Lot of this on various boards.  I've a grim feeling that BP will have to give up on adult ads, much as craigslist did a few years ago.  Could be wrong, could be that BP will fight back and win on 1st amendment or some such.  

Since RB was busted, BP's been my prime source of what's happening on a day-to-day basis.
Though I've kind of settled on one favorite babe for quite a while now, I'll miss browsing the ads if they go.

Thoughts?

Except for the minor part.  If they get  him on anything related to minors, he better get use to prison rape.  He'll be going bye bye for a long time.  I'm not sure what happened but maybe he got fat and happy and took his eye off the ball.  As an example, providers use to post nude pics and they would get taken down almost immediately.  Now, nude pics get posted in the ad and they stay there for days.  CL got nailed about five years back and almost all of casual encounters is hooker ads.  So, its not going away, just relocating.  asexyservice is one that seems to be getting popular now.  Maybe that one is next?  

I do wonder if Backpage will try to keep their adult ads going while they're fighting these charges... it kind of seems like they'd have to take them down like Craigslist did. But yeah, if they disappear, some new place will pop up to fill the gap. Maybe adultsearch? asexyservice? Who knows. It's going to be a mad scramble for a minute lol.

I mean I use Eros, TER and my personal website to advertise too, but Backpage is still king right now.

Suzy

Of the thousands of ads posted in BP, I'd guess that there are a handful to dozens or hundreds that slip in for 17 year olds or even younger in spite of whatever BP attempts to do to prevent that.

LA Times: "During the three-year-long inquiry, authorities in California stated they found numerous instances in which the company received fees from ads for escorts under the age of 18. The minors lived in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Santa Clara counties, according to the criminal complaint."

But irrespective of minors, there's a lot of ammo behind the pimping charge, where California law roughly reads, "...a person commits the crime of felony pimping by living off of or making money from the earnings of a prostitute, or soliciting customers for a prostitute."  They apparently make most of their income from the adult ads.

It's good press for Kamala Harris in her senate run

Based on cultural changes (for better or worse) adult sexuality is now manifested at age 16 for most.

Websites such as 'backpage' are merely providing the means to sell their services.  If this basic freedom was seriously restricted (assuming that is even possible), poverty would increase among the providers and/or their working conditions would become far more risky, prompting many to seek the perceived 'shelter' of abusive parasitic scumbag pimps who should be prosecuted and confined.

And in another life venue, those cultural changes should also warrant a re-set of the voting age to 25 for the presidency.

There's no single age that people reach the capability to make rational decisions in all areas of life.

Here is what I'm thinking.  Those laws are archaic.  

Vote:  If you live in a fly over state:  Age 30, possibly 35-40.  
Vote:  Every other state:  Age 25
Drive: 21
Purchase cigarettes:  Age 13
Purchase wine and beer:  Age 15
Purchase hard liquor:  Age 15 1/2
Sex (Oral Only):  12 (females), 13 (Males)
Full Sex:  Age 16 across the board, NO exceptions.
Right to purchase bath salts:  No age limit
Right to purchase synthetic marijuana:  No age limit

C'mon, I know the nation is headed for 3rd world status, but didn't think the culture had gotten that depraved ... yet.  Is this what's going on out there now along the perimeter?  Years ago while walking thru a Section 8 apartment complex, I saw a girl about that age give me 'a look' and it f%#king creeped me out.  Want no part of that!

And howa' those good old boys and inbred babes in states like Kentucky and Arkansas gonna vote for bible thumpin' Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz if you make 'em wait till they growed to age 40?

Im not so sure. It seems as though BP is going to have to continue its current business model, they're going give up entirely. Roughly 80% of the revenue that the site brings in is from adult advertising, so if they gave up adult ads, they be loosing most of what they make. Who know if that remaining 20% would be enough to cover operating expenses. i guess time will tell...    

I think its a bit early to tell how here going to go about it in relation to say how Redbook or Rentboy had made argument in court. Those cases were largely formed by LE and prosecutors as a need to end sex work, which is why a first amendment or 14th amendment defense is reasonable there because they can pull of similarly situated cases like Loving v Virginia, or Lawrence v Texas for example. Being framed in such a way, rebook and RentBoy have chosen to make their arguments about consensual interactions between two adults, which are framed as rights issues which necessitates strict scrutiny by the courts. BP is a bit different.  

It seems like the prosecutions use, in this instance, of the trafficking "victim" narrative is a means to anticipate the first amendment arguments that BP could bring. In that  case the government has a significantly more "compelling interest" in the activity (stemming the spread of "trafficking" even though its little more than a boogyman to cover attacking providers and patrons for other moral crap). I totally agree with you though, in any case I don't think it would hurt for BP to still use that as at least an alternate defense.
    I don't think you're going to be the only one. I know a lot of providers and hobbyists give BP a lot of shit for supposed lower quality providers, however BP is still BP, an its still king. The site has, by far, the most traffic for escort specific keyboarding. The last time I checked the analytics of various sites, an also what their numbers are in specific markets, BP eclipsed everyone else by about 20 to 1. BP bring intense of millions of hits a day, while--as an example--Eros, which is the second in sites rated by traffic brings in less than a million per day. Thats a pretty huge gulf in terms of exposure. So for both providers and hobbyists, loosing BP would be pretty devastating in terms of ease of access for hobbyists seeking providers. it will be really interesting to see how this case goes, and maybe, with the sheer size of BP and how many lives it touches, it will be enough to motivate hobbyists and providers into campaigning and advocating for alternative, such as whats being used in Australia or elsewhere.

sorry guys I just get upset over this ,,, new to the site so for give me for my grammar and spell  
So were goin back to the old day were pimps would drive around with big hats makeing sure that there G are working there body .. and you would find a TS like me in the book store paper, good times ... not going to happen ..  
The way it is now and it alway been,  there some runaway that meets some losser that has the only thing going is to take advantage of the runaway . Government spends millions and millions of dollars a week , b p is not at  fault ..  
The government is  at fault.. industry should be leagal that good for the workers and safe for the clientele,, and some of the revenue made can be put to helping runaway /healthcare/etc..
Javelin.knight SF Ca,