DOJ Indictment (Backpage History, Crimes section here might be contested. Emails, specifically mentioning Backpage not wanting to offend sex workers who used the site) https://www.justice.gov/file/945546/dl?inline
Carl Ferrer Guilty Plea (Reliable info about Backpage editing ads) https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1052531/dl
Backpage LLC Guilty Plea Factual basis page 11 (Reliable info about Backpage money laundering) https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1052536/dl
https://www.courthousenews.com/they-were-prostitution-ads-ceo-testifies-in-backpage-trial/
Backpage users commonly linked to reviews on The Erotic Review, considered the "secret sauce" of Backpage's success by Carl Ferrer Ferrer shouldn't be considered founder because didn't own the site was just sales manager Section 230 does not apply to violations of federal criminal law (facilitate prostitution, money laundering) https://www.courthousenews.com/backpage-defense-drags-credibility-of-key-witness/ Users allowed to post TER ID numbers on ads (doj)
First amendment protects people from prosecution for saying things. It does not protect people from liability for the effects of what they say
First Amendment rights do not excuse somebody from the effects of their free speech
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First amendment rights do not excuse someone from liability for the effects of what they say.
First amendment info ->!!! Backpage claimed first amendment rights to dismiss charges but that doesn't work in this case because publishers still have to be liable for the effects of their free speech. The real reason the heat was off of backpage for so long was because section 230 of internet law prevented internet service providers from being liable for the actions of their users.
Section 230 only implies release of liability if they are a passive provider of services with no involvment in what is posted (other than to remove content, which is not required by law). In Backpage's case, they edited the ads, which would nullify their section 230 protection
Free speech does not justify illegal speech, so defendants can not claim first amendment protection. However, it is up to the prosecutors whether the business practices are illegal or not https://www.courthousenews.com/the-case-against-backpage-finally-reaches-trial-again/(firstamd)
Dan Hyer Backpage sales and marketing director Guilty Plea to one count of conspiracy https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/usa-v-lacey-dan-hyer-plea-deal.pdf (HyerPlea)
There does need to be like a backpage list of employees and company structure
https://www.courthousenews.com/backpage-defense-drags-credibility-of-key-witness/(BackOut)
Backpage.com was launched by the newspaper company Village Voice Media, owned my Larkin and Lacey. After Backpage proved to be more successful than any other part of VVM, The publishing arm of the company was shut down in 2012 and VVM was split up into a number of parent companies who collectively owned Backpage. Nearly all of the company was owned by four men until 2012, Michael Lacey (43%), James Larkin (45%), Brunst(6%), and Spear (4%). in 2012, the four individuals sold their ownership interests to a collection of Dutch companies controlled by Backpage CEO Carl Farrer for $600 million. after the sale, the individuls retained the majority of finacial interest and control over Backpage, even though they were technically no longer named as owners (doj)
bp com list of parties in Backpage Backpage.com LLC owns and operates Backpage BAckpage LLC also operiated sites evilempire.com and big city.com postfaster.com also owned by larkin and lacey https://www.bsfllp.com/a/web/2384/2017-02-07-Backpage-Complaint-Arizona.pdf (AZComp
Backpage LLC owns and operates backpage out of Dallas Texas (AZComp)
Atlantische Bedrivjen C.V. owned xx% Backpage (2012-2018) (doj) UCG Tech Group C.V. owned x% Backpage (2012-2018) (doj)
IC Holdings LLC, Operates and controls Backpage (AZCOMP)
Kickapoo River Investments, LLC Delaware based, owns and operates Backpage and affiliate websites (AzComp)
Amstel River Holdings LLC, Dallas Texas owns and operates backpage
Postfaster LLC owned by owners of Backpage LLC
Classified Solutions LTD Controlled by Website Technologies LLC and derives income from Backpage
Dartmoor Holdings LLC, Dallas Texas Based, Manages Website Technologies LLC owns and operates Backpage
Website Technologies LLC (Phoenix Based) PAys Backpage employees, controls and operates backpage (AZ complaint)
Medalist Holdings Controls Classified solutions
Camarillo Holdings, used to be vvmh
EvilEmpire.com BigCity.com Backpage.com owned and operated by Backpage LLC (AZComp)
Dartmoor Holdings Controls Backpage LLC
2016 arrests of backpage https://www.theleafchronicle.com/story/news/crime/2016/10/07/backpage-raided-ceo-arrested-sex-trafficking/91740458/
Michael Lacey Backpage owner (Backout)(doj)
https://www.courthousenews.com/backpage-defense-drags-credibility-of-key-witness/ (FerrerCred)
Dan Hyer came on in 2006 and started the process of preboarding Bosses were carl ferrer and scott spear
| Name of Defendant | Role at Backpage | Charges | Plea | Header text | Outcome | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dan Hyer | Sales and Marketing Director (2006-2018) | *Conspiracy *Travel Act-Facilitate Prostitution *Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering *Concealment of Money Laundering | Plea bargain; pled Guilty to one count of conspiracy | Example | Pled guilty to one count of conspiracy | Example |
| Backpage LLC | Corporate Personhood | Example | Example | Example | Example | |
| Example | Example | Example | Example | Example | Example | Example |
Sales and MArketing
So basically, Backpage claimed their posting of ads removed them from prosecution because it was free speech (but that doesn't protect from liability for the effects of the free speech), and then that the liability of their free speech was proteched by section 230 of the communications decency act. Liabiility protection is revoked if the the thrid party content provider gets involved with what is written on the site, so much of the trial was based around whether or not backpage got involved in the ads on the site (by editing them, which they did). So the entire idea that the ads were editied is controversial; it is actually the main issue here. Main thing of the trial was proving whether or not backpage editied ads
It seems that at this point, the fact that backpage made most of their money from people who advertised sex in exchange for money is not disputed, it's basically fact. The fact that a significant portion of that was for sex trafficking is fact (it is disputed, but these disputes have no basis). What is disputed right now (and the main issue of the trials) is the amount of liability backpage had for what was going on. Arguments from sex workers that BAckpage protected them from harm obfuscates this issue (because these are most likely people who provided legal escort services, not breaking the law and yet they act like the legal action was created to serve them).
Backpage helped edit ads so that people illegally selling sex could better avoid detection by law enforcement (argument)
Arguments by sex workers in support of Backpage conflate the definitions of prostitution and sex trafficking.
claims made by backpage lawyer are to the effect of: no one cares about the law and everyone takes advantage of it. claims Ferrer lied to get reduced sentence (perjury), US government is going after backpage as punishment against new phoenix times for criticizing them (first amendment violation); what feder is really arguing is that everyone else is apparently breaking the law so they are at a competitive disadvantage if they do not. essentially the illicit activity 500
Lacey and Larkin also claimed the government was punishing them for speaking out against the vietnam war, which doesn't make sense because that actually would be unconstitutional
United States v. Lacey, Larkin, Spear, Brunst, Hyer, Padilla, Vaught, District of Arizona.
Backpage.com was founded in 2004 by Carl Ferrier, James Larkin and Michael Lacey. The website was launched in order to compete with Craigslist.com, whose online classified advertising model had cut into the revenue of a VVMH, which relied on print advertising. (doj p6 3-11)
Backpage.com was founded in 2004 by Carl Ferrier, James Larkin and Michael Lacey. Larkin and Lacey had previously founded the Arizona-based newspaper The Phoenix Times, and owned a number of other alternative news papers under the entity Village Voice Media Holding (VVMH). (doj p6 3-11) Backpage was created to compete with Craigslist.com, whose online classified advertising model had cut into the revenue of VVMH, which relied mostly on print classified ads. Like Craigslist, Backpage made money by being paid by individuals to host ads on the Backpage website. (news)Backpage was named after the "back page" of the Phoenix New Times newspaper, which contained classified ads. (doj p6 3-11). Backpage's revenue grew quickly. By 2009, Backpage's annual profit was $10 million dollars. (doj p6 22)
In 2010, The adult services section of Craigslist.com was shut down following years of public pressure against hosting of ads for prositution, and the possibility of enabling sex trafficking. (https://web.archive.org/web/20100908051536/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/04/BU841F8URH.DTL#ixzz0ykq1HJrf). Backpage Intended to facilitate casual sex, the section was instead being used by people to offer sex in exchange for money, which put Craigslist at risk for prosecution due to facilitating prostitution.
Almost all of the money made from Backpage came from people who were using the site to advertise prostitution. https://reason.com/wp-content/uploads/assets/db/15348043815472.pdf
While directly advertising sex in exchange for money is illegal, offering sexual services for free or nonsexual paid services is legal https://www.courthousenews.com/james-larkin-phoenix-new-times-co-founder-dies-at-74/ .Backpage employees were instructed by the company's founders to edit user advertisements, replacing any explicit references to paying for sex with legal-sounding euphemisms (such as "escort services"). (doj)
Most of the money backpage made was from illegal activity. Almost all of the ads hosted on Backpage involved prostitution, with the majority involving voluntary prostitution (Sex_work and a minority involving involuntary prostitution (Sex_trafficking). Both types of prostitution are (generally) illegal in the united states, but enforced on different levels of government. the legality of sex work differs by state, state level (it is illegal in most states), while sex trafficking is enforced on a federal level, which means it is illegal anywhere in the US
Following the shut down of Craigslist's
Most of Backpage's revune was provided by people were offering sex in exchange for money, which is illegal in most of the united states (news)
Horizontal list
, Text.
Craigslist's founder, Craig Newmark, started Craigslist as a free e-mail distribution list in 1995, featuring events and other listings in the San Francisco area. Newmark registered "craigslist.org," taking the site live in 1996. In 2000, the company expanded outside of San Francisco, and by 2009, it served over 700 cities in 70 countries.[1]
Non-commercial users post free ads in most categories on Craigslist.[2] 2006, then-San Francisco Bay Guardian executive editor Tim Redmond wrote Craigslist "pretty-much wiped-out traditional daily newspaper classified ads" in 115 U.S. markets.[3] A 2009 Pew Research Center study found that between the years 2000–2008, newspapers lost almost half their classified ad sales to Craigslist and similar sites.[4]
Based in Phoenix, Ariz., the New Times chain of alt-weeklies started in 1970, with the founding of what became the Phoenix New Times as a response to the Vietnam War and the murders at Kent State.[5] Under the leadership of executive editor Michael Lacey and publisher Jim Larkin, the company expanded to several other cities, eventually merging with New York's Village Voice and other papers to become Village Voice Media in 2005. The new company boasted 17 alt-weeklies coast-to-coast.[6]
As with other outlets in the alternative press, New Times' papers were free, relying on advertising, especially classified advertising to earn money.[7] To counter Craigslist's influence on a vital revenue stream, Lacey and Larkin in 2004 founded Backpage.com, which WIRED magazine described as "a bare-bones inter-face wrapped in Facebooky blue, similar to Craigslist in form and function."[8]
The site's name was a nod to the classified ads in the back section of every New Times paper, "culminating in a premium-priced ad showcase on the paper's back page."[7] The idea for Backpage.com came from New Times salesman Carl Ferrer; Larkin put him in charge of the new venture.[8]
Backpage helped sustain first New Times', then Village Voice Media's papers, and expanded to become the second-largest online classifieds site next to Craigslist.[9] Lacey and Larkin sold Village Voice Media to company executives in 2012.[10] The pair sold Backpage to Ferrer in 2015.[8]
Craigslist and Backpage had listings for a variety of goods and services, such as real estate, yard sales, personals, work wanted and jobs offered, and adult-themed advertising.
Reason magazine wrote in an August 2018 article, "Like Craigslist, Backpage was divided into categories for different types of posts, most of which had nothing to do with sex work. But the 'adult' wing of the site, sub-divided into sections for strippers, 'phones and websites,' 'dom and fetish,' 'male escorts,' 'escorts,' and more, garnered the most attention."[7]
For Craigslist and Backpage, their adult sections would prove to be public relations nightmares, with state attorneys general and activists condemning them as havens for ads for prostitution and more.[11] Reporters and academics noted similar adult advertising is a staple of alt-weeklies for many years, and could be found in other print outlets, such as the Yellow Pages and even some dailies.[12][13][14]
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