New York, NY|Sex-Trafficking|Tuesday, April 3, 2012Add Comment
Speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves – the victims of the sex trafficking web site Backpage.com – the Rev. Katharine Henderson of New York’s Auburn Seminary told a crow of 150 who attended a rally outside the Village Voice Media's New York Headquarters:
“As a mother and member of the clergy, I am outraged by Village Voice Media’s continued refusal to shut down Backpage.com’s adult section, even after being confronted with evidence that girls and teens have been advertised for sex on the site.”
Village Voice Pimps|Monday, May 14, 2012Add Comment
By: Anderson Cooper, CNN
Another “Keeping Them Honest” report about backpage.com, the leading web site for adult service ads. Now last week, we reported on the growing push to shut down the web site’s adult services section where law officials say underage girls are sold for sex. That was on Friday.
On Monday, U.S. Congressman Robert Turner from New York introduced a House resolution calling for Village Boys Media Holding, which owns backpage.com to shut down the ads immediately. Pressure on the web site has been building for months.
US classifieds website Backpage.com has become one of the primary destinations on the internet to buy sex. Hundreds of advertisements are posted each day by both pimps and prostitutes.
With the advent of the internet, prostitution moved off the street and onto the web, presenting a new set of challenges for law enforcement and sex abuse watchdogs.
Two women were charged with prostitution on Thanksgiving after Myrtle Beach Police say they nabbed them in a sting operation stemming from a website advertisement.
The incident began on Wednesday night when police contacted one of the women who was advertising in a publication called Backpage.com in a section called “Myrtle Beach Escorts,” police said in a report.
California will toughen its penalties for human trafficking and its monitoring of sex offenders under an initiative approved Tuesday.
Prison sentences for human trafficking will more than double under Proposition 35, which imposes life sentences for the sex-trafficking of children. It also requires sex offenders to provide email addresses and other Internet identifiers to law enforcement.
The initiative was mainly funded by former Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly, who lost a bid for state attorney general in 2010.
