Backpage is very different than the obscenity charges against producers. Revisited Redbook stuff and saw they were the first ever federal prosecution for a site promoting prostitution.

Redbook was charged federally and they quickly got a guilty plea from one defendant looking for leniency and won against the other. Rentboy was also federal charges….Hurant pleaded guilty and forfeited sentencing appeals if he gets less than two years and the penalties are less than ten million.

On one hand it makes sense for the feds to chase crimes via internet because the way our laws are set up….municipal and state hands are essentially tied with exception of kiddie porn. So I’m curious to understand why after a two year congressional inquiry with senate support, several states backing the effort and knowing Hurant was going to plead once they agreed to terms Backpage charges were initiated at the state level.

At the fed level, that remains true unless and until certain standards of decency are passed. Again, I contend that the prosecutions of Seymour, Max and Rob Black were the equivalent of a brush back pitch to an industry that was crowding the plate. I really think the condom legislation is a similar reaction. Had porn continued to police itself with regard to the content it created, rather than one frat boy after another trying to out-extreme the other, they’d probably have been left alone. Same with OSHA – you start daring them, and they’re going to come down on you.

@BT

You’re spot on about most ‘sin vice’ prosecutions at state level. That’s why the feds going after MyRedbook, Rentboy and Backpage stand out as if they’re part of a larger picture.

Redbook came on the heels of Silkroad and it seemed IRS was the big stick. Obama put Loretta Lynch in charge of Brooklyn (Eastern District) and she was still there when Rentboy investigation began. That was first site with prostitution charges. When they dropped charges against all the employees it looked like they just wanted the big fish to make an example of. Now it seems the feds have upped the ante by adding pimping minors for Backpage under state law.

The push for Backspace investigations started with various state senators long before the two year congressional inquiry. This is a case they wanted to cross every t and dot every I on. Which leaves the question of why states issued the first charges instead of congress directing DOJ or FBI to act.

I wouldn’t bet a lot of money on that. Historically, the Republicans have talked a lot about going after pornography on the campaign trail, but other than the Meese Commission in 1986, during the Reagan administration, they have taken very little action. And, even the Reagan administration did little beyond releasing a report. Yes, the feds went after Seymour Butts, Max Hardcore and Rob Black, but in my view – admittedly speculation – it was the feds way of sending a message to porn that the industry was pushing boundaries that it could no longer ignore. And all three gave them plenty of ammunition, especially Black who dared them to prosecute him.

As a reporter, I covered pornography and obscenity back in the 90’s – I interviewed Pat Trueman, who used to head up obscenity for the justice department, and Donna Rice Hughes, who was a very vocal opponent of pornography on the Internet. I think their biggest complaints back then were that the feds just weren’t going after porn.

There have been more prosecutions at the state level than at the federal level, and even those have been few and far between.

Last, if the Republicans do win the White House, it will be with Trump. I don’t see him going after the entertainment industry, even if the entertainment is hookers and porn.

Hmmm…. who went after Jeffrey Hurant as sole shareholder of Rentboy?
He pleaded guilty on Friday to promoting prostitution aka “the exchange of sexual conduct in return for a fee” in the Brooklyn NY federal court. His sentencing is Feb 2 which is after the inauguration but the sentencing agreement was in place before his plea. He agreed to up to 21 months in federal prison and up to ten million dollar penalty.

Don’t let political labels fool you. Will have to look but iirc New Orleans city council is also primarily democrat and they voted 7-0 to pass raising the age for dancers. Can’t recall off top of head who was behind yanking the sites escorts used …want to say Redbook San Francisco?