Visa joins MasterCard, AmEx in ending use for Backpage sex ads

[Ms Sue]

Visa Inc said on Wednesday it is joining MasterCard Inc and American Express Co in barring its credit cards from being used to pay for ads on Backpage.com following a request from a Chicago sheriff who said the site is used by sex traffickers.

Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart said that "escort" ads on Link is broken so has been taken down and similar classified advertising sites make up the foundation of a sex-trafficking industry that preys on the young and vulnerable.

Earlier this week, he asked both Visa and MasterCard to cut off any association with the Link is broken so has been taken down"adult" section.

"Visa's rules prohibit our network from being used for illegal activity," spokesman John Earnhardt said in a statement on Wednesday. "Visa has a long history of working with law enforcement to safeguard the integrity of the payment system and we will continue to do so."

MasterCard spokesman Seth Eisen said on Tuesday the company agreed to stop allowing the card to be used on Backpage. American Express had previously disallowed the use of its card for adult ads on the site, said spokeswoman Sanette Chao.

This leaves only Bitcoin, an electronic currency, to pay for Backpage adult ads, which Dart said will make placing the ads much more difficult.

"We have no naive notion that we'll end prostitution, end trafficking, end exploitation of children," Dart said. "What we've wanted all along is to make it more difficult and make (traffickers) easier to catch."

Liz McDougall, Backpage's general counsel, said in an e-mail on Wednesday the company had no comment.

Backpage offers forums to find roommates and sell goods, like other classified advertising sites, but its primary revenue stream is through its adult page, according to Dart's office.

Cook County Sheriff's police have made more than 800 arrests since 2009 stemming from Backpage ads, Dart's office said.

"We commend these credit card companies for making it more challenging for traffickers to profit off of the exploitation of people," said Bradley Myles, CEO of Polaris, a Washington-based anti-trafficking group.

 

[Madam Tracey]

USA has completely different attitude to sex and sex workers than the rest of the world. By driving it underground they create many of the problems...then try to solve them!

 

[Rudyboy]

Backpage will be hating this as revenue will be caned in the US of A

 

[XLNC]

Not just the USA it seems: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...s-on-backpagecom/story-fnii5v71-1227426995761

THOUSANDS of Australian sex workers say their legitimate business is being brought to a grinding halt by the actions of a county sheriff in the far-flung US state of Illinois.

Credit Card giant Mastercard earlier this week announced it was implementing a worldwide ban on customers placing adult ads on Backpage.com – an online classified advertising marketplace used widely by sex workers to promote their services. ...

 

[Nomansland]

Will they ever learn from the example of Prohibition?

 

[Zeus]

Hey I think we are missing the point here.
As I understand the article, the USA wants to clamp down on people trafficking and that has got to be a good thing.

I don't think there is an issue with prostitution as such.

Or have I misread the article????

 

[AxeMan]

No issue with tackling human trafficking. But it is a blanket approach that affects many women who are not trafficked I suppose is the point.

 

[XLNC]

That's right, human trafficking (which everybody but the traffickers and unscrupulous punters agree is a very bad thing) is being used as the excuse to clamp down on prostitution across the board, which is illegal in most of the US (Nevada being the notable exception).

The fact that the ban applies to backpage advertising not just in the US but worldwide (by M/C anyway, unsure if it's the same with Visa and Amex) means sex workers who are not breaking their local laws (e.g. in Australia) and who are definitely not being trafficked/exploited by anyone are also being penalised. This is quite unfair and heavy-handed and hopefully the ban will be modified to apply only to advertisers in the US, so that Americans can remain repressed and release their frustrations in the good old-fashioned American way: blowing people away with automatic weapons, usually paid for by credit card.

 

[Zeus]

That's right, human trafficking (which everybody but the traffickers and unscrupulous punters agree is a very bad thing) is being used as the excuse to clamp down on prostitution across the board, which is illegal in most of the US (Nevada being the notable exception).

The fact that the ban applies to backpage advertising not just in the US but worldwide (by M/C anyway, unsure if it's the same with Visa and Amex) means sex workers who are not breaking their local laws (e.g. in Australia) and who are definitely not being trafficked/exploited by anyone are also being penalised. This is quite unfair and heavy-handed and hopefully the ban will be modified to apply only to advertisers in the US, so that Americans can remain repressed and release their frustrations in the good old-fashioned American way: blowing people away with automatic weapons, usually paid for by credit card.

Fair comment. My question to you is whether you think there is any human trafficking going on in Australia - or any other Western nation where prostitution is legal?

In fact, because it is legal here and in many other jurisdictions, it makes it a lot easier for the traffickers to get their ladies into prostitution and by so doing make money for themselves.

 

[Happy2]

Prostitution will always be used by some to make illegal money If gangs or whatever think slavery is a money making concern they could not give a toss for the women ,girls and boys who's lives will be utterly ruined , unfortunately there is always going to be a market . And a market which will make great money

But I dont believe its up to a private money making company to use People trafficking as an excuse to make themselves look like good global citizens

Especially when that decision is affecting people going about their normal everday and legal lives

 

[XLNC]

Fair comment. My question to you is whether you think there is any human trafficking going on in Australia - or any other Western nation where prostitution is legal?

In fact, because it is legal here and in many other jurisdictions, it makes it a lot easier for the traffickers to get their ladies into prostitution and by so doing make money for themselves.

I would be astonished if there was no human trafficking at all in Australia, Germany and other decriminalised jurisdictions -- of course there would be some (or a lot in Germany's case). That was not my point. I just don't think a worldwide blanket ban that might not only inconvenience a fraction of the shady end of the business in the US but seriously affect the livelihood of the vast majority of mainly independent WLs here and elsewhere is a proportionate response. Especially when they are not breaking the law here as they are in the US.

Also, my impression (and that is all it is) is that the few cases of trafficking exposed in Australia almost always involve young women being conscripted into (mainly Asian) massage parlours and brothels, rather than individual WLs advertised online. Similarly, trafficking of women from Eastern Europe into German brothels is widely known about. It may well be different -- probably is -- in America where such establishments are illegal, and instead traffickers operate through prostitution rings with indentured women spread across private homes and relying more heavily on the Internet to lure punters. I don't know. But again, that should not be a reason to punish law-abiding PWLs here.

To extend (or exaggerate) an earlier example, does that mean the credit card companies should take it upon themselves to ban all transactions involving clothing and footwear, since a (hopefully small) percentage of these products sold to us here undoubtedly are still made in what we would regard as sweatshops or otherwise completely unacceptable working conditions in the Third World? Or ban the purchase of pork, poultry and other animal products because of the continuing practice of sow stalls, battery hens, etc. in parts of the industry? While we are at it, perhaps we should ban all mobile phones here since terrorists have used them to detonate bombs overseas? Get my drift?

 

[Wink Massage]

I hope this isn't right as we use MC all the time for ads!!!!!

 

[Zeus]

OK - good arguments.

You have won me over.