craigslist Crime: craigslist Prostitution Ads Crackdown a Sham?

Trench Reynolds: DBKP This Week in Crime
November 3-9, 2008
Volume 35





I'm Trench Reynolds.

I blog about crime.


This is DBKP's This Week in Crime for November 3-9, 2008.

---

It was announced last week on the official craigslist blog that craigslist will be taking new steps to limiting the amount of ads that are placed in their 'erotic services' section.

For those who may not know craigslist is a wildly popular free classifieds website. One of the sections, known as erotic services, advertises escort services and erotic massages among other 'services'. A majority of the time these ads are nothing less than a front for prostitution, which sometimes often entails human trafficking and child prostitution.

Up until recently craigslist used the defense that their users are supposed to flag any ads that offer illegal services. As I have stated in the past, this is akin to letting the inmates run the asylum. People who use craigslist to sell a couch for example are not going to go into the erotic services section to flag illegal ads. Conversely people who use the erotic services section aren't going to flag any of the ads because that is what they're looking for.

A few months ago craigslist made it so that anyone wanting to post an ad in the erotic services section needed to have a working phone. They claim it cut down on the number of erotic service ads by 80%. Yet by my estimations it didn't cut down on the amount of craigslist prostitution arrests. It also gave birth to a new cottage industry. Websites sprung up for the sole purpose of helping denizens of the erotic services section circumvent the need for a working phone.

Now craigslist has started a new initiative in limiting the amount of erotic service ads. Craigslist made this announcement as a joint partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Their new measurements are to start charging a small fee with a valid credit card to be able to place an erotic services ad. The money from the ads will go to a charity, which to my knowledge craigslist has not announced which charity it would be. Also craigslist is suing the websites that seek to circumvent its security measures.

On the surface this all seems great however if you dig a little deeper you'll see that this is nothing more than a PR move from craigslist. This will not discourage pimps and prostitutes from trying to make money on craigslist. They'll just go to using more illegal means. I predict that you'll see either pre-paid or stolen credit cards used to place the ads. And instead of eliminating the erotic services section altogether craigslist trots out the NCMEC as its partner in this crusade. I'm not knocking the NCMEC, they do some great work, but they've been duped in this matter. These measures were put in place due to an agreement craigslist reached with the attorneys general of 42 states. This was an obvious compromise mostly just to get the AGs of their back.

If craigslist was really concerned about human trafficking and child prostitution they would eliminate the erotic services section in its entirety. Their excuse is if they did then those people placing ads would just place them in other parts of the site. Isn't that where their user policing is supposed to come in? There are plenty of other websites out there where 'escort services' advertise their wares, it's not exclusive to just craigslist. However it's my belief that they won't eliminate the erotic services due to the traffic it drives to the site.

And by some miracle if these measures actually do eliminate prostitution from craigslist there will still be the regular assortment of scams, robberies, sexual assaults and stolen goods that occur regularly on craigslist.

by Trench Reynolds
image: Trench Network

Joe The Plumber, Records: Ohio Probe Begins into Government Snooping

Joe The Plumber Probe:
Investigation Begins in Ohio
Over State Government Snooping



Smiling Faces
Smiling faces show no traces of the evil that lurks within
Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes
They don't tell the truth uh
Smiling faces, smiling faces
--The Temptaions; The Undisputed Truth

---

Joe The Plumber Snooper Gets Paid Leave

DBKP reported before, and perhaps initially, that Helen Jones-Kelley violated both State and Federal Regulations when she ordered staff to conduct an investigative sweep of Joe The Plumber using the Child Support investigative computers. These computers have more access than any other in government, being able to review files for taxes, property records, traffic, crime, prison, drivers license, court, and on and on. The reason given is that the need is imperative and the use is non-criminal.

Hence no warrant needed.

Joe the Plumber Ohio Records: Illegal Child Support Searches Violate Laws

It now appears that despite the cover given her by the despicable and corrupt Governor Strickland, that the Attorney General--who in fact administers the Child Support collection efforts and knows the law well, or at least assigned staff who does--has put together enough of a case to commence disciplinary proceedings.

Jones-Kelley put on paid leave by governor

As the Dayton Daily News reports:

"COLUMBUS — Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and former head of that department in Montgomery County, has been placed on paid administrative leave by Gov. Ted Strickland.

Charles already was investigating reports that a department computer was used to gather personal information about "Joe the Plumber" — Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher of suburban Toledo — after Wurzelbacher emerged as a key figure in the presidential race in Ohio. The information included whether he owed child support, which he said he didn't.

He criticized Democrat Barack Obama's tax plan and endorsed Republican John McCain.

Charles is investigating whether such use of a state computer is legal. Jones-Kelley said there was nothing wrong with the check and suggested it was common practice for her department to do research on Ohioans in the news.

...

"

Michelle Malkin also reports this, Ohio government snooper put on leave for plumbing Plumber’s records.

Well, it sure took them long enough, didn’t it?

Via Dayton Daily News (which you’ll notice fails to mention that Jones-Kelley is a max contributor to Obama’s campaign)

An Ohio Highway Patrol trooper was stationed at the end of Jones-Kelley's driveway in Clayton on Friday night. He declined to allow a reporter to approach Jones-Kelley's home.

Strickland, a Democrat, has said that so far he had received no information to suggest that any state employee either accessed or disclosed information in an inappropriate or improper way."

Sure.

That is why the entire country knows that Joe the Plumber does not owe Child Support, etc.

The TRUTH is this: Strickland did not ask Charles to investigate. Charles did so on his own after being informed by his staff that such information such as the child support and court status of Joe the Plumber, as was leaked to the media, had to involve the illegal usage of a Ohio State Child Support Investigative computer.

A simple check matching the security entry codes (issued to each child support investigator) with a search relative to Joe the Plumber quickly revealed the investigator who accessed his files, all files by the way. A security review of the investigator, usually conducted by Bureau head, quickly produced the fact ther investigator was ordered to do the review by Helen Jones-Kelley under the fallacious excuse that Joe had requested information on his file.

It was also revealed that the investigator had no idea who Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Joseph Wurzelbacher was. The given name was unfamiliar to her. Even though Jones-Kelley is not entitled to the information as she is not in the need-to-know loop, it is likely the investigator thought she was merely passing on good news to someone.



Ms Jones-Kelley must be fired. As a law enforcement official, she has totally compromised her position and the trust of the public. She should be charged with both State and Federal crimes. (of course, we all know that Bush only prosecutes Republicans)

As for Strickland, he waited until after the election because Charles was running for office. No doubt hoping it would blow over if Charles lost.

Unfortunately for Strickland, Charles did not let go.

As for that guard at the door, he is there to make sure the press do not learn it was Governor Strickland who asked Helen Jones-Kelley to commence the computer sweep.

That is my guess.

[ABOVE: Ohio Governor Ted Strickland]


by pat
images: lorraincountydemocraticparty
Sources:
* Dayton Daly News
* Dayton Daily News

Illegal Immigrantion Video: Illegal Immigration and the Bailout

Illegal Immigration and the Bailout
One More Story you Won't see at MSNBC, CNN, CBS, Time, Newsweek, et.al.



This week's Blogs4Borders' video report takes a look at the connection between illegal immigrants and the massive proposed $700 billion bailout--defeated yesterday in the House of Representatives.

Vigilance Dispatch: Everyone is talking about the massive bailouts. How has illegal immigration fed into the financial crisis that Washington plans to fix using our taxpayer dollars?

Michelle Malkin addressed this very issue last week in "Kill the bailout: Illegal immigration and the mortgage mess": it is "the bailout angle no one wants to talk about: Open borders and the home loan debacle."

You’ve heard a lot about Fannie/Freddie and the minority lending shakedowns, but you haven’t heard most commentators/analysts on either the left or the right talk about the massive illegal alien mortgage racket — a topic I’ve reported on for the past five years. That’s because fault lies at the feet of the crime-enabling banking industry and the ethnic lobbyists and the illegal alien-enabling Bush administration.

They screwed us. Now, they want us to fork over a trillion dollars.

Screw them.

Kill this bailout.

And I second Mark Krikorian: Credit is not a civil right. It’s not a civil right for illegal aliens. For foreign banks. For American banks. For anyone. The bailout proposal, as I noted earlier, now includes student loans and auto loan debt. Will our tax dollars next cover foreign student loan debts? Illegal alien in-state discounted college tuition debt? Where and when will it end?

It's all about buying votes.

Democrats, as the party of a wide collection of special interests, are accomplished masters at the tactic. President Bush, with his Prescription Drug Benefits; and Republicans senators and congressmen--with their EarmarkMania--horned in on the racket.

It was one of Bush's singular failures. Republicans lost their majorities in Congress, at least partially, because of it. The Republican Party is home to a sizable constituency that sees securing votes at the the public expense as wrong.

Little wonder you hear little of this among a Mainstream Media anxious to throw more taxpayers' logs on the financial fire.


by Mondo
image: Atlas Shrugged