TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: human trafficking

  • craigslist denies responsibility again

    Cops trail Craigslist ads to sex offenders:

    This is an article from The Tennessean about craigslist prostitution in their area. Nothing new that hasn’t been covered before. But once again craigslist is paying nothing but lip service to the actual problem. Once again let’s hear from craigslist’s mouthpiece Susan MacTavish Best.

    Susan MacTavish Best, a Craigslist spokeswoman, says the misuse of the site for illegal purposes is unacceptable and that a series of new measures is being undertaken to reduce the number of erotic services ads by at least 80 percent.

    “Unlike the weekly newspapers, telephone yellow pages and numerous websites large and small that make a profitable business out of ‘erotic services’ ads,” she wrote in an e-mail, “Craigslist earns no revenue whatsoever from such ads.”

    Again I say if it’s so unacceptable to craigslist why don’t they do away with the erotic services section? Personally, I think that newspapers and phone books shouldn’t be advertising for hookers either but at least with those mediums a paper trail is left if an investigation is warranted. A paper trail is a lot easier to follow than an electronic one. Out of all the times that you claim to assist law enforcement how many illegal acts on craigslist have gone unchecked? It’s almost like craigslist is proud of the fact that they help facilitate prostitution and child prostitution.

    The fact that they claim they have no responsibility in such matters is a joke.

    So Ms. Best, are you proud of what craigslist does?

  • craigslist blows $1.6M on UC Berkeley

    craigslist blows $1.6M on UC Berkeley

    Craigslist Foundation Donates $1.6M To UC Berkeley:

    Craigslist, the popular community networking Web site, has donated $1.6 million to the University of California, Berkeley, to help create the first endowed professorship at its 5-year-old Berkeley Center for New Media.

    The mission of the center is to advance new media in the public interest, and to explore the effect of new media on culture, said engineering Professor Ken Goldberg, who was appointed director of the center in July.

    I wonder how far that money would have gone towards the effort to stop the human trafficking that their site facilitates.

  • The victimless crime strikes again

    The victimless crime strikes again

    Man Faces Federal Charges in a Sex Ring in Minnesota:

    41-year-old Liqing Liu, a Chinese national living in Minnesota, is facing federal charges of transporting women across state lines to engage in prostitution. He ran several massage parlors, some of which that advertised on craigslist, with women that were basically slaves to him…

    Sgt. Grant Snyder of the Minneapolis Police Department, a lead investigator, said the women, all Chinese or Korean, were prohibited from leaving the place of business, kept under video surveillance, and had their passports and other forms of identification confiscated.

    The women’s poverty, language barriers and immigration status were used against them, Sergeant Snyder said, and the authorities said they were treating the women as crime victims and not criminals.

    The authorities described the patrons as mostly white upper-middle class men between 35 and 55, including doctors and business owners. They usually paid $80 a session, which the prostitutes were obligated to hand over to Mr. Liu, the police said.

    The women could negotiate with customers for more money, the police said, but their earnings were marginal at best; one illegal South Korean immigrant mentioned in the criminal complaint had to pay Mr. Liu $40 a day for room and board. He booked her airfare, later deducting it from her prostitution wages, the police said.

    Even if prostitution was legal, there would still be scumbags like Liu forcing women like these into sex slavery.

  • More Tarheel shenanigans in the Big Apple

    More Tarheel shenanigans in the Big Apple

    Craigslist pimp from Queens busted:

    Carlton “Privilege” Simons, 25, of Queens, and Shernett “Divine” Reevey, 24, of Charlotte, N.C., were convicted late Friday of luring the teenage student from her home with promises of money and introductions to rap celebrities.

    Once in New York, however, the 18-year-old woman was physically and verbally abused, forced to pose for provocative photographs later posted to Craigslist and to prostitute herself at hotels and at a “track,” or a location frequented by sex workers and their customers from Lexington to Park Avenue on 48th Street.

    Still think prostitution is a victimless crime?

  • MySpace pimp facing federal charges

    MySpace pimp facing federal charges

    Feds hit MySpace pimp suspect with child sex trafficking charge:

    I’ve posted about Malvin Parker Jr. before. He’s the guy from California who was arrested for allegedly pimping out an underage girl he groomed on MySpace. Well, he just found himself in a whole new world of trouble. He’s now looking at 10 to life on federal charges of sex-trafficking children.

    The federal government has an interest in the case because Parker allegedly enticed the victim, a 16-year-old runaway from Washington state, across state lines through MySpace, a social networking site. Federal law prohibits using “force, fraud or coercion” to get a minor across state or national boundaries to engage in a “commercial sex act.”

    As the kids say these days…Oh snap!!!

  • Sobering stats

    Sobering stats

    Crackdown on S.J. prostitution turns to the Web:

    This article from a Northern California newspaper has some pretty sobering statistics about craigslist prostitution.

    Determining just how many prostitutes are operating on the Web is tricky. The erotic services section of Craigslist’s Stockton-area section has had nearly 5,115 posts since Aug. 13, many of them duplicates. Some have been posted by those who offer services for free.

    For reference, there were 998 posts for furniture for sale by owner in that period.

    The trend locally mirrors what’s happening in the nation’s largest cities. Craigslist erotic services postings totaled 97,243 in New York, 27,174 for Los Angeles and 7,435 for Chicago in a similar timeframe.

    craigslist’s resident mouthpiece had the usual to say.

    Craigslist relies on its users to report posts that are deemed inappropriate, wrote Susan MacTavish Best, a spokeswoman for the Web site, in an e-mail response to questions.

    The Web site’s staff is not legally obligated to monitor the millions of posts it receives each month, but it does remove prohibited content – anything unlawful or pornographic, according to MacTavish Best.

    Police occasionally come knocking about posts.

    “We are contacted by law enforcement from time to time,” MacTavish Best wrote, “and Craigslist cooperates fully with the police and other authorities.”

    Yet, they keep their erotic services section up and running and continue to facilitate in all forms of prostitution and possibly human trafficking.

  • More on craigslist trafficking

    More on craigslist trafficking

    Web driving human trafficking:

    Our favorite website has been mentioned in the same breath as human trafficking once again.

    There was a human trafficking conference in Minnesota and this is what someone in the know had to say.

    Heather Weyker, a 10-year veteran of the St. Paul Police Department, had this to say.

    “We’re on Craig’s List constantly, looking for girls who look young,” Weyker said at the conference, describing the popular online classifieds site. “They always have captors. How many 13-year-old girls think, ‘Hey, I think I’ll put myself on Craig’s List.”‘

    And this is what you’re supporting when you use a craigslist or any other kind of prostitute.

    They don’t have the option to quit their “work” without suffering physical or sexual punishment, conference participants said. They can’t even walk out the door unaccompanied by one of their captors.

    “We’re not just talking about illegal aliens or about people who are disadvantaged,” said U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose. “These are also girls from the suburbs. It can affect anyone.”

    Victimless crime, my ass.

  • Unlocking iPhones? Banned. Prostitution? Still ok

    Unlocking iPhones? Banned. Prostitution? Still ok

    Craigslist Users Crack Down on IPhone Unlockers:

    Now let’s see. It seems that craigslist has no problem with prostitution and drugs being sold on their site. However, advertising your services to unlock Apple’s iPhone seems taboo.

    This morning, we told you about Jef, an iPhone unlocker in New York who was selling his services on Craigslist over the weekend. After Jef saw his posts selling a quick iPhone unlock procedure flagged and removed from the site, he decided to offer the service for a trade rather than cash. See “Brooklynite Offers IPhone Unlocking In Exchange for Free Bagels.”

    Jef’s “trade me” post was then flagged and removed. So, he wrote another post offering the same service for free, only to see that one also flagged and removed by the community.

    Most of the posters are being flagged as scalpers or spammers. There’s nothing in Craigslist’s Terms of Use which says you can’t sell unlocking services. There’s also nothing stating that you can’t offer an unlocked phone at a premium price. But look at the FAQ and you’ll see that reselling for a premium is considered scalping, an activity which might get you flagged.

    Want some hookers and blow? No problem, we have all sorts of selections. Want an iPhone unlocked? Nope, sorry, can’t help you. That’s illegal. Craigslist really is the Bizarro World of the internet.

  • Pimped his handicapped sister for sex on craigslist

    Pimped his handicapped sister for sex on craigslist

    Man accused of advertising mentally challenged sister on craigslist for sex:

    I wish I was making this one up.

    A Las Vegas man is under arrest accused of sexually assaulting his mentally challenged sister and attempting to offer her for sex out on the internet. 34-year-old Rodney Nickerson is being held on $800,000 bail.

    According to a police report, Nickerson admitted to putting a photo of his 36-year-old sister on craigslist website. The ad featuring his sister apparently asked men if they wanted to have sex with her.

    The report states Nickerson also fondled his sister and had another man touch her as well.

    Whatever jail time this scumbag receives will never be enough.

  • It’s not craigslist’s fault

    It’s not craigslist’s fault

    Legal experts absolve craigslist on sex ads:

    A fancy lawyerin’ type person says that craigslist is not responsible for their ads for illegal stuff like drugs and prostitution.

    In the wake of an FBI raid on the home of a Sacramento photographer for allegedly posting photos of underage prostitutes on craigslist, experts said the huge online classified site has no responsibility for policing such behavior.

    In fact, federal law specifically exempts online services from such liability, said Lauren Gelman, associate director of the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford University Law School.

    Gelman said the federal Communications Decency Act, passed in 1996, exempts online services such as craigslist, America Online and Yahoo from liability for the content that their users post.

    “If craigslist was accused of committing a criminal act, they would be liable,” Gelman said. “But for hosting pictures, there wouldn’t be any liability.”

    Well, isn’t that special?

    That still doesn’t change it from being a wretched hive of scum and villainy. They may not be legally responsible but how about, I know this is a foreign concept to most, morally responsible?

    It’s only a matter of time before one of these girls gets killed, if one hasn’t been already. Not to mention the fact that these ads are advertising things that are illegal.

    I know, you think prostitution and drugs should be legal. That’s fine. If they’re ever legalized, we won’t have to have this conversation. Until then, in my mind, craigslist is an accessory to drugs, prostitution, and God only knows what else.