CNN's argument against Backpage.com
 

This story from CNN has me pretty heated tonight. CNN is making the argument that Backpage.com somehow facilitates child exploitation, child prostitution, etc. Who are the idiots that write these articles, anyway? I thought "news" wasn't supposed to have an agenda. This news clearly does.

Backpage.com does not facilitate child exploitation any more than your local shopping mall facilitates child exploitation, assisting sexual predators in choose their victim for the day.

Backpage.com does not facilitate child exploitation any more than Facebook does. Why are they not running a story on Facebook?

Backpage.com does not facilitate child exploitation anymore than AT&T does, by allowing a predator to text or call a minor.

What this CNN article and the Attorney Generals are not saying is their issues with Backpage.com or Erotic Services / Adult Gigs has absolutely nothing to do with child exploitation. It has everything to do with the religious right knowing that a good percentage of the porn industry's talent came from CL, and is now coming from Backpage.com.

If anyone is exploiting minors it's these self-serving fucks who singing their siren song of child exploitation as a justification to wipe porn off the internet.

If they want to curb the issue, stop the problem at the source... Backpage.com has nothing to do with it.

Underage sex trade still flourishing online

CNN Presents "Selling the Girl Next Door" this Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on CNN.

TiVo set! Wo0t! Wo0t!

I don't see why these sites (especially CL instead of closing sections) wouldnt just implement some basic age verification for the adult sections...

To post anything adult related ie: Adult Gigs or Erotic Services you must have an account and scanned copy of your government issued photo ID on file with them as well as a photo of yourself holding your ID so that both the ID photo and your face are clear... Ta-da, no more 13 year olds hooking.

Oh oh, here's a better idea, instead lets waste political resources and pass some laws to restrict everyone's adult made choices (which are rights). Ugh.

Because they don't want to be seen at catering to those types of listings yet they don't want to turn away the traffic.

Backpage is an absolute HAVEN for jackasses using our stolen content AND they are penises about removing it. They need verification in place for a multitude of reasons.

CNN, and mass media in general, will do what it takes to get ratings, as well as keeping their corporate masters happy. So it's no surprise CNN would be against Backpage.

As for politicians, issues such as prostitution and the drug war make great sound-bites; diversions from dealing with more serious issues.

If the media attention keeps up, it's likely Backpage will buckle under government pressure. Not that it will stop anything, since people seeking out such services will just go to another site(s).

If the issue was really about protecting children / public at-large, prostitution would be legal and regulated across the entire U.S. ... as of now, only a few places in the U.S. allow it (is illegal in Las Vegas and its surrounding municipalities, including the strip).

As it stands now, the underground nature of prostitution makes it more likely for children to be exploited; more dangerous for everyone ... much like how the drug war makes things more dangerous - Mexico is a prime example of a full-fledged drug war in action...

Prohibition of acts / substances (prostitution / cannabis) that are relatively benign (as opposed to nuclear materials / high explosives, which are rightly highly regulated) only makes matters worse, such as what happened in the 1920s with alcohol prohibition.

Ron

who cares that blond cnn chick is hot.

Well said dude.

Sadly, nobody really cares about kids, it's just good ratings.

Believe it or not, stories and shows about child sex slaves, child exploitation, and underage sex get INCREDIBLE ratings. The best ratings for Oprah is when she runs a show on sex trafficking. We all know how popular "To Catch A Predator" was, teachers having sex with kids is always a national story and this CNN thing is no different.

CNN was behind Craigslist taking down it's adult section and that blonde chick got a ton of press over it. So they are just doing the same thing now with backpage.

Anderson Cooper is dreamy, isn't he? Oh yeah, he has white hair.

They are targeting the "everything is of danger" croud as usual. Trying to prove that the internet is bad, gets all those bible beaters happy in the pants and they open their checkbooks.

How about those success stories from backpage from that guy who visits his new escort friend in a weekly basis rather than cutting the breaks on his wife's car because she stopped putting out... Never hear about those lol

They cant attack Craigslist anymore since they took down their Adult Services section so they are attacking Backpage. Lame

Of course, just getting started in this type of site, we only hope to be the size of backpage someday.
Our policy is we do not allow content that is infringing, and if we are notified of infringing content, we will remove it as soon as possible.
If you see any content on our site that is infringing, let us know and we will be happy to deal with it.

Did you really think the news aren't supposed to have an agenda ?

I usually expect it to at least make sense. But this makes no sense at all.

I'd really like to give the columnist a call just to say "what the hell are you thinking?"

"The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."
- Thomas Jefferson

sensational, but with a grain of truth.

I'm all for web but the law needs to monitor some of these sites and use them as a honey pot to get child pervs.

Sure, use them for lead generation... whatever helps them do their jobs. I just don't understand the whole "let's shut it down because it allows perverts to correspond with minors" mentality. Everything allows anyone to correspond with anyone. Should we shut down all forms of communication, chop off our fingers, and sew our mouths shut?

http://cache.thephoenix.com/secure/u...thSewnShut.jpg

All I ever hear, about BP, is how escorts set guys up to be robbed.. at least in the DFW area.. and the sheep still call them. :1orglaugh

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3028/...fe89ac3ef2.jpg

http://blog.craigslist.org/images/backpage.nyc.jpg

http://blog.craigslist.org/19.png

ADG

Exactly.There was a different video they had up on the site earlier in the day that showed her putting the ad up on backpage and then getting calls. She didn't put anything in the add about being underage, but when the guys called she would tell them she was 15, 16 years old. Not one of the guys hung up on her. Obviously they could have edited out anyone who did in order to make it look worse, but there were a lot of dudes who seemed like they were turned on by the idea of her being underage.

This is probably what will give backpage the biggest issue, the fact that they allow ads that describe sexual acts for money.

Who knows how that piece was edited, I am sure it was done for the most sensationalism.

Why do they allow religious organizations to make a run documentaries on CNN? It's disgusting.

That shit is fucking crazy.