaries
Craigslist Removes Personals Sections in the U.S.


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  • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday April 08 2018, @06:38AM

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Sunday April 08 2018, @06:38AM (#663889) Homepage Journal

    It was raided in 2005 after publishing several years of publishing monthly sets containing typically 3000 images of 4- to 16-year-old girls.

    Very few of the parents pressed charges.

    Those photos are everywhere now. It is really easy to find them in Bing Image Search. Say what you will about Google turning evil, at least they un-indexed all the domains that hosted those photos.

    Many of the sites that serve that particular line of pedophilia have domains that are under US control - mostly .com. Why doesn't ICE seize those domains too?

    They did seize some CP sites a few years ago but then stopped.

    FWIW I discussed my investigation with a Clark County (Vancouver) and a Multnomah County (Portland) deputy. They both said "Keep up the good work".

    However most of the domains are clearly throwaway sites. Those never last long, I expect because the proprietors only pay for one year of domain and get the hosting by hacking some poor bastard's server.

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