If you press charges against Eros or CityVibe, then you must also press charges against every telecommunications company in the nation for accepting escort advertising in the yellow pages.
TER is based in The Netherlands, so they have very little to worry about.
Bigdoggie.net's owners had themselves some very serious legal trouble about 4 years ago. They were indicted for going beyond their role as board operators and becoming actively involved in the business of prostitution. They were accused of trading favorable treatment and higher "rankings" in exchange for money and sex. They were also charged with hindering investigations by "outing" and banning those ladies suspected of being cops.
So long as you simply provide a forum or place to advertise, and you have no idea what illegal activities might be occuring after these ads are placed, then you are probably OK. But I'm willing to bet that Eros and CityVibe have attorneys on retainer (no doubt)!
Owners of another escort review board (one that is not TER) was prosecuted in Florida in a case that began in 2002. Eventually charges were dropped. Here is a link to a newspaper article that summarizes the case.
I'd not seen that specific article. It is perhaps the most complete summary of the case in existence.
One of the things it leaves out is how Charles Kelly is alleged to have given special powers to those ladies who paid him the most. They helped choose which ladies would be allowed to network through the site, and which were not. They could influence him to ban certain paying members for having written negative reviews of them. A good portion of the charges against Kelly involved extortion, RICO violations and interfering in a police investigation.
It's when the operators of the site get involved in more than just the facilitation of reviews and advertising that trouble brews. A lot of operators can not resist the temptation to receive services in trade from a provider who wishes to further her business success (and see the demise of others).
An interesting question I have now...If a girl can offer a sexual act through use of a codeword and still be arrested (For example, CBJ for $150), in theory, the yellow pages and any other advertising venue should be complicit in that if they accept an ad from an escort or escort service that offers "GFE"? In my city, there is an escort service that specifies "All ladies are GFE" in their Yellow Page ad. Isn't that akin to a drug dealer taking out an ad saying "two rocks for $50"?
left out of the article was how some of the more 'popular' girls would get together for lunch and discuss business along with some of their favorite clients. These lunch meetings were publicized on the TBD site as were meet and greet parties. It were these meetings that gave LE the excuse, or idea, to apply the RICO statute and file conspiracy charges. There was lots of infighting in the Tampa Bay area when this was going on with insiders trying to find out who was talking to LE. There was one boyfriend, a real basket case, of one of the providers who supposedly made threats against some of the informants. Lots of lives were messed up by this. Ever since then, I keep a very low profile on such sites and I certainly do not write reviews any longer. I have never been back to TBD.
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