XPost: alt.politics.election, us.politics.elections, alt.politic   
   .socialism.democratic   
   XPost: alt.philosophy.law   
   From: aclu.whores@splc.org   
      
   A judge has rejected state Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris’ effort   
   to prosecute the operators of Backpage.com, one of the largest   
   online classified advertisement websites, as the “world’s top   
   online brothel” in hosting advertisements for adult services.   
      
   The California attorney general’s office had accused the   
   company’s chief executive and former owners of creating a   
   website with knowledge that prostitutes and pimps use it to   
   advertise sexual services, and filed pimping-related charges   
   against them.   
      
   State prosecutors alleged the vast majority of the ads are for   
   “adult services” and that the company profited from the sex   
   trafficking of adults and children.   
      
   But in a rebuke issued Friday, Sacramento County Superior Court   
   Judge Michael G. Bowman ruled that websites such as Backpage.com   
   are protected from lawsuits when they publish speech posted by   
   other people.   
      
   The judge said the Communications Decency Act of 1996 “struck a   
   balance in favor of free speech” in keeping Internet service   
   providers protected from liability.   
      
   In a statement, Harris said she was “extremely disappointed” by   
   the ruling.   
      
   “The Communications Decency Act was not meant to be a shield   
   from criminal prosecution for perpetrators of online brothels.   
   The evidence is clear — these defendants are responsible for   
   personally creating and publishing the content that was used to   
   pimp and traffic victims on their websites,” Harris said.   
      
   “To all those who have been victimized by pimps online and   
   trafficked through ?Backpage.com, you are not alone and the   
   fight for justice is not over,” she continued. “We are exploring   
   all legal options and will continue to advocate for all victims   
   and to aggressively prosecute those who prey on and exploit the   
   vulnerable."   
      
   A lawyer for Backpage praised the court’s ruling.   
      
   “We’re just gratified that the court upheld the rule of law and   
   dismissed this baseless prosecution,” said Robert Corn-Revere, a   
   1st Amendment attorney with Davis Wright Tremaine. “The   
   government doesn’t get to ignore the demands of the 1st   
   Amendment and … the Communications Decency Act.”   
      
   A lawyer and expert on Internet law, Heather Antoine, said she   
   thinks legal immunity for online publishers is an important   
   concept in the age of the Internet, so that websites such as   
   Facebook and other social media websites can host free speech   
   without fearing lawsuits regarding another person’s writings.   
      
   “We need the Internet to function to have a free society,”   
   Antoine said in an interview. “If the state of California wants   
   to go after these adult service rings, then that’s who they   
   should go after. They shouldn’t go after Backpage.com because   
   it’s technically easier for them.”   
      
   Backpage’s chief executive, Carl Ferrer, 55, was arrested in   
   October in Houston after arriving on a flight from Amsterdam.   
   Charges were filed on Sept. 26 against Ferrer and former owners   
   Michael Lacey, 68, and James Larkin, 67 — who had high-profile   
   careers shepherding alternative weekly papers including the   
   Village Voice and Phoenix New Times.   
      
   Prosecutors accused Ferrer of overseeing the company, including   
   the screening of ads, and contended he knowingly gained money   
   from the prostitution of women and children, according to court   
   papers.   
      
   Backpage denied any wrongdoing and accused Harris’ prosecution   
   as being politically motivated as she entered her final weeks in   
   her campaign for U.S. Senate. She was elected last month.   
      
   Backpage originated in the classified section in the back of   
   alternative newspapers. It also lists apartments, cars and jobs.   
   State prosecutors alleged that the site earned more than 90% of   
   its revenue from the adult section, and said some of the paid   
   ads offer thinly veiled prostitution of women and minors, with   
   nearly nude photos and a menu of sex in coded language.   
      
   The case was the most vigorous effort yet to blunt Backpage,   
   founded in 2004 and now owned by a Dutch company that lists   
   Ferrer as its sole partner.   
      
   The charges followed a three-year-long inquiry in which   
   California authorities claimed to have found numerous instances   
   in which the company received fees from ads for escorts younger   
   than 18. The minors lived in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Santa   
   Clara counties, court files said.   
      
   A 27-year-old woman said she began using Backpage after   
   Craigslist shuttered its escort section and the prostitution   
   website MyRedbook.com was shut down by federal officials. A 15-   
   year-old girl, who said she was forced into prostitution at 13   
   by her pimp, told authorities that Backpage “profits off of   
   women and men.”   
      
   The company has contended that it is a host — not a publisher —   
   of content generated by third parties, namely, consenting adults.   
      
   http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-backpage-charges-   
   tossed-20161209-story.html   
          
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
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