DannyBee on March 23, next [β]. This is not surprising, but sad. Years ago, i was dragged i was the only engineer in the local office into a whitehouse or maybe it was state department, i can't remember sponsored working group on online sex trafficking.
The non-profits dedicated to fighting this, while seemingly well-intentioned, were completely and totally unwilling to see any other perspective or try to find shared ground.
It was scorched earth approach or nothing. Literally to the tune of "we should be burning down craigslist entirely, and yahoo, google, microsoft, etc should be required to be scanning your search history and reporting you to the police if they suspect you might be sex trafficking". It was frustrating enough that two of the other participants literally walked out. SeeDave on March 23, parent next [β]. In defense of the "scorched earth approach or nothing" folks: from my perspective If you've ever felt frustrated at an IVR system for routine tasks such as banking, restaurant reservations, canceling a gym membership, checking a gift card balance, etc.
That said, I really wish that I could come forward with a solution to the online sex trafficking problem. Great, like the trade is going to suddenly end. All they've achieved is 'out of sight, out of mind. Life is too short to make excuses for stupid behavior. I've been thinking about this a lot this morning. I think almost every vice would be less damaging to society if it was in the open. Polite society doesn't want to see sex work or drugs, but they still exist.
Hiding them makes things much worse for the people directly involved. It's trafficked kids with broken immigration status who are more scared of the cops than their captors. It's drug addicts who OD on tainted drugs. Bring it all into the open. Have the government certify providers directly. Crack down on unauthorized middlemen. Tax it. Use the taxes to pay for programs that help people leave when they realize they can have a better life without it.
