
Backpage raided, CEO arrested on sex-trafficking charges - Overtonwindow
http://www.apnewsarchive.com/2016/State-agents-have-raided-the-Dallas-headquarters-of-adult-classified-ad-portal-Backpage-and-arrested-Chief-Executive-Officer-Carl-Ferrer/id-2d89a01c2ff14106beeb7570747c46af
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strict9
At first thought this was a bogus article on a bogus site. Pixellated logo,
tiny text, design that looked about 7-8 years old.

Click the main AP logo in top left, and you're taken to a blank page that says
"AP has suspended this beta product."

But it's definitely a legit story and seems like they have something pretty
damning. If he intentionally chose not to act in the face of the knowledge of
what was happening (as it certainly appears), I'll be rooting big time for
government on this one.

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zombees
I'm not sure what side I stand on here but this definitely seems very
excessive. It's also worth noting that this has been going on for a while:
[https://techcrunch.com/2012/10/06/sex-trafficking-on-
backpag...](https://techcrunch.com/2012/10/06/sex-trafficking-on-backpage-com-
much-ado-about-statistically-nothing/)

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imaginenore
It's ridiculous that they charge the owner of an ad board for the ads that got
posted. Ads for "escort services", which are legal.

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alasdair_
They are not being charged for allowing people to post ads for "escort
services", they are being charged for knowing about sex trafficking and
facilitating it in order to profit from it.

The facilitating part of it is key. If you are FedEx and deliver a package of
drugs, that is not your fault, but if you offer a special service where, for a
large fee, you'll bag any package in coffee grounds and srap the outside of it
in cleaner to reduce the smell, you'll probably be charged with facilitation
of a crime.

If you own a hotel where children are regularly being raped and it has been
brought to your attention many times and you still refuse not to stop offering
the special room in your basement with extra soundproofing to single men who
show up with children, that's facilitation too.

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imaginenore
By that logic the owners of Google should be charged with thousands of crimes.
They are aware that you can find all kinds of illegal things through Google,
and they financially benefit from it.

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meira
The owners of Google __should __be charged with thousands of crimes. And Mark
Zuckerberg too.

