
Backpage.com seized by U.S. justice authorities - mzs
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-backpage-justice/sex-marketplace-backpage-com-seized-by-u-s-justice-authorities-posting-idUSKCN1HD2QP
======
gojomo
Both sex worker anecdotes, and some larger studies, suggest the availability
of such online services actually reduce violence, homicide, and sex
trafficking. See for example:

[https://thinkprogress.org/craigslist-erotic-services-
platfor...](https://thinkprogress.org/craigslist-erotic-services-
platform-3eab46092717/)

~~~
empath75
To be clear, people were pimping out children on backpage. We’re not taking
about consenting adults in every case.

~~~
colordrops
They are also using Gmail to do that. Do you agree with the SESTA/FOSTA
legislation?

~~~
jstarfish
Make a case that someone at Google _knows_ what accounts are involved in this
activity and _is letting it happen so they can profit from it_ and then you'll
have a fair comparison.

~~~
troncjb
This is wrong. SESTA-FOSTA has dramatically lowered the bar. Some quotes:

"The new bill holds website owners legally liable for criminal prosecution for
any sex trafficking discussions that are viewable on their platform."

"The legislation says a website is responsible if it “assists, supports, or
facilitates” sex trafficking. Some of the vague wording opens up the bill for
interpretation and has critics fearing frivolous lawsuits against platforms
that didn’t know trafficking was happening on their site."

The bar is not "knowingly aided". The bar is "built a platform that someone
else used to sex-traffic".

~~~
jstarfish
This is not that vague. If I post a comment about prostitution on HN, HN is
not liable (HN is clearly not a sex trafficking site), whereas the operator of
The Erotic Review is definitely within scope of getting fucked.

This is about eradicating purpose-driven websites related to prostitution.
Backpage's C-team did some really, really bad stuff. No jury is going to
convict the CEO of Reddit because someone somewhere posted a comment about
prostitution on a subreddit. Section 230 still exists.

~~~
fencepost
_If I post a comment about prostitution on HN, HN is not liable_

Are you sure? And are you in a position to be making that call?

 _No jury is going to convict the CEO of Reddit because someone somewhere
posted a comment about prostitution on a subreddit._

That's probably why Reddit eliminated basically all the subreddits related to
prostitution. They're also probably less concerned about their CEO being
jailed than they are about massive fines.

~~~
220V_USKettle
I think the biggest issue is having your domain seized prior to trial and
conviction.

MX records are gone at that point, so the press cannot contact general counsel
for comments.

------
DenisM
Everyone who's decrying the demise of backpage as a safe and beneficial place,
please take a moment and read the first two pages of the Senate Report.

Backpage had a system in place to detect ads offering e.g. child sex and...
_edit those ads to conceal their criminal nature from detection_ by rephrasing
the give-away words with less obvious ones. You would think they would report
those ads, but no - they concealed.

[1]
[https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report...](https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report%202017.01.10%20FINAL.pdf)

~~~
jijji
In Backpage's defense, they were instructed to block those words by their
legal team and law enforcement, as those words are not allowed to be posted
because they indicate sexual favors in exchange for money, i.e. prostitution.

~~~
xienze
They could have, you know, rejected the ads outright and/or passed the info on
to law enforcement automatically. Simply filtering the words implies they knew
what was going on but did just enough to (hopefully) have plausible
deniability.

~~~
dmix
Yes exactly, I'd normally be a staunch defender of Backpage here, assuming
they merely acted as a middle man ala Craigslist or any other listings site.
Similar to ISPs with the Safe Harbour Act or Tor.

But Backpage actively helped these guys create ads that won't trigger any red
flags. Instead of blocking the posts, warning them, or straight up banning
them, the listing wizard directly suggested ways to conceal illegal activity
after detecting 'bad' keywords, in order to help allow the user to continue to
use the site.

This feature most likely had good intentions for other law abiding users,
likely for the largely majority of cases, but it was pretty damn obvious how
it also helps some seriously bad guys. You'd just have to look at some of the
example keywords which would trigger this automated assistance...

Backpage played an active role not just a reactionary passive one. Which is
why I understand and support legal action against them - although I'm not sure
seizing is the right approach, but that's another story.

~~~
dbg31415
So... let's walk through this...

1) Paying customer creates an ad (I haven't used Backpage, but I assume they
paid to create ads).

2) Paying customer enters some words that the Government has told Backpage not
to allow.

3) Backpage's automatic web form error message says... "Hey, you've added some
words the Government won't let you use... sorry... it's not us, it's Uncle
Sam."

4) Customer changes words to get around filters... I assume things like "sex"
turns into "s3x" \-- or whatever the bare minimum number of changes were to
get around the censorship.

5) Customer posts ads, skirts Government censorship; feels smug and satisfied
for beating the system.

6) Government isn't happy that the intent of the filtered words wasn't
enforced... expected Backpage to have more (costly) manual review of ads,
instead of just exact keyword blocks on ad creation.

7) Backpage was like, "Manual review would destroy our business model..." so
they fought it...

8) Government took over and shut them down.

Again, I haven't read anything on this... but that's my assumption based on
how the Government and tech work. Am I wrong?

~~~
ino
It's way worse than that.

Instead of just assuming, if you don't want to read it all, read just pages 2
and 3 (summary).

[https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report...](https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report%202017.01.10%20FINAL.pdf)

------
danso
Legal problems against Backpage have been brewing for awhile. Its CEO was
arrested in 2016 and charged with pimping. The pimping charges have since been
thrown out but he and his fellow execs face 27 other charges, including money
laundering:
[http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article168969032.html](http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article168969032.html)

~~~
creaghpatr
Yup, people would like to spin this as the government cracking down on garden-
variety prostitution, yet Backpage in particular has many dubious ties to
child trafficking.

~~~
gowld
What are those ties? The article above only mentions "adult services" and sex
work.

~~~
dmix
When users submitted listings with keywords like "young girls" (and worse) it
would automatically detect them and suggest edits to allow the listing to
still be posted without triggering any red flags. Among other things (?).

Which is why the feds believe they crossed the line into actively assisting
criminal activity when they should have just been dissuading or outright
blocking the people creating this type of content on the site.

------
JshWright
Backpage was a major example of why SESTA/FOSTA was "necessary". It seems
convenient that it wasn't taken down until after the passage of SESTA (despite
the fact that the takedown did not leverage any of the new provisions, AFAICT
(EDIT: as cft points out, the bill has not yet been signed by the President,
so clearly it was not necessary))

~~~
cft
SESTA has not been signed by Trump yet afaik. In this case, it actually shows
that to take down Backpage SESTA was unneeded.

~~~
diabeetusman
Yep, hasn't been signed yet
([https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180406/13555839585/doj-s...](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180406/13555839585/doj-
seizes-shuts-down-backpagecom-before-sesta-has-even-been-signed.shtml))

------
dragonwriter
Backpage.com was a general purpose onlined classified system that included a
handful of adult services sections among dozens of others. The use of “sex
marketplace” here explains the basis of the seizure, but is misleading as a
description of the site seized (Unlike, say, the myredbook.com seizure, which
was a straight-up sex marketplace.)

~~~
paulie_a
I recall visiting Backpage 4-5 years ago to crosspost some stuff I was trying
to sell on CL. I took one look and closed the tab. It was incredibly obvious
what their business was focused on.

------
kemiller
First they came for the prostitutes, and I said nothing, because I was not a
prostitute.

~~~
bmpafa
Well, more accurately, they appear to have come for the pimps.

~~~
GCU-Empiricist
How is coming for the webpage that acts as a marketplace coming for the pimps?

~~~
bmpafa
I was using 'pimps' as short-hand for the people brokering sex worker
transactions, be they platform admins or some guy named Icepick.

My sense is that, in most cases, sex workers do not act as their own agents,
so I see backpage as a platform catering to pimps et al.

Though I guess there's an argument to be made that sites like backpage make it
easier for sex workers to disintermediate pimps, which I imagine would be a
good thing.

~~~
AFNobody
> My sense is that, in most cases, sex workers do not act as their own agents,
> so I see backpage as a platform catering to pimps et al.

Just fyi, you are mistaken. That is the whole reason they have to
force/traffick people and trap them rather than just recruit. Anyone here
legally and does that sort of sex work has mostly moved away from the pimps.

> Though I guess there's an argument to be made that sites like backpage make
> it easier for sex workers to disintermediate pimps, which I imagine would be
> a good thing.

Legal adult citizens who were prostitutes were doing exactly that.

Pretty much since "online personals" became a thing, sex workers quickly
removed all the intermediaries beyond the ads.

------
Mustache
I have a real estate business and this is one of the sites I have used to post
my real estate listings. It wasn't a large part of business, but I did get
regular leads from the site. I mostly used craigslist, facebook and zillow,
but this was a solid 4th place source of leads for me. I'm self employed and
these sites are how I make my living. So not all of the users are posting sex
ads. I don't like the title calling it a sex marketplace. It makes it sounds
like this is the only thing on the website.

~~~
gregorymichael
I can buy a shirt at Whole Foods. It's still a grocery store.

------
bmpafa
I vacillate on this.

On the one hand, I don't think prostitution should be illegal.

On the other hand, it's not clear whether marketplaces like backpage bring the
black-market closer to the light of day & make things safer for sex workers,
or if they amplify demand to the point where suppliers have incentive to find
new sex workers using more and more coercive methods.

~~~
chillingeffect
To help you decide, consider what you think of when you hear "prostitution."
Do you think of women standing on a street corner smoking and getting in cars
and getting beat up by pimps and unable to go to the police for help like in
80s movies?

Or do you think of something more like a doctor's office with security
cameras, a receptionist, online reviews?

Because it seems modern, legal prostitution is a lot more like a medical
service, similar to how veterinarians calm a cat in heat [1].

[1]
[https://everything2.com/title/How+to+calm+a+cat+in+heat](https://everything2.com/title/How+to+calm+a+cat+in+heat)

------
iooi
I'm curious if this only made possible by the recent SESTA/FOSTA law that was
passed. It's not like Backpage is anything new, so why take it down now?

If it is related to those laws, this is significant precedent for websites
being responsible for user posted content. I'm afraid of what it's going to do
to communities like Reddit and HN.

If I post a zero-day in the comments section here, YC could be responsible for
the damages it causes.

~~~
totalZero
> I'm curious if this only made possible by the recent SESTA/FOSTA law that
> was passed. It's not like Backpage is anything new, so why take it down now?

It has not been signed into law yet, so it couldn't be. Now that the seizure
has happened, the bill wouldn't apply to it even if signed, because A1S9 of
the US Constitution states:

    
    
      No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
    

Here's the legislation:

[https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-
bill/1865](https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1865)

------
balozi
They are coming for porn next.

~~~
drawkbox
Yeah 'sex trafficking' is really code name for porn for many of the orgs
pushing these changes.

I wonder how long reddit NSFW subreddits last.

The argument that porn leads to more sex trafficking is a false equivalence,
faulty comparison and false analogy. You could argue prostitution being
illegal instead of legal contributes to more sex trafficking.

I think keeping legal porn and making prostitution legal help as it is
something that is always in demand, fighting it makes it more unsafe in
underground markets.

Things people will do no matter if it is illegal or legal that harm noone and
is consenting adults or something you do to your own body, it is better to
have it in a mainstream market so it can be more easily regulated and
ultimately safer than black/underground markets.

People pushing these laws think if you have a law the activity stops, yet it
only makes it worse and more dangerous. Same with abortion, same with drug
wars, same with abstinence education over sex education, basically any moral
laws beyond civil rights does not work to change behavior and can make it
worse.

For proof of this see alcohol prohibition, the 18th amendment and then the
21st when they realize their mistake. You could also argue the drug wars falls
under that. You could also argue that there would be LESS human trafficking if
prostitution was legal.

~~~
DanBC
> The argument that porn leads to more sex trafficking is a false equivalence

Except in Backpage's case it knowingly facilitated sex trafficing of children,
and they wen't out of their way to frustrate law enforcement efforts to
investigate those crimes.

~~~
chimeracoder
> Except in Backpage's case it knowingly facilitated sex trafficing of
> children, and they wen't out of their way to frustrate law enforcement
> efforts to investigate those crimes.

All of which, if true, is already illegal and always has been. Which is why
Backpage was shut down before FOSTA/SESTA was signed into law, and why there
was already an active case against them, because they already lost immunity
under the CDA.

SESTA and FOSTA have as little to do with sex trafficking as the PATRIOT act
had to do with patriotism.

~~~
dragonwriter
> PATRIOT act had to do with patriotism.

USA PATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools
Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) was labeled as being about
_terrorism_ in the way that SESTA was labeled as being about sex trafficking.

~~~
chimeracoder
> USA PATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate
> Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) was labeled as being
> about terrorism

That's ...exactly what I'm saying? It was nominally "about" patriotism -
patriotism being presented and viewed in contemporary discourse from 2001 as
the binary opposition to terrorism, in more ways than just legislation.

Terrorism is broadly an act of political violence against the state, and
patriotism is broadly a demonstration of support for the state. The PATRIOT
act invoked the rhetoric of one to nominally fight the other, although in
practice that was just an excuse.

------
PrimHelios
Can we stop treating sex workers like second class citizens? Fucking Christ,
getting rid of vetted escort aggregates like Backpage will only increase
trafficking.

FOSTA and SESTA are anti-sex work bills disguised as sex trafficking bills so
that politicians can attack anybody criticizing them.

~~~
gowld
How does Backpage "vet"?

~~~
PrimHelios
"vet" may not have been the best term to use, I'll admit. That said, services
like Backpage are much safer for sex workers to use as opposed to picking up
more random clients on the street.

------
art187
I worked with the defense department on tracking human trafficking for several
years. Backpage was literally the front door to so much trafficking. There are
many steps the site could have taken to stop trafficking but it didn’t. The
consensual sex worker should not rely on a marketplace that allows the abuse
of children and enslaved persons.

~~~
codezero
The consensual sex worker is demonized exactly the same regardless of where
they seek to sell their services.

~~~
art187
This is not true. I realize that Backpage was the platform that had the
largest audience after red book was shut down. If you look at sites in Germany
and Australia the sex worker doesn’t have to hide since laws protect them.
Legalizing sex work is a different path than condoning slavery.

~~~
codezero
You’re right, I should have added “in the US.”

------
tyingq
Searched a bit, and it appears that eccie.net might be doing more volume than
the one or two forums on backpage.

Curious why they are not targeted as well. Maybe better "provider" screening
for underage girls?

~~~
DanBC
Backpage was an active participant. They knew what was happening and
encouraged it.

You can find more info here:
[https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report...](https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report%202017.01.10%20FINAL.pdf)

~~~
justherefortart
Lmfao, you don't know what eccie is then do you?

I trust the Admins of Backpage about as much as I trust the Senate.

------
GCU-Empiricist
Craigslist declined to be the testcase, it will be interesting to see how this
goes with lawmakers specifically targeting the site. Is tinder or other
e-dating forums next?

~~~
kilroy123
Which I would have to say was a smart move on their part.

------
rdl
An outright prostitution marketplace (review site, advertising, transaction
facilitation) seems like one of the most obvious businesses for jurisdictional
arbitrage. It's not illegal in some markets (although I'm not sure which);
unlike an online service which holds assets, there's no real need to identify
or know the site operators. The natural advertisers on such a site are either
porn/adult affiliates or prostitutes themselves, none of which would have
problems contracting with an offshore entity.

Bitcoin today, especially if you couldn't use any of the major wallet
providers, is probably beyond the usability cliff for people in this market,
but it's enough of a closed market that some kind of payment system should be
bootstrapable.

~~~
Natsu
Ask the Pirate Bay how well that jurisdictional arbitrage works out.

~~~
rdl
They didn't have a single jurisdiction where their activity was actually
legal, hence no ability to arbitrage. Prostitution is legal in at least some
places, and it would be easy to find a jurisdiction which, for money, would
permit a prostitution-organizing site which exempted the local jurisdiction.

~~~
Natsu
Not quite true, they had a fair argument that it was legal to begin with, but
significant international pressure put an end to that in relatively short
order.

------
randyrand
Oh no, people paying for sex?! The horror!

------
fipple
Most likely effect of pushing this marketplace underground will be to reduce
its size (total sex transactions per year) but make it much more dangerous for
those who continue to participate (both buyers and sellers).

------
gustavmarwin
Thanks, I guess. Only accelerating the blockchain+ipfs combo.

~~~
bhouston
If authority wants to shut it down, they will figure out a way.

~~~
gustavmarwin
Like thepiratebay? (yes it's down today, still is up most of the time)

~~~
bhouston
Pirate Bay is blocked in most of the world:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countries_blocking_access_to_T...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countries_blocking_access_to_The_Pirate_Bay)

~~~
gustavmarwin
"blocked"

[http://uj3wazyk5u4hnvtk.onion/](http://uj3wazyk5u4hnvtk.onion/)

------
gregoryrueda
Shouldn’t decentralized systems prevent this type of seizure. What’s keeping
someone from building a Blockchain version of backpage?

~~~
paulie_a
> what's keeping someone

Reality, block chain is not the answer to every question

------
mxpxrocks10
We put together this blog post to follow the DNS data:

Backpage.com Seizure and What Happens to Seized Domains
[https://securitytrails.com/blog/backpage-
seize](https://securitytrails.com/blog/backpage-seize)

------
jsoc815
Would guess that the timing isn't coincidental...

[https://www.yahoo.com/news/concerned-evangelical-
christians-...](https://www.yahoo.com/news/concerned-evangelical-christians-
meet-trump-184300704.html)

------
cpr
How about a reality check?

[https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/04/12/the_wo...](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/04/12/the_womens_march_and_backpagecom_a_sordid_story_136784.html)

------
jgalt212
This is horrible. I don't get invited to parties at the Playboy mansion (like
our Dear Leader). How am I supposed to meet sex workers now?

~~~
code_duck
I guess if you were to put out an ad saying that you want to hire people to
have sex with you on video for commercial purposes, that would be OK.

~~~
ryan-allen
Oh, the irony.

------
ryan-allen
To be relaunched offshore in 3.. 2.. 1..

What I found fascinating about backpage was the 'car parts' sales. It was all
blatant drug advertising! 'Bumper for 79 Ford, 420, ice, whatever else you
want'.

------
jonny1
I noticed that backpage.mx and backpage.it are also down. Does this mean the
US can seize non US domain extensions? Or are they down because they
redirected to US site? That is odd.

------
HIPisTheAnswer
Sexual repression is the cornerstone of fascist societies. Source:

Mass Psychology of Fascism, Wilhelm Reich

------
jijji
So what happens when the women (the vast majority of which are choosing this
lifestyle to make money to feed their kids), start posting ads in the for sale
section, the jobs wanted section, etc? They should remove every news paper,
every web site that allows users to post messages, basically every web site on
the internet.

------
LifeLiverTransp
Hooray, conservative upswing on the moral sinus curve that is us-history.
Remember its okay to cheer laws on, that feel right in your guts, as long as
one does not think about the consequences and props up a non-sensical tear-
filled story to build up some outrage shield.

Just look at this incoherent rambling - this copy pasted together nonsense,
that stops making sense the moment your tears no longer flow:
[https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-you-
need...](https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-you-need-to-know-
about-backpage-com-and-sex-trafficking/)

Okay, if every human beeing endavouring in prostitution had its own physical
server, its own craigs-list equivalent of a web-page, marketing only its
services- this would be not covered by the law?

Or is even programming such a p2p service - no matter for what it is used now
a felony?

~~~
madamelic
> Or is even programming such a p2p service - no matter for what it is used
> now a felony?

I've wondered this as well.

I am not big into anything illegal, but I think this increasing censorship is
alarming.

Unfortunately, it has also chilled my desire to help build such services
because they'll just slap me with money laundering or RICO or whatever they
want.

~~~
paulie_a
You need to actually do something incredibly stupid to find yourself in the
position. Sorry to say, your software skills are not that important. When you
cross the line to asking "how can I make your criminal activities easier" you
might have a problem then. Ie that guy that got busted for selling custom
blackberries and admitted they were perfect for selling narcotics

------
drawkbox
Interesting side aspect to the report is that Larkin and Lacey reside in
Arizona and owned the New Times and Village Voice [1], they separated backpage
content from those.

Both the New Times and Village Voice are advocates on issues of civil rights
and they cause lots of problems for authoritarian politicians and
organizations trying to control people's lives [2][3]. Lacey and Larkin Fund
is a huge supporter/funder of groups like ACLU and immigrant groups who donate
heavily to civil right causes[2][6].

Part of the attack on backpage is political in my opinion after looking at the
facts.

> _Backpage started as the literal back page of the New Times, filled with
> classified ads._

> _Lacey and Larkin, former New Times executives who sold off the newspaper
> chain in 2012, retained the lucrative interest in the Backpage website._

Both Larkin and Lacey are big civil right advocates and donate heavily to
civil rights causes, sex rights, gay rights and immigrant rights [2][3] and
the New Times attack politicians for corruption on the regular. After they
attacked Arpaio they had nearly a decade of attacks from him and associated
groups [5]. They did a strange tactic attacking Larkin and Lacey going after
New Times readers.

> _In October 2007, Maricopa County sheriff 's deputies arrested Lacey and
> Larkin on charges of revealing secret grand jury information concerning the
> investigations of the New Times's long-running feud with Maricopa County
> sheriff Joe Arpaio. In July 2004, the New Times published Arpaio's home
> address in the context of a story about his real estate dealings, which the
> County Attorney's office was investigating as a possible crime under Arizona
> state law. A special prosecutor served Village Voice Media with a subpoena
> ordering it to produce "all documents" related to the original real estate
> article, as well as "all Internet web site traffic information" to a number
> of articles that mentioned Arpaio._ [5]

Arpaio tried to get all information on all Phoenix New Times readers and the
paper has been known to be tough on Arpaio overreaches in Arizona on
immigrants and non-conservatives.

> _The prosecutor further ordered Village Voice Media to produce the IP
> addresses of all visitors to the Phoenix New Times website since January 1,
> 2004, as well as which websites those readers had been to prior to visiting.
> As an act of "civil disobedience", Lacey and Larkin published the contents
> of the subpoena on or about October 18, which resulted in their arrests the
> same day.On the following day, the county attorney dropped the case after
> declining to pursue charges against the two._ [5]

> _The special prosecutor 's subpoena included a demand for the names of all
> people who had read the Arpaio story on the newspaper's website. It was the
> revealing of the subpoena information by the New Times which led to the
> arrests. Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas dropped the charges less
> than 24 hours after the two were arrested_ [5]

> _In the weeks following the arrests, members of the Association of
> Alternative Newsweeklies, of which the Phoenix New Times is a member,
> provided links on their websites to places where Arpaio 's address could be
> found. This was done to show solidarity with the Phoenix New Times._[5]

There is a strange section of the Backpage report attacking Lacey and Larkin
for selling it to an outside investor who is offshore. They appear to hide
ownership from them some might say wisely if it is being the whipping boy for
'trafficking' claims when really it is a sex worker ad website [4].

> _Third, despite the reported sale of Backpage to an undisclosed foreign
> company in 2014, the true beneficial owners of the company are James Larkin,
> Michael Lacey, and Carl Ferrer. Acting through a complex chain of domestic
> and international shell companies, Lacey and Larkin lent Ferrer over $600
> million to purchase Backpage from them. But as a result of this deal, Lacey
> and Larkin retain significant financial and operational control, hold almost
> complete debt equity in the company, and still receive large distributions
> of company profits. According to the consultant that structured the deal,
> moreover, this transaction appears to provide no tax benefits. Instead, it
> serves only to obscure Ferrer’s U.S.-based ownership and conceal Lacey and
> Larkin’s continued beneficial ownership._

I'd say part of the attack on backpage is political and shuts down a big
political donor for civil rights and typically liberal aims [2]. It seems them
selling off the New Times, Village Voice and moving ownership overseas from
2012-2014 irked some politicians and authoritarians.

The Backpage report claims of 'trafficking' amounts to simply a profanity
filter that backpage created to PREVENT people posting bad ads or possible
'trafficking' not encouraging it [4].

The report says Backpage 'knowingly concealed evidence of criminality' for
removing bad terms being posted due to a profanity/word filter? They didn't
want people posting ads with these terms because they were bad words, not that
they supported it[4].

That argument is like saying, because a site profanity filter removed racial
slurs that the site was 'knowingly concealing evidence of racism'.

The whole idea was to block it not some devious hiding scheme. Understand
backpage made lots of money, they wouldn't risk it for 'trafficking' and
'child trafficking' is such a reach that it just seems tacked on to the report
with no evidence of it. Of course backpage doesn't want bad words posted to
their ads, doesn't every classified site?

New Times, Village Voice and by association, Backpage, have all been targets
in Arizona by Arpaio, McCain and authoritarian orgs mainly because they are
tough on authoritarian politicians including Trump, it seems there was more to
this attack than what is stated in the report.

The New Times has a history in being pro-civil rights and anti-war.

> _The Phoenix New Times is a free alternative weekly Phoenix, Arizona
> newspaper, published each Thursday. It was the founding publication of New
> Times Media (now Village Voice Media), but The Village Voice is now the
> flagship publication of that company._ [5]

 _The paper was founded in 1970 by a group of students at Arizona State
University, led by Frank Fiore, Karen Lofgren, Michael Lacey, Bruce Stasium,
Nick Stupey, Gayle Pyfrom, Hal Smith, and later, Jim Larkin, as a
counterculture response to the Kent State shootings in the spring of that
year. Gary Brennan played a role in its creation. According to the 20th
Anniversary issue of the New Times, published on May 2, 1990, Fiore suggested
that the anti-war crowd put out its own paper. The first summer issues were
called the Arizona Times and assembled in the staff 's La Crescenta apartments
across from ASU. The Arizona Times was renamed the New Times as the first
college issue went to press in September 1970._[5]

New Times pushes civil rights and personal freedoms including ending marijuana
prohibition and calls out prohibitionists in Arizona, as well as other causes
for personal freedom [7].

New Times has been kicking up dust on authoritarianism since the 70s. Lacey
and Larkin also won a lawsuit against Arizona as recently as 2013 for false
arrest which is still used to attack them [5].

> _In December 2013, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors agreed to pay
> Phoenix New Times founders Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin $3.75 million to
> settle their false arrest lawsuit against the county defendants._

Take a look at their civil rights fund to see what I mean about how they take
authority orgs/politicians to task and encourage civil rights [2]. They have
been trying to take down the New Times, Village Voice Media and Backpage for
nearly a decade and a half [5]. The whole report on Backpage, and their owners
Lacey and Larkin who started New Times and Village Voice, might be a massive
ad hominem [4]. It also appears to be an attack on owners of alternative media
influence and funding for civil rights matters.

My guess is Lacey and Larkin, civil rights fighters that seem similar to Larry
Flynt[2], won't let this just happen and they'll fight it. Most of the attacks
on Backpage, and previously the New Times and Village Voice, attacks their
character via ad hominems because they are causing trouble for authoritarians
and pushing alternative news media funding, my guess is this takedown of
Backpage is no different.

[1]
[https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2018/04/0...](https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2018/04/06/fbi-
raids-backpage-founders-sedona-home-website-down/494538002/)

[2]
[http://www.laceyandlarkinfronterafund.org/](http://www.laceyandlarkinfronterafund.org/)

[3] [http://www.phoenixmag.com/valley-news/i-fought-the-law-
and.h...](http://www.phoenixmag.com/valley-news/i-fought-the-law-and.html)

[4]
[https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report...](https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report%202017.01.10%20FINAL.pdf)

[5]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_New_Times](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_New_Times)

[6]
[https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2017/0...](https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2017/04/20/gop-
pressures-kyrsten-sinema-on-backpage-donations/100683704/)

[7] [http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/here-are-the-
prohibition...](http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/here-are-the-
prohibitionists-whove-donated-10-000-or-more-to-keep-marijuana-a-felony-in-
arizona-8794628)

------
samsung123
lol where are all the male politicians going to turn to know?

------
MentallyRetired
This is akin to seizing a house in which trafficking occurs.

~~~
DanBC
It really isn't. It's akin to seizing a house when the owner tells the
criminal gangs how to advertise to evade law enforcement attention.

Backpage knew exactly what was happening (the drugging, kidnapping, and rape
of children for money being advertised on backpage), and they actively
encouraged it.

[https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report...](https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report%202017.01.10%20FINAL.pdf)

------
of
weird, backpage.com is still up for me.

~~~
GCU-Empiricist
Try looking at any of the boards. The city listing of marketplaces is up but
that is as far as it goes.

~~~
bhouston
I think you have caches in your browser or on your network. When I visit, it
is blocked on the main page.

------
googlemike
On the whole, this looks like a positive step in the right direction. What I
wonder is how much effort did the US Justice dept / local authorities put into
getting backpage.com to pull these kinds of listings? Craigslist seems to have
cleaned itself up well.

~~~
GCU-Empiricist
>Craigslist seems to have cleaned itself up well.

Removing everything is cleaning up well? By the same analogy you should remove
your toilet, permanently, from your house to flush it.

~~~
d1zzy
Also remove your penis since it can be used for naughty things.

