Tag: prostitution

  • Busting the safety myth

    Busting the safety myth

    As hookers move from streets to Net, cops follow:

    For those of you who think that prostitutes are safer on craigslist than they are on the streets, I present you this quote…

    Some prostitutes believe they’re safer advertising on Web sites, but they’re not, said Julie, a former prostitute who asked that her last name not be used. When Julie began using the Internet for prostitution about two years ago, she tried to screen her customers, but responding to one led to her being raped and robbed, she said.

    “People can tell you anything on the Internet and they do,” said Julie, who is 23 and became a prostitute at 17. “What better place to get a woman if you want to do something to her? I would meet these guys and no one else would see them. At least if I was on the street, other people would be around and see me get into a car or something.”

    Not that craigslist cares. I think their mouthpiece has a macro button that just spits out the following…

    “Craigslist is a user-moderated site, and our users flag off ads that they feel are inappropriate for the craigslist community,” Susan MacTavish Best said in a statement. “Users are really speedy about flagging off problematic ads, and we’ve found that to be the most efficient and fastest way to get such ads off the site.”

    And again, I say that your normal craigslist users who use it as a citywide garage sale aren’t going into the erotic services section. And the people who are sure as hell aren’t going to flag any ads.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • The NY Times on craigslist crimes

    The NY Times on craigslist crimes

    Law Enforcement Targets Prostitution on Craigslist:

    It’s nice to see the NY Times write a sizzling expose about craigslist prostitution. Never mind that I’ve been writing about it for the past year. However, this article does have some merit as it has some great quotes.

    First, let’s hear from craigslist president Jim Buckmaster…

    Law enforcement officials have accused Craigslist of enabling prostitution. But the company’s president, Jim Buckmaster, said its 24-member staff cannot patrol the multitude of constantly changing listings — some 20 million per month — and counts on viewers to flag objectionable ads, which are promptly removed.

    “We do not want illegal activity on the site,” he said. Asked whether the company supported the police’s placing decoy ads on Craigslist, Mr. Buckmaster said: “We don’t comment on the specifics” of law enforcement.

    Like I’ve said before, the problem with users policing the ads is that people who use craigslist for normal items aren’t going to venture into the erotic services section and people using the erotic services section sure as hell aren’t going to flag the ads.

    Now, let’s hear from a pro-prostitute advocate…

    Tracy Quan, a member of the advocacy group Prostitutes of New York and author of the autobiographical novel “Diary of a Married Call Girl” (Harper Perennial, 2006), acknowledged that “the Internet became a virtual street for people in the sex industry,” but said that “the police are as inventive and as wily as sex workers are.” She said that the stings amounted to entrapment of consenting adults, and that “it seems like an enormous waste of time resources by authoritarian busybodies.”

    Translation: I think I’m above the law, so I’m going to complain about police doing their job.

    And again from Mr. Buckmaster…

    Law enforcement officials ask why Craigslist even includes Erotic Services among its 191 categories. Mr. Buckmaster, the company president, said the site created that category “at the request of our users” for legitimate massage, escorts and exotic dancers. In an e-mail interview, he said that the police had praised the company’s cooperation, though he did not give examples.

    Letting the inmates run the asylum is never a good idea.

    And for those of you who think that prostitution is no big deal, I leave you with this quote…

    The police say the focus on such misconduct is worthwhile because prostitution is often linked to other crimes involving drugs, weapons, physical abuse and exploitation of minors and immigrants.

    But I guess you’re ok with all of that.

  • 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.

  • What Craig said today

    What Craig said today

    Prostitutes Using Craigslist To Solicit For Sex:

    This is just another local news article about prostitution being advertised on craigslist. Once again, Craig himself deflects the blame.

    CBS13 went straight to the source in San Francisco to find out why you can find sex for sale, right next to an easy bake oven in Sacramento.

    Pallas: Clearly prostitution is illegal, you know prostitutes are selling sex on your website.
    Craig: There are prostitution ads on our site and people who care flag them and they do get removed but the message from our community overwhelmingly is live and let live message, people’s priorities are elsewhere.

    Craig Newmark makes it clear the user driven, open forum, free speech philosophy behind/foundation of Craigslist puts what the customer wants first and he argues very few are complaining.

    “People tell us to prioritize scammers and we’ve had very few complaints about prostitution…it’s something like one out of every one hundred thousand users or one out of a million,” says Newmark, “I want ’em off our site.”

    So why not shut it down? He sites two major reasons.

    “We wanted to draw away suspect ads from more on conventional sections like women seeking men, another is we wanted to offer legitimate erotic services to people who want them to give people a break,” says Newmark.

    Again, users flag what they suspect is illegal.

    “Right now we have overwhelming feedback from our community. They don’t want us to monitor the site, not in that way. People are happy with the flagging mechanism,” says Newmark.

    Newmark says his company won’t police the site because he might be held legally liable for what people post and he doesn’t want to get sued.

    That’s the bottom line right there. He doesn’t want to get sued. So, rather than worrying about his user base getting robbed, assaulted, or killed, he’s more worried about lining his own pocket.

    So since Craig makes money off of craigslist which provides traffickers with a place to advertise, doesn’t that make him the world’s largest pimp?

  • Memphis discovers craigslist sex ads

    Memphis discovers craigslist sex ads

    Selling Sex Online:

    It seems that the Memphis media has heard about craigslist hookers. In their blistering expose they inform a local busybody about the existence of craigslist prostitution and, of course, he’s outraged about it. The article even goes so far as to call the people placing ads “perverts”…

    One Memphis man said he would make a generous offer to a mother and daughter who would have sex with him.

    Some perverts bold enough to post their phone number on their ad. We responded anonymously to a couple of the ads and got responses back within five minutes.

    All in all, this article is quite humorous for its naivety, but this part I found kind of disturbing…

    We sent an email to the CEO of Craigslist to ask why these ads are allowed on the website when it clearly states in their terms of use pornographic pictures or messages are not allowed on the site. Jim Buckmaster never emailed us back.

    So if it’s against craigslist’s TOS, why do they allow it to continue?

  • 100 craigslist johns busted…ah ah ah!

    100 craigslist johns busted…ah ah ah!

    Prostitution sting leads to nearly 100 arrests:

    Rented furnishings and hidden cameras were among the props Seattle police vice detectives used to arrest nearly 100 men who showed up at a ritzy downtown condo in the past two weeks expecting to pay for sex.

    Nearly three-fourths of the men who were arrested on suspicion of patronizing a prostitute responded to postings in the “erotic services” category on craigslist, the free online community where people can search for apartments, jobs, used cars, friends and dates. The rest answered escort ads found in the back pages of The Stranger and Seattle Weekly.

    Vice detectives then turned their attention to men who, instead of cruising the streets for prostitutes, respond to online and newspaper ads looking for sex, he said. To make their ads believable, Sano said, female detectives were photographed in flirty poses, phone lines were established and appointments were set up.

    When a man arrived at the rented condo, he was greeted at the door and ushered inside, Sano said. As other detectives hid in a bedroom watching live footage from hidden cameras, the female detective, posing as “a provider,” would engage in a conversation about sex and collect her fee, he said.

    Once money had changed hands, Sano said, other officers would then walk out and arrest the man.

    All but five of the men were interviewed, cited and released: One man, a registered sex offender, was booked into the King County Jail for violating conditions of his release, three others were booked on drug violations and another on a weapons charge, Sano said.

    Arrestees have included “bank presidents, state employees, business owners, construction workers, physicians and surgeons,” Sano said.

    And here’s what Craig himself had to say…

    Craig Newmark, who founded craigslist in San Francisco in 1995, said he has heard that “prostitution is a significant problem” on the Web site and noted that craigslist has built a “top-notch” reputation for responding to complaints of illegal activity.

    As for the local craigslist review board where men discuss the sexual exploits they paid for, Newmark said those who operate the site are improperly using the craigslist name and that legal action is being discussed by the Seattle-based law firm representing his site.

    Craigslist, which is now available in some 300 cities worldwide, doesn’t monitor what people post.

    “We are a democracy … and we find we can trust our community,” he said. “I don’t know what the situation is like in Seattle, but we would prefer that [police] go after violent criminals or crooked congressmen.”

    I’d prefer that my local police would go after all of them. This is not a debate on whether or not prostitution should be legal. Right now, it’s illegal in most of the country.

    When prostitution moves into a neighborhood, it’s not long before the drugs move in, then the violent criminals. Cracking down on prostitution is stopping the flood of crime before it even starts.

  • Suburban craigslist pimp on the run

    Suburban craigslist pimp on the run

    I-TEAM: Police search for suspect in Craigslist prostitution ring:

    BOULDER – Jeffrey Bagnall had a plan, detectives say: to run the most successful prostitution ring in the country.

    It’s always nice to have goals.

    Toward that end, the 35-year-old Bagnall carefully logged expenses such as cell phones and room rentals, brainstormed marketing ideas on how to lure older male clients and consulted industry advice from books, such as, “Pimp Game, The Instructional Guide.”

    For more than a year, Bagnall was on his way, police said, advertising for free on Craigslist and pocketing about $2,000 a month from his 30 percent cut from the prostitutes who worked for him.

    According to police, that’s when Bagnall moved his base of operations into a quiet, close-knit East Boulder cul-de-sac – and his plan collapsed.

    Now, Boulder police have issued a warrant for Bagnall’s arrest on charges that include pimping and keeping a place of prostitution.

    While authorities search for Bagnall, who has apparently skipped town, they are quick to credit the townhome’s residents for their part in bringing down his business.

    On Aug. 24, undercover detectives obtained a search warrant for Bagnall’s home, finding cash, empty condom boxes, child pornography,, notes documenting his business plan and ledgers of his clients’ names and phone numbers, police said.

    This week, a judge issued a warrant for Bagnall’s arrest. His former neighbors said they couldn’t be happier.

    Anyone with information on Jeffrey Bagnall is encouraged to call the Boulder Police Department at 303-441-3333.

    Don’t ever try bringing that stuff into suburbia. Short of pitchforks and torches, the neighbors will run you out.