

Financiers and Sex Trafficking - acak
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/opinion/sunday/kristof-financers-and-sex-trafficking.html

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lwhalen
It's... a Craigslist clone. The article makes it seem like backpage.com is
some online brothel whose sole (or main) focus is "teh trafficking of innocent
wimminz and children oh my!", but a quick spin through the site seems to show
that it's more like Craigslist with less traffic and the greatest site design
techniques from 2004. With that in mind, the NYT article strikes me as more of
an attack piece against Village Voice Media, and a screed against online
prostitution in general.

In my experience as a semi-professional musician who gets a significant chunk
of work from the 'gigs' and 'talent' section of Craigslist, the quality of
those sections diminished GREATLY when Craigslist shuttered their 'adult'
section. I say leave backpage.com alone, and don't penalize the rest of their
community by using a sledgehammer to squash a housefly.

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GiraffeNecktie
Such a hysterical, over-amped campaign. I can't wait till he turns his guns on
the Internet itself because, to paraphrase him a bit "There’s no doubt that
[lots of stuff on the Internet is placed there] by consenting adults. But it’s
equally clear that [the Internet] plays a major role in the trafficking of
minors or women who are coerced.

And he cites one recent case where, yes indeed, a girl was "drugged, tied up,
raped and sold to johns through Backpage and other sites."

So even if a medium is used by adults for consensual activity, it should be
stomped out if there's any chance that someone will abuse it.

