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Backpage Raided, CEO Arrested on Sex-Trafficking Charges

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151–160 of 308 posts

Re: Backpage Raided, CEO Arrested on Sex-Trafficking Charges

#151
post #82

Why is it that in such cases, the government reaches for the CEO right away; but when Wells Fargo employees open millions of fraudulent accounts, it's not the CEO's fault? If I were to commit identity theft (which is basically what the WF employees did), then I would be facing jail time; why hasn't anyone in WF been charged with criminal fraud yet? Why not the CEO?

99% of Wells Fargo's income was not coming from these fake accounts.

It is fine to steal as long as it is only a small percentage of your income?

Re: Backpage Raided, CEO Arrested on Sex-Trafficking Charges

#152
post #46

This was no more a prostitution website than Craigslist, before Craigslist struck a deal with attorney generals of several states to shut down its Adult Classifieds section [1]. In fact, given Craigslist scale it had many more prostitution (and probably child prostitution) ads. The question is: why Craig and this CEO were given such disparate treatment? Because the times have changed, or because Craigslist was much b…

It's possible that the government talked to both. Craigslist walked away from hosting that service, and Backpage did not? I'm just speculating, but the Craigslist thing was a while ago, and should have at least been seen by others as a message to get out.

Re: Backpage Raided, CEO Arrested on Sex-Trafficking Charges

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the sleazy slimeballs in the anti-trafficking movement Defending pimps and johns while calling anti-prostitution activists "sleazy slimeballs." I love it.

Am I correct in interpreting that as you suggesting that anti-prostitution activists did not, in fact, claim that Amnesty International were making things up when they pointed out the negative outcomes of "the Nordic model" for sex workers, the people you're claiming it was supposed to protect?

Amnesty International relied on a flawed and now-retracted study that initially said violence against women had increased in Norway since banning the purchasing of sex, when in reality it had not.

That is basically making things up.

Re: Backpage Raided, CEO Arrested on Sex-Trafficking Charges

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The goal is to eradicate sex work for reasons of "morality," exactly how the slavery abolition movement had no other reasons besides "morality."

OK. Exactly what about sex work is immoral, when the sex worker can choose their clients? Is it that sex is inherently something special that other work isn't?

The sex workers aren't the ones whose moral choice is in question here; the sex purchasers are the ones who should feel shame and whose behavior is for society to condone or to curtail. Slaves weren't the bad actors in that peculiar institution, either.

Re: Backpage Raided, CEO Arrested on Sex-Trafficking Charges

#155
post #91

Why is it that in such cases, the government reaches for the CEO right away; but when Wells Fargo employees open millions of fraudulent accounts, it's not the CEO's fault? If I were to commit identity theft (which is basically what the WF employees did), then I would be facing jail time; why hasn't anyone in WF been charged with criminal fraud yet? Why not the CEO?

I think Matt Levine's take on this is right on: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-09-09/wells-far... . Senior management wanted employees to do REAL cross-selling to make money, but the metrics were set so high that employees turned to fake accounts to meet the standard. The fake accounts did not benefit the bank in any substantial way: So that's about 2.1 million fake deposit and credit-card accounts, of…

I would have an easier time believing this if the company had not retaliated against people who tried to complain internally.

Re: Backpage Raided, CEO Arrested on Sex-Trafficking Charges

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have a perfectly good approach already; it's called the Nordic model. Arrest johns, not prostitutes. And there are thousands of former sex workers that will give you an earful about what you think you know about prostitution and what prostitutes think.

Ah, the Nordic model... The country in the middle bans prostitution and offloads it to the neighboring countries. I have yet to see any macro advantage on it, besides a little reduction and a lot of smug people feeling better about themselves. A while ago I spent quite some time researching the prostitution thing, trying to make up my mind about it. I remember the UN report on global trafficking[1] being specially en…

> if all Europe were to do that the consequences would probably be really dire for a lot of women

Yes, because people who purchase sex are a scourge to women everywhere.

Re: Backpage Raided, CEO Arrested on Sex-Trafficking Charges

#157
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If selling fruit was the shopkeeper's free choice, they would not need to be paid for fruit. This sentence has structurally the same form. If you think it's ridiculous, it can only be because you think there is something special about sex - i.e. it is sacred in some way. And thus your position actually doesn't relate to free will. I think you're very confused. Your statements aren't logically consistent and I have to…

> This sentence has structurally the same form. If you think it's ridiculous, it can only be because you think there is something special about sex > As Dworkin wrote a long time ago, "in prostitution, no woman stays whole. It is impossible to use a human body in the way women's bodies are used in prostitution and to have a whole human being at the end of it, or in the middle of it, or close to the beginning of it. I…

[deleted]

Re: Backpage Raided, CEO Arrested on Sex-Trafficking Charges

#158
It's important to understand that this arrest is happening in concert with a major operation to disrupt sex trafficking rings outside of Backpage specifically.

http://www.startribune.com/feds-to-announce-bust-of-global-s...

Neither article mentions specific coordination, but considering the arrests happened on the same day, I'm imagining that there must have been some coordination in the investigations.

Re: Backpage Raided, CEO Arrested on Sex-Trafficking Charges

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have a perfectly good approach already; it's called the Nordic model. Arrest johns, not prostitutes. And there are thousands of former sex workers that will give you an earful about what you think you know about prostitution and what prostitutes think.

Every model has trade-offs, the trade-off of the Nordic model is that clients are less willing to disclose information which makes it more difficult for sex workers to weed out violent troublemakers. Implementing the Nordic model would in some cases undo some recent advances in identifying and blocking these ugly clients and result in some workers being violently abused or even possibly killed. Don't go thinking ther…

> Implementing the Nordic model would in some cases undo some recent advances in identifying and blocking these ugly clients and result in some workers being violently abused or even possibly killed.

Sorry to break the news to you: all clients are ugly clients, since they're all just fine with the idea that people's bodies are something to be bought and sold.

Re: Backpage Raided, CEO Arrested on Sex-Trafficking Charges

#160
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's condescending to women to tell them that what they choose to do with their bodies is not their free choice. It's deeply patronising and actually an anti female argument. I think the actual moral problem with commercial sex is that it commodifies something that some people see as sacred. I think it turns on one's view of government as moral guardian vs individual liberty. Governments aren't usually very good mora…

If it was their free choice, they wouldn't need to be paid for it, and they could be as selective or as indiscriminate as they like with partner selection and frequency. It's not about anything sacred (unless you consider basic human rights sacred, I guess). But don't take my word for it, take former sex workers' word for it: http://www.educating-voices.com This is feminism 101 stuff; even if you want to take the "ch…

> If it was their free choice, they wouldn't need to be paid for it,

By this argument, paid work is slavery.

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