The FBI, which at one point seized and operated one of the largest sites for distribution of Child Porn, Playpen (see here), has seized Backpage.com, the classifieds site that purportedly facilitated sex trafficking and pornography. The CEO of Backpage was also recently arrested.
More details are supposed to come shortly, the FBI reports, according to a post on backpage.com which states, “Additional information will be provided at around 6:00pm EST on Friday April 6th by the U.S. Department of Justice.
We would not be surprised that in connection with the seizure of the website, they will be ascertaining users of the site and more arrests will come. Just like they did with Playpen, this is likely another attempt to fish with a huge net and catch guppies.
Last month, US Congress passed legislation that would hold websites responsible for illegal content posted by its users. The new law directly conflicted with the Communications Decency Act, which provides immunity from liability for providers and users of an “interactive computer service” who publish information provided by others. The new law was concerning enough for Craigslist to remove their Personals section.
The one question remaining is; with Craigslist personals and Backpage.com gone, how will Sheriff Grady Judd spend his days?
Incidents like this, and the raid on Trump’s lawyer’s office, tell me that the FBI is out of control. They are operating on their own agenda as part of the Deep State. Next to fall will be pornography websites under the guise of “good faith” and “protecting the children.” Read the history of pre-Nazi Germany. America is already well along on that path. The “sex offender” has become the modern day “Jude.” Americans are too busy with their smart phone apps to be bothered by any of this though. Sad.
Sigh – sex offender laws are out of control. Taking over a porn site is something that is allowed by the famous Patriot Act (a conservative invention BTW) – the fact that there are out of control laws in our country that allow LE to do things we could have never imagined does not mean that the entire justice system is wrong. Just because they are allowed to do “stings” does not mean that every thing they do is corrupt. I will tell you that judges do not issue warrants against a lawyer (especially when it is POTUS lawyer) lightly – I guarantee they have probable cause for a crime. The 2 incidents have absolutely nothing to do with each other.
Actually, the Patriot Act expired in 2015.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Freedom_Act
Its successor, USA Freedom Act is a watered down version. Neither contain the word “pornography.” I don’t see how either could be used to justify the seizure of Backpage, which has nothing to do with terrorism and was not a porn site. The FBI is out of control.
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/jerome-corsi-fbi-deep-state-raid/2018/04/10/id/853726/
Most laws are fine, it’s their interpretation that is the problem. To me, a “justice” system that convicts people with imaginary victims they create is corrupt. Most judges, FISA or otherwise, will sign anything from prosecutors and district attorneys. Just look at the Steele dossier. I believe the two incidents are connected because they are both about sex. Backpage was a sex marketplace and the raid on Trump’s lawyer is all about finding proof of Trump’s affair with a porn star and claiming her “silence” was paid for by campaign funds. America’s war on sex continues, unabated.
http://www.waronsex.com/epilogue.html
What allows it is the fact that ALL LE in the US is now considered part of Homeland Security. No, it is not going to mention pron specifically – instead it allows the seizure of items or places deemed to be dangerous. Of course you are entitled to your opinion – but in mine most laws are not fine. In a few short decades the USA has more than quadrupled the number of felonies in the USA. The US Code is out of control. A country that has about 6% of the World’s population has 24% of the World’s population of incarcerated. More than ANY country in the World (and not by a ratio or percentage – in shear numbers) – Laws are not open to interpretation. Mandatory minimums etc. have caused countless innocent people to plead guilty. However, opinions ARE interpretations but some are based on facts and some are based on what a person believes to be true. One is accurate and one is a fallacy. It is amazing to me that some of the same people that thought a president getting a B*** J** in the W with an adult woman in a consensual encounter was impeachment worthy but a president that has paid off several people for their silence, spoken in public about sexual assault and how he does it, paid off others to also keep silent, right now being sued for other sexual harassment….and on and on is seemingly ok. And that is just the sexual crap! lol The FBI is not half as out of control as the Administration. Actually the only part of the Patriot Act that was taken out was to stop the monitoring of phone calls of private citizens (that is of course unless the might be terrorists).
“Following a lack of Congressional approval, parts of the Patriot Act expired on June 1, 2015. With the passage of the USA Freedom Act on June 2, 2015, the expired parts were restored and renewed through 2019. However, Section 215 of the law was amended to stop the National Security Agency (NSA) from continuing its mass phone data collection program. Instead, phone companies will retain the data and the NSA can obtain information about targeted individuals with permission from a federal court.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act
Read Title II: Surveillance procedures – this is the part that allows the taking over of websites for cyber crime and would be one of the parts that was reestablished through 2019.
I never involved in any stuff like this or much of nothing really. Id just like to feel part of society and country again. To have worth and ability to feel well.
So who is the Ed Meese for the new millennia? This stuff sure sounds familiar. But as sexual harrasment is now called sexual assault and patronizing a prostitute is now considered to be sex trafficking (at least in Polk County) are we really surprised?
Grady Judd..aka Elmer Fudd, aka, lower than whale poop on the bottom ocean, is going to get bored…he is going to miss the Outback takeout and chinese food He ate during the Sting operations..he now has time to drive the two Army tanks he bought with ‘Megans and Adams’ money, again, never met Adam Walsh and the Megan person,..he will create and manufacture crime some how..he is fixated on keeping his jails over crowded..that is his modus operandi
A schmuk .
A mess
This is the most epic definition of irony. The US govt creates a statute and grant program to basically bribe states to create “task forces” to entrap millions of law abiding citizens ON SITES such as Backpage and Craigslist, and now decides to shut it all down. Craigslist on it’s own, has shut down it’s personal ad sections. I think what this is, along with taking first amendment free speech, is that they cannot afford to bribe the states with 70 million a year anymore due to Trump’s tax cuts, and now they have to shut it down…….if only this had happened 6 years ago, then I wouldn’t be an RSO right now! But yes, scary indeed. Wake Up people. Guns, internet commerce….getting shut down. What’s next???
As a side note – I have often told my students that the internet can and will go away. For me it is not a question of if but when – this might be the way it happens. When the folks that run these sites (even the legitimate ones) are under the threat of prosecution they will pull out and slowly the internet will die. It has now become an entity that is fueled by advertisements etc. Once that is gone so will it be. Most of my students are 20 somethings and I tell them to use problem solving skills from time to time and ask how would I do this task without the internet? Older people would have a better chance at that. I have actually considered recently going back to the old way and mailing out my bills etc.
There is a lot of things that are disturbing about this situation to be sure. One thing that screams at me is that the US is acting like the internet belongs to them! The internet belongs to the World. The USA has always operated as though they are the boss of the World (ha). The USA has also for the last 4 or 5 decades made law after law that removed responsibility for a crime from only the person committing a crime – for instance holding a bartender liable for a person that drinks and drives (absurd!) – in FL they have made everyone responsible for reporting suspected child abuse (most people would anyway but now it is a crime if you do not). However, the one that has to be the best is turning prostitution into sex trafficking (now the prostitute is a victim and the john is a sex trafficker – I mean seriously?). So, I guess with that definition Shady Grady can avert his attention to prostitution.
I think crooked shady grady would look beautiful dressed in a skirt trying to arrest johns in what stings he will have to resort to.
I’m sure the good sheriff has a stash of porn from what was confiscated to use for his own amusement,
Take heed America, this is the beginning of the end of free speech. Using the myth of human (read S-E-X) trafficking, and claiming children were being exploited, the US Government will not stop with BP. America’s war on sex continues unabated. They will become emboldened and seize any other websites they find “offensive” by their puritan standards.
This is actually scary if you think about it.
Backpage as well as millions of other websites contain content that is almost entirely user-contributed. It does after all, publish on behalf of it’s users in the form of contact information, among descriptions, et cetera.
While I don’t understand the dynamics and issues that lead up to our government agencies seizing the website, I am lead to believe it’s because the website’s owners have been complacent when dealing with content that was contributed.
There is another twist we must understand: Our government no longer has the authority to seize domain names because ICANN is no longer within the Jurisdiction of our government. ICANN is responsible for the assignment of domain name TLD’s and IP addresses. In theory, the owner(s) of Backpage.com could argue this and the government would ultimately lose. I don’t think our government thought about this or are hoping nobody will notice. (I notice, though)
There are plenty of other websites that could be taken down the same way. This includes websites like YouTube.com, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook, et cetera and other domains that have user-contributed content in which users do things that are illegal. This includes organizing riots.
There used to be a time when our government went after the hosting servers and took them offline. Now they can just take the domain names.
This will not end well. Comcast recently lost a DMCA lawsuit because people share copyrighted content on their networks. The Safe Harbor act was ruled not to apply, even to an ISP who is not legally allowed to monitor and block content.
ISP’s are under attack. The hosting providers are not. The visitors are often arrested and the people responsible for sharing are the ones who walk. It is a complete mess that needs to be fixed.
ICANN regulates the assignment they are a regulation board nothing about USA law outside of contractual agreements, the registrar holds the contract. Anyone with a court order for domain ownership that is sent to the registrar that operated in the USA can take control of a domain name, I have done this before in intellectual property disputes.
I have never seen ICANN care about anything on the consumer end of law, its always contractual things between registrars and registries. I dont see an issue here to argue.
From a defendants standpoint trying to suppress evidence does not work because FBI have a “acted in good faith” clause allowing them to use illegally obtained evidence if it was done so in good faith this is how they use illegal blanket warrants.
The real scary part of the lawsuits is they use it to catch pedophiles simply to set presidency of their actions.