"I got a letter from Capitol One bank today saying they were closing my checking & credit card account. The reasoning was vague "we've observed activity on your account not consistent with our expectations, personal, family or household purposes. What the ever loving fuck?with the Eros raid by the feds recently??"
Dave notes there are other reports of this by Chase, Wells and other banks. Seems to be the result of the raid on Eros and getting all the personal information of members and those placing ads. As The Eros Raid Means None of Us Are Safe in Tits and Sass reports:Eros-Guide’s call center in Youngsville, North Carolina, was raided by the Department of Homeland Security. A dozen black government vehicles converged on parent company Bolma Star Service’s office and data center, beginning a search and seizure operation that would last into the night. They confiscated computers, documents, and servers. The search warrant is sealed in federal court, with officials offering no comment on the investigation besides the fact that it is an active investigation. No arrests have been made yet, or charges filed. But collectively, we sex workers shudder with that familiar fear: we’re witnessing yet another instance of an ominous multi-year pattern, from Craigslist to MyRedBook to Rentboy to Backpage, of our advertising platforms being raided or pressured out of existence. Once again, some of us are left in desperate suspense, waiting to see if our business models are about to be disrupted; if we’re going to be left in economic turmoil. Sure, eros.com and the other Eros subsidiary sites are still up for the moment, but how secure are they to conduct business over now?
We need to put our heads together to weather the storm.
At least TER seems like a safe haven.
Here's a song written about similar circumstances way back in the 1970s:
This did not surprise me if they are doing this or just starting. I cannot remember offhand when they started this before, but it is the same idea that they used against firearm manufactures, firearm accessories and some hunting equipment.
Dave I call bullshit on the person sent you this information.
Please do not be upset but understand why first. I very concerned about this. It would have a big impact on me. So i research it.
I take the words you have in quotes "we've observed activity on your account not consistent with our expectations, personal, family or household purposes" and I google it.
I find that exact language posted 2011 in rip off reports. I find it other places also. I attach the link you review.
I think someone sending you bullshit. Or I think trying link if it is true to EROS, is stretch since it appear has been happening for at least since 2011.
Your thoughts and anyone else very welcome.
Christine
For someone who is supposedly an attorney, Dave composes some very poorly written posts, complete with some very egregious errors in spelling, unlike any real attorney I have ever meant. Not to mention some VERY sloppy research.
I agree with Christine and I join her in calling BULLSHIT.
Laypeople (see what I did here) are expected to make the occasional typo, mis-spelled word or to compose their sentences in a clumsy way at times, but lawyers, real lawyers at least, almost never make even the slightest grammatical or spelling errors when they write. The more I read Dave's posts, the more I believe he is yet another "fake lawyer" posting on this board. Not to mention a Chicken Little who is constantly trying to tell us "The sky is falling"
For someone who is supposedly an attorney, Dave composes some very poorly written posts, complete with some very egregious errors in spelling, unlike any real attorney I have ever meant. Not to mention some VERY sloppy research.
2) I am not a lawyer, never claimed to be. For two decades I have followed court cases looking for wins and been an outspoken advocate for decriminalization and a harm reduction model as in Canada.
3) Grammer and English I admit I am bad at. But I always present factual well-researched data in all of my reports. Much of it directly from companions who contact me since I am for decade's a well known advocate for companions have helped against attackers (i.e. guy who almost killed 12 in Phoenix now in Prison for 100 years due to my helping companions go to the police etc.)
I said there is no such bank as "Capitol One" I never said there was no such bank as "Capital One"
If you are going to insist on making posts that imply you are some kind of professional advocate, you should expect to be held to the same standards as all the other fake lawyers here, and that includes knowing the difference between such simple words as Capitol/Capital and Principal/Principle.
IMHO providers with issues would be much better served by retaining fishbro than you. At least he adds the disclaimer with every post that he is NOT a lawyer.
Lastly, the "harm reduction model" currently in place in Canada is hardly a "win" it's simply another way to skin a cat. Why you support it is beyond me, and why no one calls you out for your support of it is also beyond me. I remain completely convinced that you are a legend in your own mind.
Vs. in Canada LE goes after the REAL forced prostitution, underage etc not in private consenting adults.
BTW the misspelling about Capital/ol was because I copied and pasted the exact wording from a companions' report with the misspelling. Yes, I should have added (sic) after it but have you ever seem twitter posts vs errors here?
Otherwise, I won't respond to your attacks since most folks know my positive reputation for decades on reporting facts from real cases etc trying to help both companions and guys to know the issues to avoid getting in legal trouble.
As for the "harm reduction model" in Canada, How is going after the customers any better than going after the providers?
As for the "harm reduction model" in Canada, How is going after the customers any better than going after the providers?
New 2015 C36 law after the Supreme Court ruling in Canada
In 2015 when C36 was passed most major cities police departments including Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal issued press releases or stated they were going to follow the Supreme Court's harm reduction model and not change any enforcement.
If the law is enforced against private consenting adults a new court challenge is likely on the same basis that the Supreme Court declared prior prostitution laws unconstitutional since it increased the risk of harm.
To date other than in a few conservative smaller cities, C36 has only been enforced against street hookers based on nuisance complaints and for coerced, forced or underage prostitution.
Victoria has long welcomed incalls downtown even before 2013. They have done inspections of the brothels but only to be sure all workers were adults and they pay about a $100/year registration fee.
Toronto has many great huge agencies many of which have opened incalls in various parts of the Toronto area and have great working relationship with LE in case there are any bad client issues. It was and is still illegal for agencies to earn off of prostitution (used to be called "living off the avails". However, agencies never had any issue under either old or new law, since they only offer time with a companion and do not advertise sex.
Most of the Toronto agencies for outcall provide drivers for the companions. Companions earn far more of the say $CDN250/hr. (about $US200) fee than typical in the U.S. resulting in safety and security of workers and customers. Outcall's were legal even before the 2013 Supreme Court case, although previously incalls (bawdy houses) were illegal.
Valerie Scott of Sex Professionals of Canada says:
"The Court understood that harm would be vastly decreased by working indoors, together and with proper client-screening techniques.
"But that victory was stolen by the Harper government which, in an effort to shore up its base before the 2015 election, used its remaining time in power to write even more regressive legislation that penalizes communication for the purposes of prostitution, which criminalizes clients and has had the effect of driving the sex trade further underground.
"The new laws, the Liberals promised to repeal during the election campaign"
Dave notes there has been little pressure on the new Liberals in control to repeal the new law since it simply is rarely enforced at least in the major cities for private consenting adults.
Not the onerous and draconian law itself?
Yes, you most DEFINITELY are not a lawyer as you seem to be all over the place with this. I certainly hope your "clients" don't get charged for your services.
BTW talking about yourself in the third person REALLY adds to the impression that many of us have about you being "full of yourself"
Then let's not forget my favorite: Discrete/discreet. One means individual (GaGa's 13 discrete posts), the other means private (GaGa's discreet about his activities). Amazing how many people can't discriminate between the two. I laugh every time I see a woman post "I'm looking for someone who can be discrete." We're all discrete, but not all discreet.
Not on this list: Lose/Loose. Good lord, it's pathetic how many people just can't get this one right. Nothing sadder than seeing someone called "A looser."
Dave I call bullshit on the person sent you this information.
Your thoughts and anyone else very welcome.
Christine
2) Yes, to some extent this has been going on for years - including paypal about a decade ago when ownership changed - my own paypal acct was frozen for 180 days since thought related to adult content.
3) Since the raid there has been a new "burst" of these reports of canceled accounts.
but I'd expect this in an email or stupid spam mail... fishing (phishing) for people to panic about loosing access to their accounts... click on a spoofed link or redirected phone call to said scammer to try to helpfully relieve you of your account information. The terminology is nearly the same.
ALWAYS use your verified bank links or phone numbers that you enter yourself.
Government and banks love each other. If the government traced a financial record from Eros to a credit card or bank, the bank would shut it down if told to by the government. The standard language is the same regardless and banks have a form letter such that they do not want to appear to discriminate based on race or religion but otherwise can shut an account down using their boilerplate language.
Banks only exist because of the money supply which in turn is loaned by the government and national debt/treasury bills which is sold to Japan/China so basically any bank will do anything told by a government agent. Banks depend on bailouts, etc. and essentially do not care about anything else like rights or privacy.
The basement is the safest place in the event of nuclear attack for fallout protection.
Especially in that the government will do nothing to protect us.
May come from the recent repeal of net neutrality rules. Before this repeal, ISP's can not stop a user from accessing a site as long as they are not breaking any laws. After the repeal, LE can pressure ISP's to block access to non-US based sites like TER, even if accessing the site it not actually illegal. LE can threaten corporates with subpoenas and extended investigations of alleged aiding and abetting sex trafficking. The ISP's will find it easy to shut down access to sites like this to avoid the legal scrutiny. A form of government sponsored censorship. And your 1st amendment rights won't mean a thing.
Has nothing to do with the new net neutrality rules -I think you're confusing it with Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act of 2017 (SESTA) S. 1693 - see my extensive post earlier.
But has nothing to do with if foreign or in U.S.
Nope, herb is not confusing those two. Seems you are trying to do that -- why?.
Herb is entirely correct that ISPs will be subject to new kinds of censorship pressures once succumbing to that pressure is legally allowable. This will happen independently of SESTA.
Please provide your source. I would be happy to research and correct myself, but I have never heard anything like this unless.
Nope, herb is not confusing those two. Seems you are trying to do that -- why?.
Herb is entirely correct that ISPs will be subject to new kinds of censorship pressures once succumbing to that pressure is legally allowable. This will happen independently of SESTA.
My "source"? You thought I was just repeating what someone else said?
Please re-read Herb's description, it's plain and not confused.
Do not read it as a mistaken reference to SESTA, which (while terrible) is not the point.
Destruction of net neutrality and analysis of the effects are fairly new -- you should not expect to find this analysis in the historical literature. Just think it through with us. It's analysis, not quotation of "authority".
I find no evidence or discussion how net neutrality could result in blocking any content, only potential fast lanes that could have higher fees for certain content especially high bandwidth stuff like 4k streams as well as to encourage innovation in new applications and technology. I am against the change to eliminate it but I don't see how other than in a fantasy it would restrict content. I would welcome any link to a discussion that seriously discusses that possibility and I would evaluate it.
Here's the problem. Although the net neutrality "talking points" have been focused on the idea of ISP's charging premiums for access to services that supposedly cost them more to provide, like 4k streams that will "choke" traffic by hogging bandwidth. Or charging premiums for services/content that competes with the ISP (like blocking access to Google in favor of the ISP's own search engine/ad platform). There is also nothing now preventing ISP's from effectively restricting free speech by denying (or charging exorbitantly high fees to) access any content they "feel" is not aligned with whatever values they choose to cite.
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For instance, Comcast can now easily, and legally deny access to TER to any and all of it's customers and justify it by saying:
1. It's a risk to security of their system (illicit actions invite hackers and hackers are an inherent threat),
2. It's only purpose is to facilitate the commission of felonies like sex trafficking.
3. Or even just blatantly saying that management, shareholders, and/or customers believe that paid sex is morally wrong and they refuse to condone or support it.
Furthermore, since Comcast and most other major ISP's are effectively legalized monopolies (I,e.: the ONLY viable ISP in any given metro area) they leave their customers (hostages?) no other alternative to access the content they want.
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If you don't think that's feasible, go to Beijing and try to access Google, Amazon, or PornHub. Or go to a country that never had NN rules and see the add-on charges assessed to access sites like FB, LinkedIn, or Netflix. It's the same business model as the cable companies (who are now essentially also the ISP's) charging add on fees for HBO, and the Playboy channel. Except in the case of ISP access they are not passing some or all of the additional fees to the content provider.
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Taken to it's extreme, you could end up having the following conversation with your ISP's customer service rep:
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Hi may I help you?
- Yes, I'd like to sign on to Facebook please.
Ok, you have our basic internet plan, so you need to pay an additional fee of $15 a month to use FB. For that you get access for 10 minutes a day between 3:00 am and 3:10 am. Its' read only. If you want to post on your timeline or add a comment it's $20 a month and $30 if you want to upload up to one pic (max 0.5 mb) a day.
- Um.. I'll pass.
Ok then!
- How about Google? I need to do some research on my wife's medical condition.
Sure! That's just $8 dollars a search and $2 for every search result clicked, as long as you have pre-paid access to the listed result's site. If not, it's a $5 surcharge to look at the result for 5 minutes. Of course you can print out the results for just $1 a page. It's a special we have this month!
- Oh... have to think about that.
- So with the basic package I have at $35 a month, what can I access now?
Great question! You have unlimited use of our ISP Search engine, look up as many retailer ads from our preferred seller list as you want. And if you end up buying something online, we only need 1.5% of the total sale (before tax of course!) amount as a "transaction facilitation fee"! You'll find that's a real bargain as our competitors (you know, the service that's NOT available in your state?) charge 1.75%. Of course you can always look up your service account and pay your bill online anytime you want. It's a really good idea since paying be a mailed-in paper check incurs a $15 paper handling fee. That's just our way of saying "Thanks for being a valued customer!"
- Hmm... good news there, I suppose...
- By the way, I'd like to access this special service review site..
Oh like Angie's list? Sure that's just $5 a month plus $2 per review accessed. And of course there's the 1.5% transaction facilitation fee if you book a service. We try to reduce confusion by being consistent. By the way, our call has now lasted for 5 minutes. That's the max free-time support per day. If you'd like to continue, it's just $3 per minute. OK?
- Well I just have one more question, so I guess it's ok.
Great! Go ahead...
- The reviews I was asking about are from a site called TER. Can I get access to that, please?
Oh dear! I'm sorry that's arbitrarily forbidden by our company. And since you asked I have now shut down your account, charged your credit card a $1,000 illegal use termination fee and reported your name, address, baking info, copies of all your emails and texts since the beginning of time and all of you contacts and travel history to local, state and federal law enforcement agencies including special task forces for child porn and sex trafficking. Shame on you, PERVERT!!!
Click.
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Well, it's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea...