
Secret Memos Show the Government Has Been Lying About Backpage All Along - spking
https://reason.com/2019/08/26/secret-memos-show-the-government-has-been-lying-about-backpage/
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manfredo
> "At the outset of this investigation, it was anticipated that we would find
> evidence of candid discussions among [Backpage] principals about the use of
> the site for juvenile prostitution which could be used as admissions of
> criminal conduct," wrote McNeil and Swaminathan in their 2013 update. "It
> was also anticipated that we would find numerous instances where Backpage
> learned that a site user was a juvenile prostitute and Backpage callously
> continued to post advertisements for her. To date, the investigation has
> revealed neither."

So, they found no evidence for the things that Backpage was alleged to have
engaged in. And they decided to bring charges anyway?

There was a similar situation up in Seattle where a group of sex workers and
clients got busted. Police referred to the operation a human trafficking ring
and called the women sex slaves. The was no evidence that the women had any
nonconsensual sex - the police justified their allegations that these women
were enslaved by pointing out that some of the women were in the US on expired
visas and that it is policy to assume that sex workers on expired visas are
victims of human trafficking. This eventually led to one of the clients killed
himself.

It's pretty astounding how much damage people are willing to cause to keep
people from selling sex.

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Fins
That's pretty much the case with just about every "sex trafficking" bust,
isn't it? Lots of talk about rescuing children and what not, but in the end
women, who are supposedly being helped, are hauled off to the slammer,
customers, too, and not a single trafficking victim is found. But that doesn't
make for good headlines, so the latter part is rarely reported.

Backpage got caught in a perfect combination of "baptists and bootleggers"
where, except for people who actually do try to help trafficking victims,
exploited kids, etc., who all found BP quite useful and cooperative,
everybody, left and right, wanted to shut it down for purely ideological
reasons. In the end, nobody came out ahead.

~~~
paggle
It’s doubly sad because sex trafficking definitely exists (cf Epstein) but
finding some single mom giving handjobs to widowers is much easier for cops to
handcuff and call “sex trafficking.”

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Fins
Oh, definitely. I'm sure that even the kind of trafficking that Backpage was
accused of aiding and abetting also exists, although obviously to far lesser
degree than people who feed off of fighting it would want us to believe. But
busting some Chinese grandma giving handies in a parlor (after getting some at
taxpayers' expense) is so much easier than running after gangbangers, and
gives points with voters, so that's what we get...

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devoply
> "Information provided to us by [FBI Agent Steve] Vienneau and other members
> of the Innocence Lost Task Force confirm that, unlike virtually every other
> website that is used for prostitution and sex trafficking, Backpage is
> remarkably responsive to law enforcement requests and often takes proactive
> steps to assist in investigations,"

And you wonder why people hate the authorities. You would think that
psychopathy among the justice department would lead to careers of all people
involved being destroyed, yet it seldom happens and often not for years after
when they have had plenty of time to do much more damage.

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sarcasmatwork
We are suppose to be able to trust law enforcement, and the judicial process.
Its difficult when they lie, do it for more power, and then lie about it again
and again. This is not an eye opener, but more proof we cant trust those in
power. Good article!

~~~
neilv
You're tarring all law enforcement officials with the same brush.

In the article, there's some very honest-sounding acknowledgement by officials
of the efforts of the company to cooperate on some concerns (e.g., child
exploitation), and also some apparent straight-laced belief in higher
evidenciary standards for illegal things they seemed to believe/suspect were
going on (e.g., intentionally facilitating adult prostitution).

I think the perseverance of that kind of honesty and belief in principles
gives some hope, despite various discouraging things we can also see in
society, from all directions.

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bitxbitxbitcoin
I, like many, am not surprised at all.

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jasonvorhe
FYI, reason.com is considered to be right-center biased:
[https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/reason/](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/reason/)

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breakyerself
Seems like a good article though.

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deogeo
Well, the bias fact check site _does_ give reason.com a favorable grade.

