Backpage was just shut down !!!

[berryberry]

As I was browsing it (the adult section that is) - WTF

Media Resources

Press Release: Backpage.com Removes Adult Content Due to Unconstitutional Government Censorship....Vows to Fight First Amendment Battles

January 9, 2017

Washington, D.C. - As the direct result of unconstitutional government censorship, Backpage.com has removed its Adult content section from the highly popular classified website, effective immediately. For years, the legal system protecting freedom of speech prevailed, but new government tactics, including pressuring credit card companies to cease doing business with Backpage, have left the company with no other choice but to remove the content in the United States.

As federal appeals court Judge Richard Posner has described, the goal is either to “suffocate” Backpage out of existence or use the awesome powers of the government to force Backpage to follow in the footsteps of Craigslist and abandon its Adult advertising section. Judge Posner described such tactics as “a formula for permitting unauthorized, unregulated, foolproof, lawless government coercion.”

“It's a sad day for America's children victimized by prostitution,” said Dr. Lois Lee, Founder and President, Children of the Night, a leading national hotline and shelter program for victims of sex trafficking based in Los Angeles. “Backpage.com was a critical investigative tool depended on by America's vice detectives and agents in the field to locate and recover missing children and to arrest and successfully prosecute the pimps who prostitute children.” She added, “The ability to search for and track potentially exploited children on a website and have the website bend over backwards to help and cooperate with police the way Backpage did was totally unique. It not only made law enforcement's job easier, it made them much more effective at rescuing kids and convicting pimps.”

Backpage.com was created thirteen years ago by Jim Larkin and Michael Lacey, through their newspaper company, New Times Media, to compete with Craigslist, the nation’s largest online classified ad platform. Larkin and Lacey were pioneers in independent journalism, establishing Village Voice Media in 1970 to provide alternative news coverage of the Vietnam war and later served as editor and publisher of twenty weekly newspapers.

As The Center for Democracy and Technology and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have observed, the Senate subcommittee has engaged in an “invasive, burdensome inquiry into Backpage.com’s editorial practices [that] creates an intense chilling effect, not only for Backpage but for any website operator seeking to define their own editorial viewpoint and moderation procedures for the third-party content they host.”

This will not end the fight for online freedom of speech. Backpage.com will continue to pursue its efforts in court to vindicate its First Amendment rights and those of other online platforms for third party expression.

[berryberry]

There goes the fucking economy.

Where do these providers turn to advertise now ?????

[RyeGuy]

Look for a surge in the W4M sections on bp and cl

[zippyboy]

I just saw this myself. RIP backpage.

As per usual, two more sites will come around to take its place I am sure, just might take a while. The vulture sites that rip ads from it will be pissed to be sure...

[cR7]

Get ready, ECCIE is gonna get busier very soon

[Pittsdaddy]

probably asexyservice, tos or sa. We shall see in the coming days.

[Chickie]

BP mirror site. What would this happen....

http://backpage.com.pittsburgh.hoxnif.com/#

This section will be busier.

http://pittsburgh.backpage.com/Women...n/?layout=date

[Greatone99]

Another mirror:

http://liveescortreviews.com/gallery/pittsburgh

[zippyboy]

These mirrors only pull the ads from back page to my knowledge. Hence the terms mirrors. Good luck getting new postings on those sites.

[bigguyt]

Here come the streetwalkers again, girls will be on every corner of the ghetto once they start detoxing.

[KRIEGHOFFK80]

Now that's really fucked up!!!

[Greatone99]

Originally Posted by zippyboy

These mirrors only pull the ads from back page to my knowledge. Hence the terms mirrors. Good luck getting new postings on those sites.

Yeah a new site is its own can of worms. The reason for posting mirrors is at least they offers a pic and phone # of recent listings.

[EBPEM1]

Lawmakers are numbskulls.

If the primary motivation for targeting Backpage is to help victims of trafficking, how do they expect to easily track and find trafficked persons to rescue when the default central marketplace for sex services is shut down?

They must assume a pimp is going to see the shuttered site and think, "Well, I guess the jig is up - time to release all of my sex slaves."

[Albedo]

Oh no! Now these girls will have to find real jobs lol.

[Big Stig]

The move to women > men dating section has already started.