McDougall, meanwhile, drew a distinction between the criticism from elected officials such as district attorneys and attorneys general, and what she said is support from front-line police who combat human trafficking.
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations had sought the documents as part of its investigation into human trafficking over the Internet. Supreme Court this month refused to block a congressional subpoena seeking documents on how Backpage screens ads for human trafficking. “I firmly believe what we are doing is part of the solution and in the best interest for the victims,” said McDougall, the Backpage attorney.īackpage will have to prove that point after the U.S.
Police now largely consider the prostitutes to be victims and offer them services and the opportunity to redirect their lives.īackpage has said it scans for 25,000 terms and code words linked to prostitution, sex trafficking and child exploitation, and it reports about 400 suspicious ads every month to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They’ll look for photographs that appear to depict minors and contact the advertiser to set up an undercover sting. Police department vice squads scour Backpage ads, looking for cases to pursue. “There’s no doubt what it is for,” he said, while adding, “Just because some (ads) are illegal doesn’t mean they all are.” With the First Amendment protecting commercial speech, Chemerinsky said, law enforcement’s best alternative would be for police to target individual pimps, one lurid listing at a time.
The judges ruled that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act prohibits treating an online service provider such as Backpage “as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”Ĭhemerinsky said the ruling that puts the onus on the advertiser to comply with anti-prostitution laws means “It’s going to be very difficult to stop things like Backpage from being able to have the ads.” Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against Backpage brought by three women who had appeared in escort ads posted by their pimps. “To me that is really just a crime that is so easy to access for both the john and the traffickers,” Ramos said.Īny legislative action would likely involve Congress attempting to amend the Communications Decency Act, an effort that would be sure to touch off a constitutional fight, said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Irvine School of Law.Ī court ruling in March strengthened Backpage’s legal position. In August, detectives said they broke up a ring trafficking enslaved Chinese nationals that operated in nine counties, including San Bernardino and Riverside, and advertised on Backpage. Just last week, the San Bernardino County Human Trafficking Task Force arrested Marquell Deante “Kell the King” Stewart, who investigators said forced juvenile girls to work for him and advertised their availability on Backpage. Since the letter signed by all 50 attorneys general was sent to Backpage, there have been some successes in prosecuting the pimps who place the ads, which dance around the edges of the law by withholding most mentions of price for “candy,” “massages,” and “service.” 16): California judge rejects charges involving escort site Backpageįive years after the National Association of Attorneys General urged classified advertisement website to remove its “escort” listings, law enforcement officials appear no closer to realizing their goal of eliminating what they consider thinly disguised solicitations for prostitution.