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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.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Sunday April 08 2018, @05:34PM (1 child)
So by your same logic, nobody would willingly go into pornography, stripping, or anything else related to combining business and sex. And yet, they do: I know some folks who do those kinds of jobs, and they've at least never let on that they were particularly unhappy doing that job. For example, I was chatting with somebody at a party who works as a stripper, and she basically got into it because she likes dancing, she's completely comfortable being naked in front of people, it pays well, and there are far more jobs available for strippers than there are for professional dancers. And a friend-of-a-friend was a SuicideGirl for a while, and she apparently found the job fun and relatively easy money.
What percentage of sex workers are doing so by choice versus by coercion is an open question, but it's known to be a non-zero number on both sides. Also, most of the people I've talked to that work in human trafficking prevention think that making prostitution itself illegal is counter-productive, because it gives victims of sex trafficking an incentive to avoid contact with the legal authorities that might be able to help them.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 08 2018, @06:40PM
Point in case - at almost the same time Sweden outlawed prostitution and Germany outlawed pimping. Guess which country saw a huge increase in women willing to sell sex?