Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Senior editor at Reason, covering sex, speech, tech, justice, prohibition & panic. Cofounder of Feminists for Liberty. Professional affiliate at the University of Cincinnati journalism school. Current lifestyle iteration: nice Midwestern mom
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The Rise and Fall of Backpageyoutu.be Michael Lacey and James Larkin's website, Backpage.com was seized in April 2018 and they were arrested for allegedly facilitating prostitution. They have maintained their innocence, saying the publishing on their website, which included adult ads and general classifieds, is protected by the First Amendment. #FOSTA #KamalaHarris #Backpage ------------------ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/reasontv Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine/ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason Subscribe to our podcast at Apple Podcasts: https://goo.gl/az3a7a Reason is the leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines. ------------------ On the morning of April 6, 2018, the FBI arrested Michael Lacey and James Larkin and seized Backpage.com, the website they created in 2004, on allegations that it was a platform for underage sex trafficking. Lacey and Larkin were later charged with money laundering, conspiracy, and facilitating prostitution. The two men have maintained their innocence and are now confined to Maricopa County, Arizona, via ankle monitors. Their trial is scheduled for 2020. Veteran newspaper publishers, Lacey and Larkin see their arrest and prosecution as an assault on the First Amendment. In the early 1970s, they built an alt-weekly empire specializing in muckraking journalism. In the process, they made enemies of powerful figures in Arizona politics, including John McCain, his wife, Cindy, and former Sheriff Joe Arpaio. After the internet and Craigslist gutted their business model, Lacey and Larkin launched Backpage.com, an online version of the classified sections of their print newspapers. Illegal activity was never allowed on Backpage, but sex workers advertised their services via innuendo. Connecting with clients online turned out to be considerably safer than walking the streets or working for a pimp. The internet empowered sex workers. Lacey and Larkin were able to fend off legal challenges thanks to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which said that website platforms aren't responsible for third party content. As sex work became conflated with sex trafficking, that defense was eroded. Lost in the panic was Lacey and Larkin's behind-the-scenes collaboration with law enforcement in responding to subpoenas and even training vice officers on how to use the site to catch traffickers. Backpage's Carl Ferrer even received a certificate from then-FBI Chief Robert Mueller for his outstanding cooperation helping with sex trafficking investigations. This is the story of the rise and fall of a newspaper empire, and how a new moral crusade is endangering sex workers, shielding traffickers, empowering pimps, and undermining free speech online. Written, shot, produced, edited, graphics, and narrated by Paul Detrick. Additional camera by Todd Krainin, Zach Weissmuller, Meredith Bragg, Alexis Garcia, Mark McDaniel, and Justin Monticello. Dreams Become Real by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1500027 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Darkest Child A by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100783 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100783 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Feather Waltz by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100658 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Full credits: https://reason.com/video/war-on-backpage-com-is-a-war-on-sex-workers/
The Collapsing Federal Prostitution Case Against Backpage.comyoutu.be In April 2018, the founders of the online classifieds website Backpage.com, Michael Lacey and James Larkin, and five people who worked for them, were indicted. One of the employees has already pleaded guilty. Lacey and Larkin were accused of facilitating prostitution in violation of the Travel Act, money laundering, and conspiracy. The irony was that Backpage had been working with the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to help police investigate instances of sex trafficking, and the police had come to rely on its cooperation. In September 2021, federal Judge Susan Brnovich was forced to declare a mistrial in the case. Lacey and Larkin's determination to fight all the way to the end is laying bare what Reason has been reporting for years: The government's case against Backpage is a house of cards. Produced by Paul Detrick; music by Lex Villena, Jeremy Black Rod Lamkey - CNP/picture alliance / Consolidated News Photos/Newscom, Howard Lipin/ZUMA Press/Newscom, Sonia Moskowitz/ZUMApress/Newscom, Graylock/ABACAUSA.COM/Newscom, Gage Skidmore, Mirrorpix / MEGA / Newscom, Hector Amezcua/ZUMA Press/Newscom, Marc Raishbrook / Splash News/Newscom
Kamala Harris' Dishonest Campaign To Destroy Backpage.comyoutu.be The vice-presidential candidate opportunistically painted the site's co-founders as villains when they were actually helping law enforcement to catch sex traffickers. Watch the full documentary: https://youtu.be/DPchvgMsjl8 ---- Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/ReasonTV?sub_... Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines. ----- Before Senator and former California Attorney General Kamala Harris was chosen as Joe Biden's running mate in the 2020 election, she played a role in a campaign to force a website called Backpage.com to stop operating on the grounds that it was used to facilitate sex trafficking. "Backpage.com needs to shut itself down, when it has created as its business model the profiting off of selling human beings and the purchase of human beings," Harris said at a 2012 press conference. She would go on to spread misinformation about the site and its co-founders, Michael Lacey and James Larkin, and she co-filed criminal charges that were quickly dismissed but succeeded at garnering headlines and photo ops that raised her political profile. In reality, Backpage.com had become a powerful tool for law enforcement to help catch sex traffickers because of the cooperation and commitment of the site's founders to that cause, whom Harris and many other states' attorneys general had painted as villains. Reason's Elizabeth Nolan-Brown revealed secret Justice Department memos showing prosecutors spent years trying to build a child sex trafficking case against Backpage but failed "to uncover compelling evidence of criminal intent or a pattern of reckless conduct regarding minors." Instead, Justice Department officials found Backpage was "remarkably responsive" to law enforcement requests and proactively sent ads containing minors to authorities The memos revealed a story that didn't match the characterization that Harris and other politicians, attorneys general, and activists had been pushing for years. #KamalaHarris #Election2020 #backpage Produced by Paul Detrick. Sen. Kamala Harris at podium and microphone: CARLOS BARRIA/REUTERS/Newscom; Harris campaigning: Howard Lipin/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Harris walking: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Newscom; Lacey and Larkin in the courtroom: Hector Amezcua/TNS/Newscom; Harris on election night: ARMANDO ARORIZO/EFE/Newscom; Backpage screen: ZUMA Press/Newscom; Photos of Sacramento courtroom: Hector Amezcua/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Harris: Hector Amezcua/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Harris in the elevator: Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS/Newscom; Harris at the podium: MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS/Newscom; Harris; Credit: Jeff Malet Photography/Newscom
Social media moderation is speech, says Supreme Courtreason.com The U.S. Supreme Court is remanding these two cases for more analysis—but it made its views on some key issues clear.
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The legacy of Assange's prosecutionreason.com The treatment of the WIkiLeaks founder serves as a warning to anyone who would so much as write about leaked information or publish classified documents.
ID Verification Service for TikTok, Uber, X Exposed Driver Licenseswww.404media.co As social networks and porn sites move towards a verified identity model, the actions of one cybersecurity researcher show that ID verification services themselves could get hacked too.
How the Libertarian Party lost its wayreason.com Two years post-"takeover," some longtime activists and donors have pulled their support, claiming the Mises Caucus is running the party into the ground.
Does weed cause strokes and heart attacks?reason.com A widely cited study commits so many egregious statistical errors that it's a poster child for junk science.
Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge to Tennessee Law Banning Transition Care for Minorswww.nytimes.com The state law bans health care providers from offering gender transition care to children.
‘Dobbs’ re-centered women in the abortion debatereason.com Two years after the 'Dobbs' decision, Americans are increasingly concerned with how abortion bans affect women with wanted pregnancies.
The Stop Comstock Act doesn't go far enoughreason.com Upcoming legislation would repeal parts of the 1873 law that could be used to target abortion, but the Comstock Act's reach is much more broad than that.
Government can't fix America's baby bustreason.com The obstacles to having more babies can't be moved by tax incentives or subsidized child care.
Please Help Journalist Linda Tiradowww.everythingishorrible.net Linda has a traumatic brain injury and needs support for her family and for end of life.
Opinion | Libertarian Candidates Can Change Presidential Outcomes. What Does the New Nominee Believe?www.nytimes.com Jane Coaston interviews the new nominee, Chase Oliver, about his beliefs.
Unanimous Supreme Court rejects abortion pill challengereason.com A "desire to make a drug less available for others does not establish standing to sue," wrote Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the Court's opinion.
The myth of the Argentine yoga school sex cultreason.com Argentinian prosecutors say the Buenos Aires Yoga School was a sex trafficking cult, but the women they've labeled as victims say this isn't true.