Mitch McConnell, Boehner, and Reggie Love are sad. Nothing against Escort Services but I bet some in DC are more nervous than after the Ashley Madison leak.
2
I wonder who they are planning to find in all those boxes of records. I don't think this had anything to do with prostitution, my guess is that some Senator or Congressman who has been thwarting "the agenda" is suddenly going to announce that he is stepping-down for "health reasons"; or something to that effect.
1
Welcome to the larger society. Now you can be treated like everyone else. Just wait until you try raising children or going through divorce. Careful what you wish for.
2
Many same-sex couples are already raising children, as were various plaintiffs in the Obergefell case. And having access to the divorce process is one of the benefits (or burdens, depending on your perspective) of being able to marry. Dis you think this was news?
3
I'm trying to process how I feel about this. Is it an immigration raid? Who are the clients of rentboy, the advertisers or the clients of the advertisers? Who has done what wrong and who should fear further prosecution. The feds need to make clear what their aim is here...it's vague and creates enormous anxieties for hundreds of thousands of people, some of them economically vulnerable.
1
I am uncertain on the entire issue. I think I could favor sex workers being unionized, having benefits, retirement plans, and decent wages, but only if they were licensed and health certified. Of course, the price would go up, but it's one of those things that people seem to find money for even if it's unnecessary. Sex workers right this minute are often young people who are abused, or people who are addicts and not really capable of good judgment, or women being exploited. I don't think prostitution should be Ok for anyone, men or women, right at this moment. It's the users that should be arrested, though, not the purveyors.
2
So we have thousands illegally streaming across the border every day, increasing reports of home grown terror cells every day and the big DHS news of the day is raiding a gay escort service? Really?
4
Well, since there's not a terrorist hiding around every corner -- despite what we're constantly being told -- they have to do something.
Stupid and pointless and abusive. Gee -- just like the rest of DHS!
Stupid and pointless and abusive. Gee -- just like the rest of DHS!
4
I don't much care about their little sex for money club, I'm just sick of seeing that obnoxious flag.
1
Preemptive strike to secure the info before they get hacked and client names go public.
3
Rentboy wasn't a membership site. No registration or login was required to use the site, so there are no names to name.
1
Looks like they're trying to cover up The Zero's account and find his bath house buddies.
1
Doesn't Homeland Security have anything better to do...like...oh...I don't know...catch terrorist? Now they've been reduced to raiding RENTBOY? LOLOLOL. Well, they get what they deserve.
3
Losing freedoms is directly related to a progressive administration.
3
If a picture really is worth a thousand words then the one for this article showing boxes marked "Department of Homeland Security - Evidence" are worth their weight in gold. HOMELAND SECURITY? Really? While I am open to debating (and changing) the laws as regards prostitution, the discussion of which is long overdue, to see an agency that was ostensibly set up to protect us from acts of TERRORISM angers and disgusts me. I've grudgingly supported that agency in the past as a necessary evil and tool for thwarting major attacks and investigating threats that mostly deal with Islamic extremists and the Middle East BUT if they're going to use their expensive resources to pursue businesses here at home such as this one then I'm ready to change my opinion and support legislation CURTAILING their reach and trimming their budget. Oh, and let's begin the discussion to protect sex workers and legalize prostitution while we're at is well because what 2 or more consenting adults do in the privacy of their own home is NO BUSINESS OF MINE (or yours).
3
I wonder what that cost the taxpayer... So if I meet a girl on a dating website, take her out on a $400 date and she sleeps with me, no problem. But if I contact a girl on a website to just come over and skip the date part, and give her the $400 that is somehow illegal?
Let's send all the Vice Squads home, put them on anti-gang detail. Legalize Pot and Cocaine too, decriminalize all other drugs. Send the Narco cops home, this saves a $trillion a year. U.S. citizens should be Free to do as they please with their own bodies. It's the cops who are the sick perverts sticking their noses into other peoples private business.
Let's send all the Vice Squads home, put them on anti-gang detail. Legalize Pot and Cocaine too, decriminalize all other drugs. Send the Narco cops home, this saves a $trillion a year. U.S. citizens should be Free to do as they please with their own bodies. It's the cops who are the sick perverts sticking their noses into other peoples private business.
5
Yet another opportunity for the Europeans and other enlightened peoples to have a great big belly laugh at our expense.
1
Intersting: “I don’t see why the government would be interested in what two people do behind closed doors,”
You got gay marriage, and Christian persecution. That was the gov't. You can't have it both ways. Now relations between gays and straights are almost as bad as Obama's assault on race relations through government intervention.
If you and your boys had stayed in the closet instead of being the visual interpretation of moral perversion, things would be better for all. Now you're a special breed. And that breeds resentment for those without special protections - from the government.
You got gay marriage, and Christian persecution. That was the gov't. You can't have it both ways. Now relations between gays and straights are almost as bad as Obama's assault on race relations through government intervention.
If you and your boys had stayed in the closet instead of being the visual interpretation of moral perversion, things would be better for all. Now you're a special breed. And that breeds resentment for those without special protections - from the government.
The downside of Big Government is all of a sudden popping up in the most unusual places. With the Ashley Madison hack touching off a wave of self-righteous judgementalism could anyone think that any form of hedonism would be safe from The Collective? Everything one does now is on their 'permanent record'. The old joke has come true. Sins long in the past exist digitally somewhere, lurking in The Cloud, waiting to jump out and overwhelm a lifetime of good deeds. You must now behave! Big Brother is watching.
Imagine a service called "Rentgirl" or "Rent-A-Girl." What would America think this meant? It's prostitution folks, just as Rentboy is.
3
Of course Homoland Security raided this site. Too many names of folks in the administration. Might prove embarrassing.
2
The Obama administration should discourage this overreach and encourage moderation by DHS so the decriminalization debate can continue in the marketplace of ideas, not in federal courtrooms. Rentboy is not the online brothel of DHS spin; in fact, it reduces dramatically the potential harms of escorting by granting scholarships, providing advice on tax reporting, and promoting safety and self-defense. Shuttering Rentboy and its equivalents helps no one and will not end male escorting.
Instead, it will drive escorting further underground, making it unsafe and dangerous, with social ills sure to spread. It will have a negative impact on the mental and fiscal health of vulnerable populations – including closeted men and youth who are a missed rent payment from being homeless.
Officials refused to prosecute real threats like the authors of the economic collapse that drove many men into escorting; instead, bureaucrats persecute gays struggling daily to find their place in a society that might never accept or understanding them fully. And the homophobia dripping off the pages of the overly-explicit federal indictment makes clear DHS's prurient and unprofessional disgust with male-on-male sex acts.
But companionship and intimacy will remain basic human needs, essential to well-being. For many, hiring escorts is the only way – or the safest way – for those needs to be met. All the government has done is made escorting substantially more dangerous. Shame on DHS!
Instead, it will drive escorting further underground, making it unsafe and dangerous, with social ills sure to spread. It will have a negative impact on the mental and fiscal health of vulnerable populations – including closeted men and youth who are a missed rent payment from being homeless.
Officials refused to prosecute real threats like the authors of the economic collapse that drove many men into escorting; instead, bureaucrats persecute gays struggling daily to find their place in a society that might never accept or understanding them fully. And the homophobia dripping off the pages of the overly-explicit federal indictment makes clear DHS's prurient and unprofessional disgust with male-on-male sex acts.
But companionship and intimacy will remain basic human needs, essential to well-being. For many, hiring escorts is the only way – or the safest way – for those needs to be met. All the government has done is made escorting substantially more dangerous. Shame on DHS!
5
Yours is the best comment yet, IMO. Thank you for sharing your good sense.
What does Rentboy teach for self defense?DO they have some deal going with ...Pink Pistols was it?
After reading this, one has to wonder just what are the limits- if any- to Homeland Security's 'law enforcement' roll? Isn't this better handled by some other agency- NY State Police or FBI?
Homeland Security is fast becoming our KGB!
Homeland Security is fast becoming our KGB!
2
In an era of fewer and fewer high-pay/low-skill (or at least easy-to-learn high-skill) jobs, Rentboy et al provide just that. They redistribute wealth from the rich to the lower economic echelons without that Satanic horror known as taxation.
Any young man with ... Ahem ... God-given gifts or an active gym membership can join in and make big bucks.
Are there risks? Absolutely, STD's, illegal drugs, even mild violence. But no job is risk free. And at hundreds of immediately-liquid dollars per-hour, the risks are tolerable.
Rentboy is a conservative dream come true. The entrepreneurial spirit alive in the USA with workers who flip the proverbial bird at the U.S. government and their oppressive taxes and regulations.
Any young man with ... Ahem ... God-given gifts or an active gym membership can join in and make big bucks.
Are there risks? Absolutely, STD's, illegal drugs, even mild violence. But no job is risk free. And at hundreds of immediately-liquid dollars per-hour, the risks are tolerable.
Rentboy is a conservative dream come true. The entrepreneurial spirit alive in the USA with workers who flip the proverbial bird at the U.S. government and their oppressive taxes and regulations.
6
Glad to see this - it's criminal and so why shouldn't they be raided if they are doing criminal acts?
1
Yes – – our federal tax dollars at work, keeping us all safe, prosperous and free.
1
After the Ashley Madison leak the Feds had to get the wraps on the gay prostitution files to protect their masters in DC.
1
Thanks, DWSY, for saving me the typing. This has nothing to do with rentboy's core function, or with the government's approach to regulating prostitution in general. This is about closet cases in high places that have used rentboy, and who realized after the AM breach that they could be next.
We can infer that someone high up at Homeland Security is one of these guys, and that he used his position to get the raid done. Otherwise, the FBI obviously would have been the agency that took action.
Not hard to figure out at all, really.
We can infer that someone high up at Homeland Security is one of these guys, and that he used his position to get the raid done. Otherwise, the FBI obviously would have been the agency that took action.
Not hard to figure out at all, really.
3
A sitting US congressman (Barney Frank) had a gay escort business running out of his apartment and remained a sitting congressman... But the government shuts this website down ?
When I saw this yesterday I thought it had to do with money laundering or something. But it appears that people who are willing to break the law are the people advertising on this website. This is like shutting down a newspaper that runs ads.
When I saw this yesterday I thought it had to do with money laundering or something. But it appears that people who are willing to break the law are the people advertising on this website. This is like shutting down a newspaper that runs ads.
What in the world is the Eastern District thinking? They have resources to blow on this? FEDERAL resources, on a victimless "criminal conspiracy" that has been operating openly for 18 years now?
The comments section is understandably abuzz with conspiracy theories.
The comments section is understandably abuzz with conspiracy theories.
2
This is not a story about gay persecution, it is a story about a bloated and inept federal government. They cannot stop real threats (hackers and terrorists and the like) so they go for low-hanging fruit guaranteed to get them a lot of publicity. We can only pray that some brave military guys will be vacationing in NYC if a terrorist ever decides to shoot up the subway system. We know the Homeland Security will be too busy snooping in people's bedrooms to do anything about that.
2
It is my belief that this sudden seizure of the contents of the offices of rentboy, including its computers, may in fact be some kind of effort to thwart hackers. Why else would the government suddenly be so interested in the activities of a victimless sex website a full 18 years after it started operating in full view?
Imagine the public figures who would be exposed if rentboy went the way of Ashley Madison.
Imagine the public figures who would be exposed if rentboy went the way of Ashley Madison.
2
So we have the moral police on full force in the USA! Yet, guns can freely be bought and used to kill or harm citizens without any form of background check. Go figure!
2
Although i do back legalizing and regulating prostitution im kind of tired of the lgbt crying everytime someone enforces the law and that person that is breaking the law just happens to be under one of those categories. Look, you are subject to the same laws as us straight people. You break the law you get in trouble same as us. You do not get extra rights just because you are LGBT. IF it was a straight site you wouldnt hear a peep out of these people. The fact that they dont care about anyone elses rights says all you need to know about the lgbt community.
2
The last sentence of your comment speaks volumes about your lack of familiarity with anyone in the LGBT community.
A number of commenters have presented theories regarding a purported desire by prosecutors and their political superiors to gather damaging personal information on candidates, government employees, and others.
Unlike Ashley Madison, however, Rentboy was not a membership site. It wasn't necessary to even have a login ID and password. Revenue was derived from escorts advertising their services, and clients were encouraged to contact the escorts directly.
Rentboy hoped that this would partially insulate them from legal action, but contrary to the hopes of conspiracy theorists, it means that there will be few names to be named, unless prosecutors subpoena the records of thousands of escorts.
Unlike Ashley Madison, however, Rentboy was not a membership site. It wasn't necessary to even have a login ID and password. Revenue was derived from escorts advertising their services, and clients were encouraged to contact the escorts directly.
Rentboy hoped that this would partially insulate them from legal action, but contrary to the hopes of conspiracy theorists, it means that there will be few names to be named, unless prosecutors subpoena the records of thousands of escorts.
4
They have IPs. That's entirely possible that was what they were trying to either cover up or gather up. Gathering up isn't necessary since the NSA already has all the blackmail material they could need. So if it IS a conspiracy a cover up is the more likely reason.
1
They gay community wanted equality, and they got equality. They are now subject to the same rules as heterosexuals. Remember they voted overwhelmingly for Obama and Obama sicced Homeland Security on them, but will someone explain to me why this was under the scope of Homeland Security?
2
Why is Homeland Security working on this case? What does this have to do with homeland security or border enforcement?
1
And why didn't New York Times press for answers to those questions? And others, such as why a victimless morals case like this deserved a huge chunk of limited prosecutorial resources? The reporting here is deeply unsatisfying.
Pursuing this case made no sense whatsoever.
This federal prosecutorial decision is so off-the-charts incomprehensible on its face that conspiracy theories are coming. And maybe, in this case, one of those theories will be right. There is just no other way to make sense of this misallocation of federal resources in one of the most important and busiest US attorneys offices in the United States.
This federal prosecutorial decision is so off-the-charts incomprehensible on its face that conspiracy theories are coming. And maybe, in this case, one of those theories will be right. There is just no other way to make sense of this misallocation of federal resources in one of the most important and busiest US attorneys offices in the United States.
2
What exactly is a "pimp"? According to Halloween costumes, "he" is a black male in a 70's style zoot suit. The legal reality is that a pimp is supposed to be anyone who facilitates a paid sexual encounter.
If a sex worker tells her friend that there is a guy willing to pay big bucks for two women and her friend comes along, then she can be convicted of "pimping".
And in this case, a web site that is build on a model of ethical sex work and designed specifically to protect sex workers from violence and exploitation is allegedly guilty of pimping for providing a safe place for independently operating sex workers to potentially make contact with clients.
The word "pimp" is a racially charged term synonymous with exploitation and violence, but the legal reality is far from the truth. We'd do better to step aside from invoking racially charged and just discussing the issues of criminalizing consenting adults choosing to engage in paid sex work.
If a sex worker tells her friend that there is a guy willing to pay big bucks for two women and her friend comes along, then she can be convicted of "pimping".
And in this case, a web site that is build on a model of ethical sex work and designed specifically to protect sex workers from violence and exploitation is allegedly guilty of pimping for providing a safe place for independently operating sex workers to potentially make contact with clients.
The word "pimp" is a racially charged term synonymous with exploitation and violence, but the legal reality is far from the truth. We'd do better to step aside from invoking racially charged and just discussing the issues of criminalizing consenting adults choosing to engage in paid sex work.
1
From a legal and constitutional standpoint, this is an abomination. It's either a matter for the local police or the FBI.
The DHS is supposed to protect us from terrorists. instead it is being used to raid vulnerable businesses with big assets which the "Justice" Department can seize through civil forfeiture.
Obama said he wanted his own standing domestic army when he took office. With the DHS resettling illegal immigrants in rural towns where there are no jobs or facilities to handle them, where even legal immigrants would not choose to settle, it looks like Obama has found the extra-legal army he wanted in the first place.
The DHS is supposed to protect us from terrorists. instead it is being used to raid vulnerable businesses with big assets which the "Justice" Department can seize through civil forfeiture.
Obama said he wanted his own standing domestic army when he took office. With the DHS resettling illegal immigrants in rural towns where there are no jobs or facilities to handle them, where even legal immigrants would not choose to settle, it looks like Obama has found the extra-legal army he wanted in the first place.
3
Homeland Security? Really? Shouldn't that be local police?
Is every crime now Homeland Security's jurisdiction?
At what level do things become State and Local police department's responsibility? Jaywalking?
Is every crime now Homeland Security's jurisdiction?
At what level do things become State and Local police department's responsibility? Jaywalking?
2
This should serve as another warning to the people on the Left who would entrust everything to the federal government. Keep making it bigger and watch as more of our rights disappear with each new task the Left entrusts to it.
This is Obama's America. Homeland Security laws are being abused.
1
Thank goodness there were no abuses under George W. Bush.
1
I'm against homosexuality, gay rights and same sex marriage but I bet you anything that someone is trying to protect them-self from exposure. They should expose names just like the hackers did with that Ashley Madison website. People don't like it when light is shined upon their sins and when the light comes on these deviant, depraved minded people will flee like cockroaches.
1
Most likely more Bible-thumping closeted hypocritical family-values Republicans. You know the list. Start with Larry Craig and continue from there until you get to Dennis Hastert.
Isn't it interesting how many of those most vocal in the fight against gay rights might just have a little sexual orientation confusion going on inside themselves ...? "Methinks the gentlemen protest too much," to paraphrase the Bard.
You've got to wonder how, say, gay-rights opponent Lindsey Graham is feeling about all this.
Isn't it interesting how many of those most vocal in the fight against gay rights might just have a little sexual orientation confusion going on inside themselves ...? "Methinks the gentlemen protest too much," to paraphrase the Bard.
You've got to wonder how, say, gay-rights opponent Lindsey Graham is feeling about all this.
2
The Homeland Security Department was created by Congress after "911". It was not intended to combat local/state vice offenses. When did prostitution, the world's oldest profession, become a federal crime - Outside of the Interstate commerce clause?
3
What the hell does a gay prostitution have to so with homeland security? I know, I read their rationale but it still doesn't make sense. Then again, agencies under Obama don't make sense unless you like their intended function to be hijacked and made to serve Obama's political agenda (e.g., IRS, EPA and DHS).
3
Wednesday's "live TV" murderer, Vester Flanagan, wrote that he was a former rent boy who made big bucks in the sex trade. In truth he was exploited, used up and left raging against the world, a killer. I know of several others who entered the escort "party scene" in their youth, hoping to find love somewhere down the line. They ended up diseased and addicted in their 30s. Some had family to fall back on. Many do not. They end up with no skills, too ill for labor, friendless and often homeless, dependent on charity. Don't try to justify prostitution. Its aftermath is despair. We all pay, as we did this week.
2
Your leaps of logic are Olympic – level.
Organized homosexual interests are harming their broader community by public support of a high tech brothel. How does this fit the wholesome imagine so carefully constructed of same sex marriage?
1
Do you imagine that every single individual within the gay community is of a single type? Do you imagine that every single individual within the straight community is of a single type? Is the gay community under a special obligation to project a uniform image?
3
The gay-straight prostitution issues aside why are ICE and Homleand Security involved? Isn't this a local or FBI matter? With the new plethora of Federal Agencies with Police power I am surprised that DOE, FDA, TVA, IRS and the National Park Service police units weren't involved in the raid too.
5
Can anyone cite which law or statute was actually broken by Rent Boy. Party A wants to earn money and Party B wants a service...a sexual service. Party A advertises. Rent Boy receives and advertising fee and no cut. The fee is paid whether or not any sex takes place. No cut is received. This is exactly the same business that New York Magazine and the Village Voice engaged in, but, unfortunately for them as has been unfortunate for all print media, they were blown out of the water by the better mousetrap that the internet represented.
Then too - What the hell is Homeland Security doing here. I'll hazard a guess (well, an informed guess based on my attendance of the Aspen Global Security Conference this year which you can watch on CNN.com and You Tube. They have miserably failed at their attempts to protect the Homeland against cyber attack which culminated in the Chinese hacking our entire employee records base and obtaining all info included in security clearances of 21 million government employees and are losing the war against the isis recruitment of misguided kids on social media through the Dark Web. So, as Mel Brook said in "Blazing Saddles" the got together and said "We've got to hang on to our phoney baloney jobs". This whole staged bust was so transparent. Don't fall for it
Then too - What the hell is Homeland Security doing here. I'll hazard a guess (well, an informed guess based on my attendance of the Aspen Global Security Conference this year which you can watch on CNN.com and You Tube. They have miserably failed at their attempts to protect the Homeland against cyber attack which culminated in the Chinese hacking our entire employee records base and obtaining all info included in security clearances of 21 million government employees and are losing the war against the isis recruitment of misguided kids on social media through the Dark Web. So, as Mel Brook said in "Blazing Saddles" the got together and said "We've got to hang on to our phoney baloney jobs". This whole staged bust was so transparent. Don't fall for it
5
Regarding your question, it is indeed a criminal act to knowingly facilitate the commission of a criminal act.
That having been said, this prosecution of this victimless "moral crime" should never have been brought.
There is something very strange about this use of federal law-enforcement resources.
That having been said, this prosecution of this victimless "moral crime" should never have been brought.
There is something very strange about this use of federal law-enforcement resources.
Please see http://www.justice.gov/olp/model-state-provisions-pimping-pandering-and-.... Then please tell me which of these fits the situation of Rent Boy. Then please cite the "Facilitation" statute and come up with the definition of that word in connection with Rent Boy''s case. Or perhaps you might save your time. It is not defined.
The Village Voice and all the "alternative" papers with escort ads will be next.
1
I like the picture of the smug looking storm trooper confiscating the records. Homeland Security Police are a blight on this country. Transfer them all to the TSA so they can do the "pat downs" they signed up for!
5
Rentboys serve a need in the gay community.
4
What a terrific way to fight crime : just decriminalize behaviors ?! Good grief . What ever happened to common sense and moral decency ?
4
Exactly.
Citizens like me have a right to know what you're doing in your bedroom with another consenting adult and to send you to jail if we don't like it. Democracy at its best.
Citizens like me have a right to know what you're doing in your bedroom with another consenting adult and to send you to jail if we don't like it. Democracy at its best.
Whatever happened to respect for the privacy and personal freedom of others?
I think the reason they did it is that a lot of congress members, and other high level government types use RentBoy services. With all this Ashley Madison scare, they probably got nervous that they would be "found out" so they did a pre-emptive strike. The level of closeted Gay men (mostly "family value" Republicans) in our leadership is staggering. These are men who can afford to buy sex from other men, while maintaining their wives and "family values" look for their constituents.
America is floating on an ocean of hypocrisy these days, which is why we have also become a nation of cowards (leadership). Shades of J.Edgar Hoover all over again.
America is floating on an ocean of hypocrisy these days, which is why we have also become a nation of cowards (leadership). Shades of J.Edgar Hoover all over again.
14
Many other commenters share your suspicion about the motives here.
Let's assume for the moment the authorities were justified. That aside, the name was poorly chosen. They could have done better with rentman.com, far less unseemly.
2
Why is DHS involved? Isn't this an issue for the FBI and locals?
2
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of unaccompanied foreign children walk across our border, while American taxpayers provide food, clothing, housing and medical care - and Homeland Security does nothing. It's just another example of the incompetence and selective hate of the 0bama administration.
4
To certain constituencies, absolutely everything in the universe is just another example of the incompetence and selective hate of the Obama administration. Starting with dropped ice cream cones and ending with a new pimple on prom night. So of course this situation is no exception.
This reminds me of "look at me" Cuomo sending in the NYS Troopers to examine the naked painted ta tas of the lovely ladies at Times Square who are trash and panhandlers but not a threat to New York State. Maybe Cuomo should let the Troopers continue to fight real crime, and the Homeland Security Feds concentrate on Homeland Security, not behind-the-doors consensual sex between two adults.
4
Federal agents raid sex-related operations all the time. Why should this one be different?
1
No, actually, they don't. The feds focus on sex businesses involving child exploitation and/or human trafficking across state or international borders. The rest they are more than happy to leave to the locals.
Until now. Very strange indeed.
Until now. Very strange indeed.
1
While the investigation may be over a year old, might the timing of the raid be part of the Ashley Madison fallout? Maybe they found that more than a few government email users frequented the site.
3
I guess DHS has solved all the defense of homeland problems and is now looking for things to do to justify being a bloated ineffective government agency.
This looks more like a local law enforcement organization issue that DHS.
Our government is out of control.
This looks more like a local law enforcement organization issue that DHS.
Our government is out of control.
4
"There is no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation." Pierre Trudeau, 1967. It is Stonewall all over again. Stonewall wasn't at the sort of gay bar in which, in 1969, they'd be talking about Ann Miller in Mame.
3
I agree with Pierre Trudeau on this one. But, let's be honest – – Pierre Trudeau himself definitely had a dog in that particular fight!
Oh look the protected class getting pissed that breaking the law and promoting prostitution is looked on as not acceptable. Remember when conservatives pointed out that these groups were being given special consideration and the Liberal Leftists "promised" that wasnt the case.....facts override lies it seems. We all saw this coming, the moment they started trying to force people to accept them as normal and nothing out of the ordinary, now selling sex for money is ok as long as you are (insert label).
4
If laws are made to force homosexuality on a society that generally opposes it, than its only logical that that same force would eventually abuse the same group it over stepped its jurisdiction to promote in the first place.
1
Uh, isn't prostitution still illegal?
Don't like it, get the laws changed. Otherwise...
Don't like it, get the laws changed. Otherwise...
4
It was also illegal to help an escaped slave years ago. It was also legal to own a slave. Laws like that had no place in our society nor do they have a place now. What happens between two happily, consenting adults is there business and the state simply has no interest. This is obviously prosecutorial misconduct not to mention a waste of precious resources in the face more serious societal issues like forced sex between non-consenting adults and children.
1
Hayek laughs. The heavy hand of the Feral Gub intrudes upon private property and freedom of association to force homosexuality into a new normal status. And now the heavy hand of the same Feral Gub abusing anti-Terrorism laws and treating an escort service as it would sex and drug traffickers is met with shock?
HaHaHayek laughs.
HaHaHayek laughs.
Homeland Security cracking down on prostitution Gay or otherwise is ridiculous. It smells of the IRS scandal, where Obama used a government agency to crack-down on his enemies. So, the question seems to be What do they have on whom?
3
If only the current Department of Justice could reflect the same level of integrity as the DOJ of Alberto Gonzales under George W. Bush.
(Just to be very clear: that was indeed sarcasm.)
(Just to be very clear: that was indeed sarcasm.)
1
Whatever happened to the right to contract?
2
The right to contract has never been an absolute right, in America or anywhere. It is conditional right. That having been said, I find this use of federal prosecutorial resources incomprehensible.
Two things immediately come to mind: 1) why is Homeland Security raiding gay bars? Is there a Muslim connection they're not telling us? and...
2) Gays, you better get used to this. Now that you can get married, you need a license from the government to have gay sex. It's called a marriage license, and it's good for sex with one and only one person, for the rest of your life. Persons and organizations that undermine marriage are targeted by the authorities in order to protect the institution of marriage.
After the Texas sodomy ruling and before gay marriage, it was legal for gays to have sex with each other whenever they wanted to, no strings attached. Now that gay marriage exists, gays can't legally have sex without a license. Congratulations on your court victory. The municipality in which you live now has an additional revenue stream: the police can ticket gay people for having sex without a license.
2) Gays, you better get used to this. Now that you can get married, you need a license from the government to have gay sex. It's called a marriage license, and it's good for sex with one and only one person, for the rest of your life. Persons and organizations that undermine marriage are targeted by the authorities in order to protect the institution of marriage.
After the Texas sodomy ruling and before gay marriage, it was legal for gays to have sex with each other whenever they wanted to, no strings attached. Now that gay marriage exists, gays can't legally have sex without a license. Congratulations on your court victory. The municipality in which you live now has an additional revenue stream: the police can ticket gay people for having sex without a license.
Your understanding of the law could not be more incorrect.
Prostitution is not new entertainment. The internet is the mass-age. Couldn't
resist a serendipitous McLuhanism though surely not an original pun.
Ought the sexual selling/buying business of consenting adults just be amoral now in the 21st century? The preamble bit about the "pursuit of happiness" is not envisaged by the founders as including prostitution, or was it, Justices Scalia &/or original intention colleagues? I recall Ambassador Ben Franklin's raunchy reputation, and I'm betting there were at least a handful (sorry )more.
resist a serendipitous McLuhanism though surely not an original pun.
Ought the sexual selling/buying business of consenting adults just be amoral now in the 21st century? The preamble bit about the "pursuit of happiness" is not envisaged by the founders as including prostitution, or was it, Justices Scalia &/or original intention colleagues? I recall Ambassador Ben Franklin's raunchy reputation, and I'm betting there were at least a handful (sorry )more.
If straight prostitution rings are busted by authorities than gay ones should be no different. You wanted equality well now you have it. You can not be selective when it means you are going to be arrested.
6
Unless you are a Liberal, rules for thee but not for me is their mantra.
1
First line gives me enough info to pass on reading the article. Shades of decades past? Excuse me but these raids occur all the time on "straight" escorts. Now that its a gay escort service gets raided, they feel they are being targeted? Sounds like liberal paranoia if you ask me.
5
Gay's hate rules. Prostitution is OK in their eyes as well. Just do what you want. That is their ultimate goal.
3
Shame on Kelly T. Currie and The Homeland Security Agency. Clearly, they could make better use of their time and spend taxpayer money with more thoughtful intelligence. As a taxpayer, I am outraged!
One would think in the age of movies like "The Sessions," educated people would be more enlightened about the physical and emotional needs that sex surrogates provide. Most gay men view escorts the way ordinary patients view nurses. These special people deserve our dollars and support.
All human beings deserve to be touched and held in the arms of another human being. It is NOT FAIR that only good-looking people get to experience intimacy whenever they want it. If it weren't for healthy and willing sex workers, many gay men would never have the opportunity to experience intimacy on any level. I'm sure the same is true for many other categories of individuals.
If I want to pay for intimacy, I should be permitted to do it. As a human being who is trying to stay healthy, happy, and live a more fulfilling life, it should be my right.
I can understand a tax audit, but treating the valued work of professional sex workers like its some kind of ugly, nasty, unlawful depravity illustrates small-mind thinking and an anti-sex agenda.
People need to get rid of the frigid dummies that make laws in this country. The sex worker community needs attorneys like David Boies and Ted Olson to fight this outrageous stupidity.
One would think in the age of movies like "The Sessions," educated people would be more enlightened about the physical and emotional needs that sex surrogates provide. Most gay men view escorts the way ordinary patients view nurses. These special people deserve our dollars and support.
All human beings deserve to be touched and held in the arms of another human being. It is NOT FAIR that only good-looking people get to experience intimacy whenever they want it. If it weren't for healthy and willing sex workers, many gay men would never have the opportunity to experience intimacy on any level. I'm sure the same is true for many other categories of individuals.
If I want to pay for intimacy, I should be permitted to do it. As a human being who is trying to stay healthy, happy, and live a more fulfilling life, it should be my right.
I can understand a tax audit, but treating the valued work of professional sex workers like its some kind of ugly, nasty, unlawful depravity illustrates small-mind thinking and an anti-sex agenda.
People need to get rid of the frigid dummies that make laws in this country. The sex worker community needs attorneys like David Boies and Ted Olson to fight this outrageous stupidity.
2
The comments on this thread make me weep for us as a species. So many ridiculous conspiracy theories. So much illogical non-thinking.
Are we really this stupid?!?
Are we really this stupid?!?
4
I have never been a conspiratorialist, but the incomprehensibility of this allocation of costly and critically important federal prosecutorial resources has me going there finally.
2
At least the LGBT community and the Fox news viewership finally have common ground! I think both constituencies could agree that the federal government is "trampling on our precious freedoms" in this case.
Since the authorities refuse to check on the latest plots hatching in mosques, they have to find some way of justifying their jobs.
3
These reeks of communism, where a great many government politicians clearly purchase prostitutes all the time, but outlaw it for the its citizens, and further, if caught, government politicians are simply not prosecuted.
It's about how to allocate scarce prosecutorial resources.
Federal prosecutors of the Eastern District of New York could have five times the current personnel and budget and still not run out of extremely serious and important criminal activity to prosecute on the federal level. And they are wasting taxpayer money on this?
Whatever federal official made this decision is either stupid or an old-school moral crusader. This official would be better off working with Barney Fife and Sheriff Andy at the Mayberry PD.
Federal prosecutors of the Eastern District of New York could have five times the current personnel and budget and still not run out of extremely serious and important criminal activity to prosecute on the federal level. And they are wasting taxpayer money on this?
Whatever federal official made this decision is either stupid or an old-school moral crusader. This official would be better off working with Barney Fife and Sheriff Andy at the Mayberry PD.
2
Who cares. Decriminalize sex crimes involving adults and let's get on with life. Prostitution has been around since about 5 minutes after civilized life began.
Again, as long as it involves consenting adults then let's be done with it.
If we can allow gay marriage, let in millions of illegal immigrants, pass universal healthcare and normalize relations with Cuba then I think we can get this done.
Again, as long as it involves consenting adults then let's be done with it.
If we can allow gay marriage, let in millions of illegal immigrants, pass universal healthcare and normalize relations with Cuba then I think we can get this done.
It has to be illegal! There is no way to tax them!
I believe that prostitution is still illegal (Nevada aside). I also believe it should remain illegal. It doesn't matter if it is male, female, straight, or gay. I just wonder why it took so long to shut them down.
I do have a concern about the name "Rentboy". It seems to suggest the use of underage prostitutes. I believe that pedophilia has been one of the accusations the gay community fights against, then they support an illegal service which can have this connotation. Self inflicted wound.
I do have a concern about the name "Rentboy". It seems to suggest the use of underage prostitutes. I believe that pedophilia has been one of the accusations the gay community fights against, then they support an illegal service which can have this connotation. Self inflicted wound.
8
I thought the Obama administration was gay friendly. Apparently not. He just takes gay money and continues to spin an illusion.
4
This is ridiculous. The site and this activity is ILLEGAL.
What part of illegal do you not understand?
What part of illegal do you not understand?
3
This wrongheaded prosecutorial decision was not made in the Oval Office.
Re: billapp
I thought they were local police who raided facility, if so; how has Presudent Obama become the villain? Besides why should gays be exempted from same bad law, but not others? I am with equality in all matters, but this is just puerility at its worse.
I thought they were local police who raided facility, if so; how has Presudent Obama become the villain? Besides why should gays be exempted from same bad law, but not others? I am with equality in all matters, but this is just puerility at its worse.
1
What happened, did they get behind on their extortion payments to Obama?
2
Have to agree. This is typical government overreach along ideological lines. Ignore criminal aliens, but harass actual US citizens rights to privacy.
3
Seriously? 115 comments and nobody seems to connect the dots? Or I guess they don't want to bring it up. Ashley Madison, Obama, Rentboy. I bet there is someone at the top of government that doesn't want their Rentboy profile or any possible record from years ago released on the internet. Seize the computers before this can happen. I wonder who ordered this raid just a few days after Ashley Madison, anyone want to guess?
5
Finally! Someone here gets it
2
This federal prosecutorial decision is so off-the-charts incomprehensible on its face that conspiracy theories will inevitably emerge. And maybe, in this case, one of those theories will be right. There is just no other way to make sense of this misallocation of federal resources in one of the most important and busiest US attorneys offices in the United States.
Lincoln's words against Prohibition resonate here. Vice should not be crimes.
"Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a
species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason
in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and in making
crimes out of things that are not crime. A prohibition law strikes a blow
at the very principle on which our government is founded."
"Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a
species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason
in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and in making
crimes out of things that are not crime. A prohibition law strikes a blow
at the very principle on which our government is founded."
1
What a great quote. Thanks for sharing it. It's a keeper.
I just checked this quote and confirmed my suspicion:
Lincoln didn't say it.
It appears, according to 'Lincoln in American Memory' by Merrill D. Peterson (Oxford University Press, 1991; pp 250-251), to originate in an 1887 handbill, and is spuriously attributed to an 1840 speech Lincoln allegedly made in the Illinois State Senate. But it's a bogus, and the anachronistic use of the term 'temperance' should be a clue. (Other sources are available to confirm, but Peterson has the best offhand.)
Thomas Jefferson on the dangers of corporations and Benjamin Franklin on printing money are also frequent 'fake' quotes promulgated in comment strings. Attaching a famous man's name to a sentiment is thought to give it additional authority, and the practice goes back, if you like, at least to the Talmud, where the formulation 'Rabbi A said in the name of Rabbi B' is often found.
Lincoln didn't say it.
It appears, according to 'Lincoln in American Memory' by Merrill D. Peterson (Oxford University Press, 1991; pp 250-251), to originate in an 1887 handbill, and is spuriously attributed to an 1840 speech Lincoln allegedly made in the Illinois State Senate. But it's a bogus, and the anachronistic use of the term 'temperance' should be a clue. (Other sources are available to confirm, but Peterson has the best offhand.)
Thomas Jefferson on the dangers of corporations and Benjamin Franklin on printing money are also frequent 'fake' quotes promulgated in comment strings. Attaching a famous man's name to a sentiment is thought to give it additional authority, and the practice goes back, if you like, at least to the Talmud, where the formulation 'Rabbi A said in the name of Rabbi B' is often found.
Please note I typed 'Temperance' rather than 'Prohibition' as the anachronistic tip-off. My apologies. Either way: even if you endorse the sentiment, accuracy matters.
Things that make you go 'Hmmm'... Makes me wonder if there isn't a political cover-up going on here. Gawker recently tried to shame Tim Geithner's brother for hiring an escort, coupled with the Ashley Madison data dump, I mean I'm no conspiracy theorist, but who knows? Maybe this was a pre-emptive strike by DHS to protect Administration officials or highly respected D.C. Politicos. Anything is possible these days, plus there's an election right around the corner... Why would DHS and the Administration risk looking like homophobes?
5
This prosecution is so inexplicable that are just turning me into a conspiratorially as well.
Like you, I think there is much more going on hereI need the surface. Otherwise, the federal prosecution is not comprehensible.
Once again, people on this cite are questioning why HS would try to enforce current US LAW!!! We are a country of LAWS. Or at least we used to be. You can't say, don't waste time on that law, enforce this law. We don't like that one, so ignore it, but we care about this one so enforce it. That is what our current Administration and JD are doing. Don't like the law? Work to see it changed. But while it is on the books....enforce it. Or just let chaos reign and allow anybody to break any law at any time. It's called anarchy. And it is short lived, along with the society that permits it.
3
You are living in a dream world of endless resources if you believe that all laws are enforced all the time. This is not even remotely true. The taxation levels required to support such a prosecutorial approach would be off the charts. (I include this important reality – based information because I'm guessing you're not such a big pro – tax guy.)
Prosecutors make judgments about which of the many possible criminal violations occurring in their jurisdictions to pursue at any given time.
I take it you think that the federal prosecutorial resources of the Eastern District of New York are better spent on this than, say, on keeping Americans safe from terrorists?
I personally care a lot more about the feds investigating real risks to US citizens. And I care not at all about what consenting gay adults do in private.
Prosecutors make judgments about which of the many possible criminal violations occurring in their jurisdictions to pursue at any given time.
I take it you think that the federal prosecutorial resources of the Eastern District of New York are better spent on this than, say, on keeping Americans safe from terrorists?
I personally care a lot more about the feds investigating real risks to US citizens. And I care not at all about what consenting gay adults do in private.
Not sure why people don't understand that this is an issue.
It's like posting an ad that you have a gun, what kind it is, and you can spend time with a client or one of their colleagues for a set fee. And first five bullets are free. But you don't say you're a hit man, that is between you and your client.
It's like posting an ad that you have a gun, what kind it is, and you can spend time with a client or one of their colleagues for a set fee. And first five bullets are free. But you don't say you're a hit man, that is between you and your client.
2
No reason to believe the company name was a signal to investigators!!!!
3
The DHS and that Patriot Act are the biggest threats to national safety and the civil liberties of ALL Americans. “It’s troubling to think that we’re investing resources and time to target Rentboy and sex workers." In past decades, the FBI handled these cases. What exactly are they doing now? Did they become a subsidiary of the DHS? With all of the turmoil within the domestic confines of the USA, it is astonishing that there is time and money for modern day witch hunts.
18
If my memory is correct, the Department of Homeland Security was formed as an answer to homegrown threats that had overwhelmed local FBI offices after 9/11? Specifically Muslim Extremists. Americans had also been assured there would be improved inter agency communication. (fast forward ten years) Hows that working out? It has been reported by numerous respected media outlets that the Boston Marathon Bombers had been "tipped off" to US authorities by the Russians. It is hard to believe this tip was followed up on considering the red flags that have been released to the public since that attack.
Simple. Somebody(ies) at the Federal level has been using the site. Somebody threatened blackmail. DHS raid.
5
It's illegal---period. Stop the PC whining. Change the law----don't break the law.
4
A disturbing trend for sure. To the social justice crowd, a law they don't like when enforced is racist, sexist, whateverist.
Mrs. Clinton was excoriated last week by a BLM fellow about her husband's crime bill. Like O'Malley and Bernie she didn't join issue. That's because even honest debate would be deemed racist.
The Democrats created this monster with their identity politics so I do t have much sympathy for them.
Mrs. Clinton was excoriated last week by a BLM fellow about her husband's crime bill. Like O'Malley and Bernie she didn't join issue. That's because even honest debate would be deemed racist.
The Democrats created this monster with their identity politics so I do t have much sympathy for them.
2
You are completely missing the subtext of this story.
Prosecutors must exercise discretion in deciding which cases to bring. They don't have the resources to pursue all criminal activity within their jurisdiction at all times. Those who love small government and low taxes should applaud this.
This victimless "criminal enterprise" had been operating in the open for 18 years at the time of this sudden raid. It makes no sense for the US attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York – – one of the most important federal prosecutorial offices in the nation, long in the forefront of anti-terror and anti-organized crime investigations -- to suddenly interest itself in a victimless morals case. It makes no sense unless there is actually something else going on here. Like many other commenters, I can't help scratching my head and wondering what – – or who – – was on those rentboy computers that were so suddenly and urgently seized.
Isn't time that you opened your mind to the possibility that not everything is about liberal values versus right-wing values?
Prosecutors must exercise discretion in deciding which cases to bring. They don't have the resources to pursue all criminal activity within their jurisdiction at all times. Those who love small government and low taxes should applaud this.
This victimless "criminal enterprise" had been operating in the open for 18 years at the time of this sudden raid. It makes no sense for the US attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York – – one of the most important federal prosecutorial offices in the nation, long in the forefront of anti-terror and anti-organized crime investigations -- to suddenly interest itself in a victimless morals case. It makes no sense unless there is actually something else going on here. Like many other commenters, I can't help scratching my head and wondering what – – or who – – was on those rentboy computers that were so suddenly and urgently seized.
Isn't time that you opened your mind to the possibility that not everything is about liberal values versus right-wing values?
Why is Homeland Security involved? Homeland Security must be disbanded
Huh? The Department of Homeland Security has jurisdiction over internet prostitution? There's apparently a lot I don't know about the Department of Homeland Security.
2
Homeland Security has pre-printed "Evidence" boxes?
How many in stock?
Hundreds? More?
Sitting in warehouses, "Just in case."
Ladies and germs, your tax-dollars are in the best of hands. /s
How many in stock?
Hundreds? More?
Sitting in warehouses, "Just in case."
Ladies and germs, your tax-dollars are in the best of hands. /s
1
You get the government you vote for. If this is what you think Homeland Security should be worrying about then continue the status quo. It's long overdue to shrink this bloated Federal monster and return the power back to the states.
1
What were were George W. Bush and his cronies thinking?
Libs sure hard trying hard to snare Republicans doing bad things before the election.
Let the child expolitation charges commence
2
Homeland Security?!?! This is all about the leftists getting political ammo to use against their enemies. After all, they are from the great fascist tradition. I will never understand why the gays and blacks always give the Democrats their complete trust, but they have been fooled by the leftists into thinking that the GOP are the ones against them. Stupid!
1
Please remind me why adult prostitution is a crime.
What deserves the most rancor in this Article is that DHS is now acting like the FBI. The DHS an unaccountable unconstitutional Federal Secret Police force should be completely dissolved. The DHS is the exemplar of Government run amok.
2
So the fact that this site was promoting something that is ILLEGAL has escaped everyone's mind... Instead they jump to the "I'm being oppressed" side of the story. And this is likely not a case of DHS over reach, since they have many other duties aside from domestic terrorism. I'm sure none of you understand the fact that prostitution usually supports human trafficking at some point. So if prostitution is happening on the interwebs (which is where DHS does have a job) then it is completely legit that they shut that down.
4
Is defending an illegal prostitution business part of the gay community's agenda? If so, then that's something which needs to be seriously re-considered.
4
The LGBT community wants equal rights. That also means equal responsibility. If heterosexuals can be arrested for running an escort service then so can LGBTs.
I could never understand the outrage of bath house raids. If heterosexuals were having sex in locker rooms, they would certainly have been arrested. Why should the gay community think it is above the law? This is not discrimination, it is equality with heterosexuals. You break the law, you may be arrested.
I could never understand the outrage of bath house raids. If heterosexuals were having sex in locker rooms, they would certainly have been arrested. Why should the gay community think it is above the law? This is not discrimination, it is equality with heterosexuals. You break the law, you may be arrested.
5
This is picking up on an anti-sexwork movement that is in turn a backlash against the effort to legalize prostitution. There are plenty on the left who automatically equate sex work with exploitation and trafficking. They use "prostituted person" the way they use "enslaved person." The obsession with sex gives it away. It's the old American squeamishness on the issue. But some people do do it voluntarily, although the neopuritans can't wrap their heads around it.
Hopefully, the rent-boy guys will not be convicted.
Hopefully, the rent-boy guys will not be convicted.
One more incident in the vast intrusion of the government into people's private lives. What's most disturbing is that there isn't a single claim of harm to anyone, except of course the sensitivity of those who believe they have a right to control others' sex lives.
With limited resources granted to infrastructure, education and housing, couldn't the taxpayers money be used more wisely?
With limited resources granted to infrastructure, education and housing, couldn't the taxpayers money be used more wisely?
2
Another example of government over-reaching into individual rights. Its time to change the laws so that consensual prostitution, with reasonable checks (including mandatory health checks for sex workers), becomes legal. These "vice squads" are both an infringement on personal liberties as well as a waste of taxpayer money.
2
What a misdirection of prosecutorial resources.
Prostitution is against the law, it is true. But prosecutors have discretion over how they deploy time, personnel and money. And this is what the US attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York came up with under its temporary chief? Is the Eastern District of New York suddenly short of important criminal activity to investigate and prosecute?
Let's hope that the acting chief in the Eastern District is soon replaced by a permanent chief with sound prosecutorial judgment.
Prostitution is against the law, it is true. But prosecutors have discretion over how they deploy time, personnel and money. And this is what the US attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York came up with under its temporary chief? Is the Eastern District of New York suddenly short of important criminal activity to investigate and prosecute?
Let's hope that the acting chief in the Eastern District is soon replaced by a permanent chief with sound prosecutorial judgment.
This is about gathering all the evidence and cleaning up after powerful and famous people who could be embarrassed by what is in the records.
3
This one will not be the last one raided. It is prostitution and it is illegal.
1
DSS--
You are completely missing the subtext of this story.
Prosecutors must exercise discretion in deciding which cases to bring. They don't have the resources to pursue all criminal activity within their jurisdiction at all times. Those who love small government and low taxes should applaud this.
This victimless "criminal enterprise" had been operating in the open for 18 years at the time of this sudden raid. It makes no sense for the US attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York – – one of the most important federal prosecutorial offices in the nation, long in the forefront of anti-terror and anti-organized crime investigations -- to suddenly interest itself in a low-level morals case. It makes no sense unless there is actually something else going on here. Like many other commenters, I can't help scratching my head and wondering what – – or who – – was on those rentboy computers that were so suddenly and urgently seized.
You are completely missing the subtext of this story.
Prosecutors must exercise discretion in deciding which cases to bring. They don't have the resources to pursue all criminal activity within their jurisdiction at all times. Those who love small government and low taxes should applaud this.
This victimless "criminal enterprise" had been operating in the open for 18 years at the time of this sudden raid. It makes no sense for the US attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York – – one of the most important federal prosecutorial offices in the nation, long in the forefront of anti-terror and anti-organized crime investigations -- to suddenly interest itself in a low-level morals case. It makes no sense unless there is actually something else going on here. Like many other commenters, I can't help scratching my head and wondering what – – or who – – was on those rentboy computers that were so suddenly and urgently seized.
It's about time to legalize prostitution, straight and gay. Child prostitution should remain illegal, however.
1
This raid is baloney and a waste of federal law enforcement recourses. We have an open border where thousands are pouring into the country unchecked along with tons of drugs. More "Dumb" from this government!
2
The question is rather simple: How are Rentboy.com's revenues derived. If, as I suspect, 100% of the revenues come from legitimate sources then this is comparable to arresting the publisher of High Times for distribution of drugs.
I agree with freedom to do whatever you want as long as the outcome and or aftermath is not paid for by the working tax payers dollar. We are so overburdened by peoples right to do whatever they want but then we have to pay for the mess they leave behind or the mess they become because of their choices.
It sounds like the local federal prosecutor was interested in getting some free PR. This should have been left to local authorities. I would think the Feds have bigger fish to fry. If not, perhaps they don't need as much money to run their office.
The real reason they're cracking down is probably because they have too many federal employees using the site. They fear vulnerability/risk in their own security and rather than crack down on their own employees, they go after the businesses.
1
This is an absurd waste of DHS time and money. I'm sure potential terrorists, child sex traffickers, drug traffickers, etc., will sleep a little easier tonight knowing what the DHS is really spending its time on.
2
In my view it's a taxation issue, similar to legalizing grass. As long as the taxes are paid, the other nonsense is just terrible. Sorry about this!
Lambda Legal Defense and most of the other big LGBT legal groups have joined Amnesty International's call for the decriminalization of consensual sex work. This "investigation" and raid is an outrageous abuse of government power over a clearly victimless crime. This service operated in the open and even had a float in the Pride march. No one was being exploited or trafficked. Loretta Lynch and her Eastern District, the NYPD, Homeland Security, and Mayor de Blasio should all be ashamed of themselves. Note that Manhattan DA and Southern District US Attorney Preet Bharara would have nothing to do with this. It is time for us all--gay and non-gay--to speak up and stop treating sex workers as criminals.
17
If I recall correctly the italian mafia ran an entire street festival for years; Does this mean they should have been allowed to break the law?
Reasoning that because RENTBOY had a float in a parade they should not be prosecuted for crimes they probably committed doesn't make sense.
Reasoning that because RENTBOY had a float in a parade they should not be prosecuted for crimes they probably committed doesn't make sense.
AJ Lewis --
The activities of consenting adults in the privacy of their own bedroom is equivalent to the bloody and brutal activities of the mafia?
The activities of consenting adults in the privacy of their own bedroom is equivalent to the bloody and brutal activities of the mafia?
1
I wonder why the FBI wasn't involved? I thought they are supposed to investigate illegal pornography and prostitution businesses? This business is the tip of the iceberg.
1
This story is a day late but at least it is being run. In the initial Times coverage of the case, I do not believe the word "gay" appeared in the lead story. Instead the reporting seemed to consist of repeating whatever press release the prosecutor's office distributed (We shut down Rentboy. Everyone has been arrested. And that's a good thing). Evidently someone in the editorial office concluded using the term "gay" in that story, and reporting on the Stonewall hypocrisy of targeting a gay escort service, would not be Correct. Whoever made that call was wrong. This is just the latest example of a concerning trend with the Times's editorial management of its content. Recently the Times refused to cover a much-discussed AP story casting doubt on the Iran nuclear deal, deeming it to be Not News. Before that, in its Ferguson and Baltimore coverage, the Times refused to say that the riots were riots until the last embers of building fires had burned themselves out. What is going on with you, Grey Lady? And, by the way. gay is not a dirty word.
Um, kind of hard not to know that 'rent boy' is a term for a gay male prostitute, and has been for decades if not actually centuries. ('Renting' as in leasing your body out for temporary use, is not an exclusively gay term: see the lyric from Cabaret, 'I used to have a comrade known as Elsie,/With whom I shared four sordid rooms in Chelsea./She wasn't what you'd call a blushing flower./As a matter of fact, she rented by the hour.')
As I recall, the NYT began using 'gay' as a synonym for 'homosexual' in the early 1970s; before that, the stylebook had expressly forbidden it. 'Gay' is used everywhere else in the paper, frequently, so frankly it looks to me like you're looking for an opportunity to proclaim yourself to be offended, a common pastime these days.
What bothers me is the use of 'gay' as a noun describing a person, as in 'gays and lesbians', rather than as an adjective, as in 'gay men and lesbians'; the stylebook, I believe, used to forbid that. Perhaps just another sign that, in the rush to online publication, the Grey Lady's editing and proofreading, formerly impeccable, is getting a bit slipshod.
Technically, I reject all labels - my identity does not fit on a bumpersticker or in a hashtag, thank you very much, but if I must be called 'a lesbian', I'll put up with it, grudgingly.
As I recall, the NYT began using 'gay' as a synonym for 'homosexual' in the early 1970s; before that, the stylebook had expressly forbidden it. 'Gay' is used everywhere else in the paper, frequently, so frankly it looks to me like you're looking for an opportunity to proclaim yourself to be offended, a common pastime these days.
What bothers me is the use of 'gay' as a noun describing a person, as in 'gays and lesbians', rather than as an adjective, as in 'gay men and lesbians'; the stylebook, I believe, used to forbid that. Perhaps just another sign that, in the rush to online publication, the Grey Lady's editing and proofreading, formerly impeccable, is getting a bit slipshod.
Technically, I reject all labels - my identity does not fit on a bumpersticker or in a hashtag, thank you very much, but if I must be called 'a lesbian', I'll put up with it, grudgingly.
As the first Gay friendly president, Obama should spend his remaining time in office decriminalizing sex workers, and making sure that they qualify for food stamps.
I find it interesting that the LGBT community seems to think that they should be above the law because the site is run by and for their community. That really is a rediculous, non-logical thought process. It's illegal because it's prostitution and not because the clients are homosexual. If you don't like a law... well that's another matter.
1
I find the website name disgusting. It says it all. Boys for rent. The exploitation of children and minors is against the law it should be severely punished.
1
'Boy' does not necessarily refer to an underage male, either, any more than 'girl' necessarily refers to an underage female. The site didn't coin the term 'rent boy'. I believe it's more common in England, but it goes back decades as a synonym for a hustler. You are certainly entitled to disapprove of the activity, but there is no evidence presented in the article that this site is concerned with 'the exploitation of children and minors' as opposed to facilitating hookups between consenting adults in which money is exchanged for sex.
Grown women are referred to as girls all the time. There is no suggestion but there were minors on this site.
At first I thought the ICE spokesman Mr. Walls' reference to "illegal prostitution" was a redundancy. However, a reminding look at a dictionary revealed that prostitution also involves debasement which shares definitions with corruption.
Whatever is Homeland Security doing in this? Do they noit have real work to do? Echoes of J Edgar Hoover, if he had had real money.
3
This rather high-handed action--interesting that it's the Eastern District, not the Second District Southern, guess out on the island they have nothing important to tend to--raises a simple question: qui malo? It's well past due time that the whole matter of prostitution be given rational treatment in law.
I agree police resources are ill applied looking to stop these activities. However it is clear these same laws are being applied to heterosexual sites as well.
It seems more discriminating to poorer sexual workers plying their trades in public view.
It seems more discriminating to poorer sexual workers plying their trades in public view.
I don't understand how the federal government can even be involved here. There is no federal law against prostitution and it's legal in Nevada. Selling dildos is illegal in Alabama, does that mean DHS can raid the offices of every site in America that sells dildos? Is DHS now acting as law enforcement for the states?
2
I expressed this sentiment on another article about prostitution — labor abuses aside, can we blame people for wanting an outlet for what might not otherwise be fulfilled? Some people just don't have an easy time of finding mates, whether for social, psychological, or physical reasons. Prostitution can provide a little reprieve.
1
I wonder if these prostitutes, excuse me, sex workers, report their income? Treat all prostitutes equally and their pimps as well
Look it is either legal or it's not. Clearly it's not. Unfortunately we live in a culture where many people think that because they have dodged the law successfully for years, they are no longer a criminal or committing a crime. We see this most blatantly in financial services and white collar crime. However, the law has a way of catching up with people. It can just take a long time. My kids see this behavior in their work and tell me look-- no one cares. I say, just wait, most will be caught at some point an fit will be most ugly for them. As to this being about cracking down on "gay" services, no it's not. With the huge problems with sex trafficking today, all "pimp" services out there are on notice as well. This is partly about protecting youth. No "healthy" parent wants their child selling sex for money or caught up in this trade. It is an ugly business.
3
You make some good points but the question remains is this really something that should be handled by the DHS rather than state officials? It smacks too much of "hey look at us" than really addressing something that is in line with national security threats that, in theory at least, this agency exists to address.
It's about how to allocate scarce prosecutorial resources. Federal prosecutors of the Eastern District of New York could have five times the personnel and budget and still not run out of extremely serious and important criminal activity to prosecute on the federal level. And they are wasting taxpayer money on this?
Homeland security has way too much time and money allocated to them in the budget if they are going after escort services. At the most, this may be something the local Vice squad may look into.
Homeland security was given billions because they were supposed to go after terrorists from Afghanistan.
Now they want to be the National police.
Cut their funding
Homeland security was given billions because they were supposed to go after terrorists from Afghanistan.
Now they want to be the National police.
Cut their funding
4
Somebody somewhere very high up decided after 20 years of activity to go after gay online escorting. This was a long-in-the-making bust of a relatively benign activity (no trafficking, no money laundering, no exploitation of minors), a bust that marshaled expensive resources from various agencies. This doesn't get done unless someone very high up wants it done. Who is behind this? Why is the NY Times not reporting the names of the prosecutors and who gave those prosecutors their marching orders? Why do we not know from which agency of the many that were involved this investigation originated?
4
"This was a long-in-the-making bust..."
I'm wondering if it wasn't the exact opposite. If what I've read is true, the owner(s) got a bit sloppy turning the operation into "easy pickings", if you will.
I'm wondering if it wasn't the exact opposite. If what I've read is true, the owner(s) got a bit sloppy turning the operation into "easy pickings", if you will.
Prostitution, regardless or homosexual or heterosexual, is illegal. The larger question is why a federal government police force is raiding their offices. One can conclude that DeBlasio is helping to remove the rights of NYC to police itself and just stepped aside(He is a fan of a federal police force). Another possibility is that Rentboy.com operated over state lines (Probably). Either way it is not a good thing that Homeland Security was involved.
2
Let's see...China wants to loot government servers for classified personnel data, no problem! Escort advert sites? Big Homeland Security investigation! I propose a new short name for them: HoSec.
Of course, this ridiculous action does expose the lies and hypocrisy surrounding the "trafficking" panic, which sex workers have been decrying for years. It lacked all of the usual contortions of language invoked to justify arrest and harassment of women sex workers. We don't need HoSec in our bedrooms. This is not a legitimate use of data obtained through our forfeited constitutional rights. Stop wasting massive government resources on non-problems; decriminalize sex work now. Expose and use legitimate resources to go after whatever actual coerced trafficking exists. Not to mention actual homeland security issues.
Of course, this ridiculous action does expose the lies and hypocrisy surrounding the "trafficking" panic, which sex workers have been decrying for years. It lacked all of the usual contortions of language invoked to justify arrest and harassment of women sex workers. We don't need HoSec in our bedrooms. This is not a legitimate use of data obtained through our forfeited constitutional rights. Stop wasting massive government resources on non-problems; decriminalize sex work now. Expose and use legitimate resources to go after whatever actual coerced trafficking exists. Not to mention actual homeland security issues.
1
Stop bothering consenting adults. I stopped to read this because I thought perhaps the raid might have concerned sex slavery, coercion, or child abuse. Evidently not.
Interesting, though, to consider the gender divide. At least one subset of the women's rights movement sees prostitution - i.e., heterosexual, male client/female sex worker - as invariably objectification and exploitation of the woman and wants to suppress it entirely. (A distressing number of younger feminists seem to have reverted to Andrea Dworkinesque heterosexual activity = rape dogma; but that's a different rant.)
Whereas gay male culture has long had a tradition of the casual encounter, the hustler, the quickie in the Ramble with a few bucks exchanged. What women see as degrading, men see as liberating; they actually clamour and insist on their right to be reduced to sex objects. Perhaps it's because, unlike women, they've traditionally had the option not to be. Men use each other and walk away; women are used by men and thrown away. (I'm not referring there to heterosexuality in general, only to traditional pimp-managed exploitation of prostitutes. Women free agents have my support; t'ain't nobody's biznezz what you do.)
Not being the sociable type myself, as far as I know, there's no corresponding 'hustler' subculture worth the name among lesbians ... though if there is, would someone please post a link? ;}
Sorry if this post is disjointed. Tired. Busy. Back to work.
Interesting, though, to consider the gender divide. At least one subset of the women's rights movement sees prostitution - i.e., heterosexual, male client/female sex worker - as invariably objectification and exploitation of the woman and wants to suppress it entirely. (A distressing number of younger feminists seem to have reverted to Andrea Dworkinesque heterosexual activity = rape dogma; but that's a different rant.)
Whereas gay male culture has long had a tradition of the casual encounter, the hustler, the quickie in the Ramble with a few bucks exchanged. What women see as degrading, men see as liberating; they actually clamour and insist on their right to be reduced to sex objects. Perhaps it's because, unlike women, they've traditionally had the option not to be. Men use each other and walk away; women are used by men and thrown away. (I'm not referring there to heterosexuality in general, only to traditional pimp-managed exploitation of prostitutes. Women free agents have my support; t'ain't nobody's biznezz what you do.)
Not being the sociable type myself, as far as I know, there's no corresponding 'hustler' subculture worth the name among lesbians ... though if there is, would someone please post a link? ;}
Sorry if this post is disjointed. Tired. Busy. Back to work.
3
Yet another warning to those who blindly continue to view the federal government and the entire massive, bloated DC bureaucracy as a benign boon that is always the answer to every issue in America. Got a problem? Let Washington handle it, right?
The reality of agencies like this is that they always protect their interest in growth and protecting their budgets through promoting the image that every single thing they do and every single employee they have is absolutely vital to the "mission". Every year must have an increase in the budget. Thus we have multiple agencies duplicating efforts and having things like EPA SWAT teams. The federal code is massive and growing and no one has a good handle on how big it is or how many federal offenses can land you in jail, even for things that should be the jurisdiction of the states or which one cannot imagine is not civil in nature.
Yet the defenders always throw back "oh, well the Republicans hate government" or the silly line about wanting the government to be so small it can be "drowned in a bathtub". Please. How about hate abuse of power or overpaid, over-powered and unaccountable bureaucrats? Yes, we need federal agencies and federal law enforcement, but examples like this show how the DC machinery is out of control. Government is great for many things but it is not our collective mommy and daddy which must be empowered to address every thing in society with this level of power.
The reality of agencies like this is that they always protect their interest in growth and protecting their budgets through promoting the image that every single thing they do and every single employee they have is absolutely vital to the "mission". Every year must have an increase in the budget. Thus we have multiple agencies duplicating efforts and having things like EPA SWAT teams. The federal code is massive and growing and no one has a good handle on how big it is or how many federal offenses can land you in jail, even for things that should be the jurisdiction of the states or which one cannot imagine is not civil in nature.
Yet the defenders always throw back "oh, well the Republicans hate government" or the silly line about wanting the government to be so small it can be "drowned in a bathtub". Please. How about hate abuse of power or overpaid, over-powered and unaccountable bureaucrats? Yes, we need federal agencies and federal law enforcement, but examples like this show how the DC machinery is out of control. Government is great for many things but it is not our collective mommy and daddy which must be empowered to address every thing in society with this level of power.
4
The most outrageous aspect of this is how blatantly it exposes the lie that our prostitution laws are about "protecting" sex workers. Rentboy's entire business model was offering sex workers tools to protect themselves, for a low monthly fee. A prostitute with the ability to be in business for himself, who has an established forum on which to attract and vet clients, is obviously more empowered than one without access to any of these things.
There are obviously sex workers who are trafficked, who are exploited by predatory agencies and pimps. The consenting adults advertising themselves on Rentboy were not among them.
There are obviously sex workers who are trafficked, who are exploited by predatory agencies and pimps. The consenting adults advertising themselves on Rentboy were not among them.
22
I could not agree more.
None of the truely dangerous evils associated with prostitution are at play here. So why waste precious federal prosecutorial time and money on this? There has got to be another story behind this story.
In other words, who decided to make a federal case out of it?
None of the truely dangerous evils associated with prostitution are at play here. So why waste precious federal prosecutorial time and money on this? There has got to be another story behind this story.
In other words, who decided to make a federal case out of it?
2
What seems so disappointing about the rentboy scenario is that as far as I understand it, this was an organization committed to non-coercive sex work with equitable labor conditions for those involved. In other words, it was a model of ethical sex work for those who are pragmatic realists when it comes to the issue of prostitution. It seems like an example of trumped up charges against people distributing marijuana and only marijuana. While I understand that the law is the law, enforcement of the law by police is always a matter of managing priorities and resources. And I just keep asking myself: Really, Rentboy? That's the great pox on our civil landscape today?
30
I agree – – this prosecution makes no sense. Have we run out of important criminal activity to investigate on the federal level? Are prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York sitting around at work playing solitaire?
Yes, and this is particularly shameful given that the same resource could have been devoted to the abuses we know are going on -- trafficking, beatings, rape, the prostitution of children.
1
Unbelievable, the willful incompetence and arrogance. We are being invaded from the south down here in Texas and Homeland "Security" is rousting a gay escort service in New York City. Obama's attorney general is throwing the book at foreign soccer officials while Wall Street bankers are going free after causing the Great Recession and this week's obviously predatory market manipulation.
8
Welcome to the Big Leagues, Kid. The Joe the Dunce/Sergeant Schultz ("I don't know about any sex for money"/"I know nothing .... ") defense won't fly here -- any more than it has worked in organized crime prostitution cases.
In fact, the government's approach in this case appears restrained.
On the basis of the facts outlined in this story, it would appear that an ample basis exists for indictments and seizures under 18 USC 1962 et seq., the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statutes. Moreover, in such a prosecution, individuals who violated the Travel Act, conspired with others to do so, or used the Internet could be prosecuted under RICO as well.
In short, no principled difference exists between the Government's prosecution of this RentBoy operation and other prosecutions of street gangs, other escort/prosecution schemes, and numerous organized crime operations.
In fact, the government's approach in this case appears restrained.
On the basis of the facts outlined in this story, it would appear that an ample basis exists for indictments and seizures under 18 USC 1962 et seq., the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statutes. Moreover, in such a prosecution, individuals who violated the Travel Act, conspired with others to do so, or used the Internet could be prosecuted under RICO as well.
In short, no principled difference exists between the Government's prosecution of this RentBoy operation and other prosecutions of street gangs, other escort/prosecution schemes, and numerous organized crime operations.
1
THey can round them all up and put them in a trash heap for all I care.
To Obama you are the "real" terrorists, not ISIS.
Remember Islam is the goal and Democracy will be the path!
How is that hope & change now?
Think before you act/vote!
Remember Islam is the goal and Democracy will be the path!
How is that hope & change now?
Think before you act/vote!
2
I think the name of the site--'rentboy.com'--is a factor, and maybe it should be. There are plenty of sleazy gay hook-up sites that have not been targeted. I would think this one was targeted because its name suggests that its purpose is to promote illegal transactions.
3
Plenty of them and they are not paying taxes.
So now the DHS has become our version of the moral police. The Saudis and the mullahs of Iran will be proud. Every single escort service promotes prostitution, every single one. What makes this particular one stand out?
2
doesn't the govt understand, the ENTITLEDS are NOT supposed to be held accountable for laws they break ........ guess obama was not aware of this rogue action on his buddies
3
Is it coincidence that the former Treasury Secretary's younger brother gets caught up in a Rentboy scandal and six weeks later Homeland Security raids the offices? You think Secretary Geithner pushed a few buttons to revenge his brother?
3
Executives of rentboy.com are in jail and Ashley Madison is still up and running. The hypocrisy makes me sick to my stomach.
4
I agree that this prosecution should never have happened, but there is in fact an important legal distinction between rentboy and Ashley Madison. Adultery is no longer illegal, but prostitution remains illegal.
1
You shouldn't be sick to your stomach because they are not the same type of sites. Rentboy advertises sex for money which is prostitution and is illegal. Ashley Madison is for those who want to cheat on their partners, presumably for free, which is not against the law. I must admit that I am surprised that people are willing to pay so much to advertise that they want to cheat. It is still not prostitution.
1
Why is Homeland Security seizing records? One guesses that rather than being concerned about homeland security, it is just another quasi-fascist control group, that uses concerns about security as a guise to go after activities it finds objectionable, but not actually issues of national security.
5
the answer is simple - any enemies of the state found on that list will be prosecuted under any and all sorts of made up charges, especially anyone bankrolling conservative pols and candidates. Keep an eye out. I guarantee it. Just look what the IRS already did (illegally).
Yeah, but this is your Obama Administration. Why would they risk looking like homophobes? I smell a possible cover-up (maybe nothing too nefarious, but embarrassing for the DNC in election season) or payback (retribution for Tim Geithner's brother?)
With the effort put into this 'investigation' and raid, how many real victims of sex trafficking could have been helped?
Are they now going to go after the hundreds of other (heterosexual) 'escort' on-line sites? It's "clear" that those sites aren't advertising just dinner dates.
Are they now going to go after the hundreds of other (heterosexual) 'escort' on-line sites? It's "clear" that those sites aren't advertising just dinner dates.
4
“To many in our community this feels like a throwback to when the police raided gay bars in the ’50s and ’60s." Really? I don't think so. Not even close. Gay activists have to activate about something when so much has been won. It might as well be the right to run an on-line gay prostitution ring.
2
Maybe it's the LGBT community, which obviously has the Obama Administration and Liberal Media's ear, that gets us to legalize it, both gay and straight.
You mean only heterosexual escort services should be illegal?
5
The Federal Government has chosen not to prosecute marijuana laws in states that have legalized it, and has chosen not to prosecute certain immigration laws, opening the door to criticism of selectivity in prosecuting any illegal activity that is viewed as victimless.
Although this single instance of prosecution of an internet based law against gays does not, in my opinion, meet the pattern needed to label the act homophobic, the selective enforcement of other Federal Laws could lead to that conclusion. One could conclude that the government is not obligated to prosecute this activity because there is a choice. Until all Federal laws of these types of crimes are fully enforced or the activity is legalized, the ambiguity will continue to create confusion.
Although this single instance of prosecution of an internet based law against gays does not, in my opinion, meet the pattern needed to label the act homophobic, the selective enforcement of other Federal Laws could lead to that conclusion. One could conclude that the government is not obligated to prosecute this activity because there is a choice. Until all Federal laws of these types of crimes are fully enforced or the activity is legalized, the ambiguity will continue to create confusion.
7
Why we might not know exactly who is prioritizing such raids, we do know that the raid was announced by Kelly T. Currie, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and being prosecuted by his office. And the NYC police commissioner thanked Currie and his office for making this happen. DAs have a large amount of discretion. Mr. Currie is undoubtedly partly, perhaps wholly, responsible for this stupid (and possibly discriminatory) waste of resources.
2
So let’s think about prostitution. Why object to it? Residents have reasons to object to streetwalkers in the neighborhood. We believe prostitution fosters exploitation of women especially minor women and may underwrite illegal drug abuse. Prostitution rings may certainly engage in sexual exploitation of underage minors.
So let’s think about Homeland Security. Did we not think it was a consolidation of diverse federal activities to enable our protection against terrorists?
So let’s think about risks DA’s and police agencies abuse their power. When arrests rates get low, is there no risk they go after low hanging fruit [forgive the pun] to pump up arrest rates? Is there no risk they use arrest to seize assets?
When prostitution does not make itself the problem we find objectionable, why object? Might we not leave it alone? Unless Rentboy.com exploits minors, we can’t suspect it exploits women and should have difficulty imagining either the sex workers or client at Rentboy is exploited.
This story gives us little reason to worry about sex workers and gay clients; it gives us much reason to worry about overreach and excess at a federal agency.
So let’s think about Homeland Security. Did we not think it was a consolidation of diverse federal activities to enable our protection against terrorists?
So let’s think about risks DA’s and police agencies abuse their power. When arrests rates get low, is there no risk they go after low hanging fruit [forgive the pun] to pump up arrest rates? Is there no risk they use arrest to seize assets?
When prostitution does not make itself the problem we find objectionable, why object? Might we not leave it alone? Unless Rentboy.com exploits minors, we can’t suspect it exploits women and should have difficulty imagining either the sex workers or client at Rentboy is exploited.
This story gives us little reason to worry about sex workers and gay clients; it gives us much reason to worry about overreach and excess at a federal agency.
25
No one was being exploited. No children abused. No sex trafficking. No women enslaved. No violence. No pimps. Just grown men having consensual meetings. It's is unfathomable that Homeland Security had this on their radar.
My first experience with another man (when I was 24) was through rentboy. Too terrified to go to a bar, I used the site instead. It was wonderful experience because I was able to control it and have it on my terms, and the guy could not have been nicer. It makes me laugh to remember it now...but we even went and had Chinese food after!
How is this any different than an older guy showering some gorgeous young lady with jewels and gifts in exchange for her "companionship"?
What an absolutely appalling waste of taxpayer money.
My first experience with another man (when I was 24) was through rentboy. Too terrified to go to a bar, I used the site instead. It was wonderful experience because I was able to control it and have it on my terms, and the guy could not have been nicer. It makes me laugh to remember it now...but we even went and had Chinese food after!
How is this any different than an older guy showering some gorgeous young lady with jewels and gifts in exchange for her "companionship"?
What an absolutely appalling waste of taxpayer money.
2
I am sure there are plenty of tax evasion cases that could fall out of this investigation. Most sex-workers don't report their illegal income (which is illegal). Would the LGBT community suggest we should look the other way on that as well?
Somehow I can't find the outrage.
Somehow I can't find the outrage.
2
Easy collar. What we used to call in the business "Mickey Mouse", this is not police work, this is busy work, distraction from real stuff. This is along the lines of Ashcroft calling for sirens and air horns on street corners to indicate what color alert a neighborhood had been deemed in cities across the country after 9/11. All this while casinos and payday loans increase prison populations thanks to these same people.
8
Pres. Obama, you're legacy is going down hill fast. Quit prosecuting medical marijuana farmers, stop fracking and clean up the toxic mess that has already occured with fracking, the EPA is a sham as is the FDA. Spend the rest of your time on changing the ACA to a single payer system. That should keep you busy.
2
He is in his last year in office. This is when the true colors come out. Look for it to get ugly.
Is the gay community above the law? In their eyes they seem to want to be exempt from such laws....
11
People are free to sell their time and do what they wish during it with other consenting adults. It isn't and shouldn't be against the law to do so.
No we are not above the law and these people do not represent the community at large.
1
David – –
I truly wish you were correct in your analysis of the law, but unfortunately you are not. It would be a better world if you were.
I truly wish you were correct in your analysis of the law, but unfortunately you are not. It would be a better world if you were.
Why do we need a law against two adults exchanging money for sex? Who is harmed (provided that both really are adults, & acting freely)?
Am I "harmed" by my employer (though only work for her because I would not be able to buy food without her paycheck)?
Why is consensual adult copulation itself "dangerous," & likely to be surrounded by some many laws?
These are excellent questions! We should be asking them as citizens, & of our legislators.
Am I "harmed" by my employer (though only work for her because I would not be able to buy food without her paycheck)?
Why is consensual adult copulation itself "dangerous," & likely to be surrounded by some many laws?
These are excellent questions! We should be asking them as citizens, & of our legislators.
27
The key sentence in your comment is- (provided that both really are adults, & acting freely). Prostitution normally preys on people who are not acting of their own free will.
2
It's dangerous because the federal government wants to control it, and this country is afraid of sex despite the fact that it's everywhere you turn. It's okay to see it in ads or tv or movies but not to do it in real life.
"...(provided that both really are adults...)?"
I think therein lies the rub.
Child prostitution/exploitation has probably gone on forever but, with the advent of the Internet, it's now a full-blown industry. All too often these days you hear about kids being trafficked through services advertised as Adult-Only.
I think therein lies the rub.
Child prostitution/exploitation has probably gone on forever but, with the advent of the Internet, it's now a full-blown industry. All too often these days you hear about kids being trafficked through services advertised as Adult-Only.
1
As all restrictive laws, this one is only partially enforced. Should have legalized all paid sex.
4
Did Rentboy advertise and promote prostitution? Yes, of course it did — and note to the principals who were arrested: claiming RB wasn't facilitating prostitution is laughable and will get you nowhere. The question ought to be: should people be prosecuted for breaking an unjust law? Argue on that basis an you might get somewhere, and it's about time.
Who was harmed here? What legitimate interest, absent violence or extortion, does the government have in what occurs between consenting adults? Rentboy provided a service that enabled the guys who used it to advertise themselves to a community that wanted their services, and it did so with safety on both sides of the transaction. RB is not like the street pimp who collects commissions and threatens violence, in fact RB never collected commissions at all, they simply charged a monthly fee (and a reasonable one at that) for advertising. And so it went for 18 years. The site was not exactly discreet about what it was doing. It wasn't some great hidden criminal enterprise — witness the fact that after all that time and hundreds of thousands of visits to the site, RB had a measly $1.4M in assets.
This raid stinks of the bad old days when the cops could roll up to a gay bar and start bundling the patrons into paddywagons on charges of public lewdness. It comes back around to the stupidity and waste of resources in attempting to enforce an unjust law. Remember Prohibition? That didn't work out too well either.
Who was harmed here? What legitimate interest, absent violence or extortion, does the government have in what occurs between consenting adults? Rentboy provided a service that enabled the guys who used it to advertise themselves to a community that wanted their services, and it did so with safety on both sides of the transaction. RB is not like the street pimp who collects commissions and threatens violence, in fact RB never collected commissions at all, they simply charged a monthly fee (and a reasonable one at that) for advertising. And so it went for 18 years. The site was not exactly discreet about what it was doing. It wasn't some great hidden criminal enterprise — witness the fact that after all that time and hundreds of thousands of visits to the site, RB had a measly $1.4M in assets.
This raid stinks of the bad old days when the cops could roll up to a gay bar and start bundling the patrons into paddywagons on charges of public lewdness. It comes back around to the stupidity and waste of resources in attempting to enforce an unjust law. Remember Prohibition? That didn't work out too well either.
27
Just why should the homosexual community fell that they shuld get a pass on prostitution while the heterosexual world gets this treatment routinely?
10
Because they have been getting special treatment from the political class for 20 years. Why should that stop.
Why did the authorities at the Dept. of Homeland Security decide to raid the headquarters of Rentboy.com, a gay, adult website that had been functioning openly more or less the same way for eighteen years? Because they can.
8
The feds don't have the time or resources to pursue everything. They're supposed to pursue the most serious and important cases, And that is typically how they pick and choose. But now, they choose to waste taxpayer money on this? Why?
Ambition, I'd guess. And prosecuting Rentboy.com is like shooting fish in a barrel.
I guess the guys at Homeland "Security" got bored and had nothing to do!
Maybe they could have done some checking on individuals who are crazy and have guns. Just maybe they could help prevented tragedies like the shooting that occurred yesterday in VA if they did so!
In the US, we lurch from the absurd to the ridiculous and back several times each hour!
Maybe they could have done some checking on individuals who are crazy and have guns. Just maybe they could help prevented tragedies like the shooting that occurred yesterday in VA if they did so!
In the US, we lurch from the absurd to the ridiculous and back several times each hour!
18
I do not understand why prostitution is illegal. It should be legalised and regulated instead of being left to organised crime to ramp up prices and link to substance abuse.
7
There's a degree of hypocricy here. And it's not coming from the police. It's coming from the lgbt community. They wanted so badly to have their relationships recognized as legitimate. As marriages. This is the other side. Now people are asking why sexual immorality should get a pass just because it's in the gay community.
By having their community reclassified as mainstream and important it now has to join decent society. And a website called "rentboy" is disgusting. I might not mind having my kid play with sarah who has two daddies that i hang out with at the barbeque and talk football and stuff with. But when the two daddies arent just homosexual but shamelessly promiscuous i dont want my family anywhere near them. Welcome to decent society. There are rules. And standards.
Mainstream America finds prostitution disgusting and decent people don't approve of "sex work" that's why there are laws against it and probably always will be. It's an affront to public morality. It happens but its not something that can be in your face out there.
Some of us have families and don't want our families and kids exposed to it.
The hypocricy.....A couple months ago a straight oriented website called myredbook met the same fate for the same reasons. Where were these activists then?
By having their community reclassified as mainstream and important it now has to join decent society. And a website called "rentboy" is disgusting. I might not mind having my kid play with sarah who has two daddies that i hang out with at the barbeque and talk football and stuff with. But when the two daddies arent just homosexual but shamelessly promiscuous i dont want my family anywhere near them. Welcome to decent society. There are rules. And standards.
Mainstream America finds prostitution disgusting and decent people don't approve of "sex work" that's why there are laws against it and probably always will be. It's an affront to public morality. It happens but its not something that can be in your face out there.
Some of us have families and don't want our families and kids exposed to it.
The hypocricy.....A couple months ago a straight oriented website called myredbook met the same fate for the same reasons. Where were these activists then?
9
MyRedBook was charged with money laundering and child prostitution. With evidence.
Obviously, the feds don't go after prostitution very much and, goodness knows, the heterosexual variety leads to far, far, far worse problems and exploitation. In an age when heterosexual prostitution involves the trafficking and enslavement of millions of women, tens of thousands in this country, it just seems odd to spend the resources on a website whose greatest "crime" appears to have been being open about its purpose. No pimping. No violence. No enslavement. No trafficking.
Doesn't it strike you as a bit odd?
Obviously, the feds don't go after prostitution very much and, goodness knows, the heterosexual variety leads to far, far, far worse problems and exploitation. In an age when heterosexual prostitution involves the trafficking and enslavement of millions of women, tens of thousands in this country, it just seems odd to spend the resources on a website whose greatest "crime" appears to have been being open about its purpose. No pimping. No violence. No enslavement. No trafficking.
Doesn't it strike you as a bit odd?
1
You have taken the wrong lesson from the gay marriage movement. What you should have learned was: plenty of things that society labels "indecent" are in fact harmless (when practiced responsibly between consenting adults), and we should seriously examine what social good is served by criminalizing private sexual behavior, because we may find the logic justifying these laws collapses once subjected to scrutiny.
I also find it telling that your argument is supported wholly by raising points that have been so recently and completely discredited in the gay civil rights fight. You find something personally disgusting? Not a reason to criminalize others private sexual behavior. Don't want to explain things to your kids? Also not a reason to criminalize others private sexual behavior (not that the interactions at issue here could even be witnessed by kids in the first place).
You might also do well to keep in mind that many people would find the harsh, judgmental, homophobic tone you are displaying to be at odds with "decent" society. Beware advocating that "mainstream" disapproval is a sound basis for law, because one can quickly find themselves on the other side of that equation.
And last -- did you read the article you're posting on? It mentions the charges against myRedBook included child prostitution. That's why that is objectionable, and transactions facilitated by Rentboy between consenting adults are not.
I also find it telling that your argument is supported wholly by raising points that have been so recently and completely discredited in the gay civil rights fight. You find something personally disgusting? Not a reason to criminalize others private sexual behavior. Don't want to explain things to your kids? Also not a reason to criminalize others private sexual behavior (not that the interactions at issue here could even be witnessed by kids in the first place).
You might also do well to keep in mind that many people would find the harsh, judgmental, homophobic tone you are displaying to be at odds with "decent" society. Beware advocating that "mainstream" disapproval is a sound basis for law, because one can quickly find themselves on the other side of that equation.
And last -- did you read the article you're posting on? It mentions the charges against myRedBook included child prostitution. That's why that is objectionable, and transactions facilitated by Rentboy between consenting adults are not.
1
The next time you begin to equate straight marriage with a sexually non-promiscuous "decent society," consider the 37 million people (mostly men) looking for affairs on Ashley Madison, and that more than 50% of straight marriages end in divorce. Consider that 1/3 of American women are abused at some point in their lives by their husbands or boyfriends.
I love your statement "by having their community reclassified as mainstream and important...." Excuse me? Classist? Privileged? Prior to the legalization of same-sex marriage, the government didn't care if straights were having an affair, but they did deny LGBT people the right to be by the side of their dying spouses, and to be the automatic recipient of survivor benefits. The government denied LGBT people the right to marry someone from another country, and to benefit from the tax system. These are to name a few.
In case you haven't noticed, sexual promiscuity and prostitution have been around since the beginning of time, and they are not exclusive to gays. The institution of marriage has never prevented this. What is hypocritical is for you to suggest that some people in the LGBT community who call for the de-criminilizatin of prostitution are indecent because the LGBT community now has marriage. If that is the case, please clean up your own community's generously-laden dirty laundry before casting stones toward a community for which you have clearly demonstrated excessive ignorance, piousness, and prejudice.
I love your statement "by having their community reclassified as mainstream and important...." Excuse me? Classist? Privileged? Prior to the legalization of same-sex marriage, the government didn't care if straights were having an affair, but they did deny LGBT people the right to be by the side of their dying spouses, and to be the automatic recipient of survivor benefits. The government denied LGBT people the right to marry someone from another country, and to benefit from the tax system. These are to name a few.
In case you haven't noticed, sexual promiscuity and prostitution have been around since the beginning of time, and they are not exclusive to gays. The institution of marriage has never prevented this. What is hypocritical is for you to suggest that some people in the LGBT community who call for the de-criminilizatin of prostitution are indecent because the LGBT community now has marriage. If that is the case, please clean up your own community's generously-laden dirty laundry before casting stones toward a community for which you have clearly demonstrated excessive ignorance, piousness, and prejudice.
1
I truly have nothing against sex work as long as the sex worker knows exactly what he or she is getting into and that coercion is not involved.
That said, regardless of the genders or sexual identities involved, Rentboy was running a global internet prostitution ring. There is no other way to put it and no way to sugar coat what they were doing.
Rentboy may argue that they were only selling the person's time, but when that person lists things like penis size and sexual fetishes instead of interests like rock climbing or opera, they are selling sex.
Comparing Rentboy to a site like Ashley Madison is rather incorrect. Ashley Madison, regardless of how morally repugnant people may find it, did not facilitate the transfers of cash between the parties.
I'm sure there are other websites that sell sex and they may or may not be shut down by Homeland Security but that doesn't justify the outrage by a few gay activists that the Rentboy shut down happened solely because it was a gay oriented site.
That said, regardless of the genders or sexual identities involved, Rentboy was running a global internet prostitution ring. There is no other way to put it and no way to sugar coat what they were doing.
Rentboy may argue that they were only selling the person's time, but when that person lists things like penis size and sexual fetishes instead of interests like rock climbing or opera, they are selling sex.
Comparing Rentboy to a site like Ashley Madison is rather incorrect. Ashley Madison, regardless of how morally repugnant people may find it, did not facilitate the transfers of cash between the parties.
I'm sure there are other websites that sell sex and they may or may not be shut down by Homeland Security but that doesn't justify the outrage by a few gay activists that the Rentboy shut down happened solely because it was a gay oriented site.
4
The government has no business dealing with vices. When will America embrace the right of the individual to decide what to put into his body or engage in transactions between adults? Will there be a new War on Prostitution to add to the War on Drugs, which has created the largest prison population in the world and devastated black communities, as well as given us a militarized police force?
4
Today the Department of Homeland Security is busting a prostitution website. Where will the Department extend its tentacles tomorrow?
7
I don't see how it is in the purview of the government what two consenting adults do in their own bedroom. There are no victims here. There is no allegation of human trafficking, child abuse or any other abuse. Major human rights organisations such as Amnesty have come out in favour of legalisation of the oldest profession, because keeping it underground only feeds crime and abuse. And I don't understand why this case involved Homeland Security. There is no terrorism issue here. The US is moving ever closer to a police state.
42
We are a country based on laws and it is not up to you how the laws are enforced, that is called prosecutorial discretion. Furthermore, Homeland Security is a secretary level position here, if you knew the purpose of the Office of Homeland Security then you would understand that terrorism is only a part their purview.
1
Yet, where are you when two parties implicitly agree in an employment deal and the state presumes a seat at the table outlining minimum wage? Where is your libertarianism when a baker and a potential customer disagree on the former preparing a wedding cake for the latter? OR is it ONLY in the bedroom that the government may not intrude? So... if one does one's hiring for one's company in the bedroom the state will not intrude in the private arrangements of two individuals?
You clearly have no idea what a police state is like.
This was a for-pay sex service - aka, prostitution. It's illegal.
This was a for-pay sex service - aka, prostitution. It's illegal.
No actual rentboy or john was harmed in the making of this raid.
No sex worker or client was arrested or charged or even told that they had to stop their activities. No client was identified or exposed or shamed. Indeed, both sex workers and clients could continue doing what they're doing ... just not on rentboy.com.
Rentboy.com is a multi-million dollar for profit online pimping, virtual brothel, service provider. Even certain advocates of sex workers rights are for prosecuting pimps. Let's not misplace our sympathies or outrage.
No sex worker or client was arrested or charged or even told that they had to stop their activities. No client was identified or exposed or shamed. Indeed, both sex workers and clients could continue doing what they're doing ... just not on rentboy.com.
Rentboy.com is a multi-million dollar for profit online pimping, virtual brothel, service provider. Even certain advocates of sex workers rights are for prosecuting pimps. Let's not misplace our sympathies or outrage.
21
Oh, come on. These guys ran a website. Pimps are notoriously brutal to the girls they run, raping them, enslaving them, beating them. It's pretty incredibly unfair to equate the behavior of the guys who ran this website with that.
The government agencies that conducted this raid now have in their possession the private information of the advertisers and visitors of the site. Who knows how they will use that information.
The sex workers who advertised on this site must now use a less safe and less autonomous means of continuing their work to pay their bills.
Your use of the terms "pimping" and "virtual brothel" are hyperbolic and misused. Pimping and brothel imply the exploitation of sex workers and further stigmatize this work. I'm quite certain that most of the rentboy advertisers do not consider themselves exploited by the website operators.
The sex workers who advertised on this site must now use a less safe and less autonomous means of continuing their work to pay their bills.
Your use of the terms "pimping" and "virtual brothel" are hyperbolic and misused. Pimping and brothel imply the exploitation of sex workers and further stigmatize this work. I'm quite certain that most of the rentboy advertisers do not consider themselves exploited by the website operators.
The only question is :how Homeland Security is in anyway relevant to this big bust!
Ahem, if going towards promotion of prostitution, frankly Rentboy sounds like small potatoes. Why not go against many other sites as well, some much larger ones? Heterosexual sites, that is.
2
This is no gay rights issue.
It may be many things -- sex workers rights, decriminalizaton of prostitution, better use of federal policing resources, etc. -- but to link it to gay rights is to consign gay identity to the ghetto of recreational sex, and coming off the gay marriage victory, this would be two steps back for gay rights.
It may be many things -- sex workers rights, decriminalizaton of prostitution, better use of federal policing resources, etc. -- but to link it to gay rights is to consign gay identity to the ghetto of recreational sex, and coming off the gay marriage victory, this would be two steps back for gay rights.
12
Yes, reminds us of the gay bath house conflict back when AIDS was just taking off in SF. Bath house owners and patrons were crying "Civil RIghts and discrimination" while the disease was gaining momentum as the bath houses remained open. A tradgedy that could have been avoided.
6
Presuming the government goes after online heterosexual prostitution with equal verve, I would think gay advocates would welcome this as another sign of being accepted as equals. A law may well be silly or even counter-productive, but if applied to gays equally, it is another sign of popular acceptance of sexual preference equality.
4
I don't buy the argument that there is any similarity between this raid and those on gay bars and bath houses, and anyone to attempting to make that claim is discrediting themselves.
It appears they got caught in an illegal activity and now are attempting to claim discrimination or selective prosecution. I would have a modicum of sympathy if they were protesting the illegal stature of prostitution, I have no patients for the claim of discrimination.
If prostitution was legal, do what you want with whom you want, as long as all are consenting adults. But don't get caught with your hand in the cookie jar and claim you're being punished because of who you are!
It appears they got caught in an illegal activity and now are attempting to claim discrimination or selective prosecution. I would have a modicum of sympathy if they were protesting the illegal stature of prostitution, I have no patients for the claim of discrimination.
If prostitution was legal, do what you want with whom you want, as long as all are consenting adults. But don't get caught with your hand in the cookie jar and claim you're being punished because of who you are!
9
Could we please just defund the Homeland Security Administration and the DEA, now?
4
Why the priority to bring this case to prosecution? No allegations of sex trafficking. No allegations of underage activity. No allegation of pimps exploiting anyone. Every person on that site chose to be there on their own free will. What good could possibly come of this? It is unbelievable that this case would be an enforcement priority and prosecuted by a Democratic administration. You'd expect this from Huckabee.
One thing is certain. There will be plenty of young men not making their rent on Monday. Thank you DHS for keeping us "secure."
One thing is certain. There will be plenty of young men not making their rent on Monday. Thank you DHS for keeping us "secure."
6
Prosecutors only make prostitution arrests from time to time, as a means of showing that they are tough on crime and deserving of political and financial support. Meanwhile, thousands of sex workers labor in motels, apartments, massage parlors, or as outcall visitors to homes and hotels in all of our cities. They have no job security, no health benefits, no retirement plans. They have no assurance of protection if robbed or assaulted. They are vulnerable to exploitation by pimps, unsavory customers and corrupt police. On any given day, prosecutors can find these workers and their agents on the internet, in the wanted ads of print newspapers and even in the Yellow Pages. But there is no real desire to shut down this orderly trade. In fact many of our most prominent leaders participate in it directly as customers. So, sex workers are portrayed as victims on the one hand, yet treated as pariahs and criminals on the other. Its long past time that we should stop our hypocritical moralizing about commercial sex, rid the industry of the criminals that infest it, provide normal security and safety to the people working in it, and tax it. Vice is not crime, unless we make it so.
6
This is "Let's go after the homos," pure and simple. There IS human trafficking for prostitution going on in this country, and it is overwhelmingly women who are being sold as prostitutes, many of them underage -- not male escorts putting ads on websites. The human traffickers are the "services" that need to be investigated, not this one.
Is a male escort service really the best use of the time and resources of the Department of Homeland Security? Is it possible that terrorism might be at least as big a threat to this country as two men having sex?
Is a male escort service really the best use of the time and resources of the Department of Homeland Security? Is it possible that terrorism might be at least as big a threat to this country as two men having sex?
1
Why the focus on a gay site? Compensated hetero hook ups are facilitated on countless sites, and unless they are also targeted, this will be about homophobia first, and "law enforcement" second.
1
Illegal "hetero" businesses of all types are raided. Frequently.
they also close down hetero prostitution rings. it shouldn't be illegal in the first place, but don't cry discrimination.
5
The complaint states that they filed for an HB-1 visa twice. That's how they came to the attention of DHS. In their application they provided all sorts of incriminating evidence and statements. Is DHS just supposed to ignore this and say it's OK because it's gay?
Just because these people were pimping on the internet doesn't make it legal, and if you flaunt your illegal activities in the face of the authorities they really have no choice in pursuing it.
Just because these people were pimping on the internet doesn't make it legal, and if you flaunt your illegal activities in the face of the authorities they really have no choice in pursuing it.
8
It is sad how "activists" seem to beleive that laws shouldn't apply to them.
4
In a just world, these would be photos of United States Attorney raiding backpage and craigslist, investigating the underage sex slaves being peddled on a daily basis. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/06/opinion/nicholas-kristof-making-life-h...
2
I have to agree with the activists. With real issues like terrorism, trafficking, and the exploitation of minors, it is nothing less than shameful that the Department of Homeland Security wasted the taxpayer's money and law enforcement resources going after a consensual gay escort site. It seems thuggish and stupid, little different from the raids of gay bars. And entirely futile -- prostitution isn't going away. What, exactly, do they hope to accomplish except costing the taxpayer an inordinate amount of money?
67
You have no idea how quickly terrorists and those who exploit minors will latch onto legal prostitution when less oversight is possible. Just deciding to make everything legal would not solve our problems.
2
You don't understand. The DHS is "keeping you safe." And they get to define what that means. Whether it was the 2010 war against fake Louis Vuitton handbags (I kid you not) or rent boys, the Department is keeping you safe. To quote Eric Holder in Dec 2010, following the handbag raids, " bogus merchandise, including fake purses ..., are harming the U.S. economy and endangering American lives. When fake goods find their way into our nation's marketplaces, the health and safety of our people can be severely compromised.” He honestly said that about handbags. The message is "trust us. We know best." (Even if they don't.)
2
Odyss, what do terrorists have to do with prostitution?
As to those who exploit minors, that is illegal now and it would still be illegal if prostitution were legalized. If anything, legalizing prostitution would free up police resources to address serious issues like trafficking and the exploitation of minors.
That being said, the article made clear that the rent boys at this site weren't underaged.
As to those who exploit minors, that is illegal now and it would still be illegal if prostitution were legalized. If anything, legalizing prostitution would free up police resources to address serious issues like trafficking and the exploitation of minors.
That being said, the article made clear that the rent boys at this site weren't underaged.
1
"In 2014, federal authorities seized myRedBook, a California-based site with ads for sex. But unlike in the Rentboy case, the charges included money laundering. The authorities also said myRedBook allowed child prostitution, which has not been cited in the Rentboy case.
MyRedBook’s owner, Eric Omuro, was charged with using the mail and the Internet to promote prostitution and with laundering money derived from the site. Mr. Omuro pleaded guilty in 2014 to using a facility of interstate commerce with the intent to facilitate prostitution, and admitted that the site allowed prostitutes to post ads. He was sentenced to 13 months in prison. In an affidavit submitted for sentencing, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it had found more than 50 juveniles advertised for prostitution on his site."
Child prostitution is miles and miles away from independent sex workers using a site to find potential clients.
MyRedBook’s owner, Eric Omuro, was charged with using the mail and the Internet to promote prostitution and with laundering money derived from the site. Mr. Omuro pleaded guilty in 2014 to using a facility of interstate commerce with the intent to facilitate prostitution, and admitted that the site allowed prostitutes to post ads. He was sentenced to 13 months in prison. In an affidavit submitted for sentencing, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it had found more than 50 juveniles advertised for prostitution on his site."
Child prostitution is miles and miles away from independent sex workers using a site to find potential clients.
22
No my friend, it is not miles and miles away, in fact this kind of websites is the best place where you can do something like that, to use juveniles, after all, this is the ultimate "sensation". Did somebody read about Hollywood actors and directors implicated with children? I know, not all act in that way, but one is more than enough.
1
No it isn't. The age of those posting is not often accurate.
1
The merits (or lack of) aside, Homeland Security has far too broad a mandate to snoop into every aspect of Americans' private lives. A prostitution case should be handled by the local vice squad, not the United States government. George W. Bush, in his eagerness to cover his behind and see that "nothing like this ever happens again," created a massive bureaucracy that's the polar opposite of Republican claims to stand for limited government. DHS represents a threat to every American, thanks to the misnamed Patriot Act and subsequent piling on.
Let us remember, this 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, that Homeland Security, the Army Corps of Engineers and "Heckuva job Brownie" gave us 3000 dead in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, as well as the militarization of every two-man police force from here to Ferguson, Missouri. There is no logical connection between rentboys and Al Qaeda, and it's time to cut this monstrous agency down to size. While Homeland Security was busy rounding up a few sexual entrepreneurs to justify its existence, another hundred million health care records and credit card accounts just got hacked, with no arrests anywhere in sight.
Let us remember, this 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, that Homeland Security, the Army Corps of Engineers and "Heckuva job Brownie" gave us 3000 dead in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, as well as the militarization of every two-man police force from here to Ferguson, Missouri. There is no logical connection between rentboys and Al Qaeda, and it's time to cut this monstrous agency down to size. While Homeland Security was busy rounding up a few sexual entrepreneurs to justify its existence, another hundred million health care records and credit card accounts just got hacked, with no arrests anywhere in sight.
162
This sort of federal action happened long before George W. Bush. Blaming Bush, while still popular amongst the nostalgic, ignores the simple fact that the executive branch of the U.S. Government has been Democrat controlled for the past 6 years. The "gayness" of the business in question really has no relevance, despite activists' desires to make that an issue. Prostitution is illegal; wrong or right, that is the law. Every half-thinking person who knows anything about Rentboy knows that it isn't a site for finding tennis partners. The sexual orientation of the site users have no relevance if one were to be an impartial arbiter of legality. If you want to legalize vice, the best thing to do is to elect small government conservatives or Libertarians. Government really ought not have a role in transactions between consenting adults. One interesting question would be if the escorts on Rentboy were declaring their cash income on their tax returns. I would suspect not.
But this was not a local issue as the website had global reach. This wasn't just some guy running other guys on the corner of the street. This was a multimillion dollar business run with the sole purpose of selling sex.
2
Presidential bench warmer Obama could really make a name in all US history for himself is he would, before he left for good, set everyone free who is in the joint for such misbehavior, end all the jobs in the DHS and fire it's executives, close down most of Washington's shadow government .
We NEED tax collection: we don't need several different and competing police forces tripping on their shoe laces to show off their total incompetence. The CIA was created to prevent the "next Pearl Harbor" attack. It has proven at least twice over that it can't even tell who our enemies are, much less figure out what goes on in the world.
So, put all these people in a big oil supertanker and send them out to sea and let them figure their way home. I bet they'd spend all their time arresting and waterboarding the ship's crew, and ending by finally setting it ablaze and starting a blue ribbon committee to find out who the culprits are. . .
But Obama thinks he has performed well enough. That he was actually there was enough for him. After 6 years he seems to have realized he has a hard job and so won't do anything and won't try.
As long as we have a federal system with a new government every 500 miles or so, we can never have a truly functional nation that fits the mold made in the 20th century, much less, the 21st. We are a country out of time-we exist in a phantom zone somewhere between 1899 and 1901 and the only people who have done us much good since then were both Roosevelts.
We NEED tax collection: we don't need several different and competing police forces tripping on their shoe laces to show off their total incompetence. The CIA was created to prevent the "next Pearl Harbor" attack. It has proven at least twice over that it can't even tell who our enemies are, much less figure out what goes on in the world.
So, put all these people in a big oil supertanker and send them out to sea and let them figure their way home. I bet they'd spend all their time arresting and waterboarding the ship's crew, and ending by finally setting it ablaze and starting a blue ribbon committee to find out who the culprits are. . .
But Obama thinks he has performed well enough. That he was actually there was enough for him. After 6 years he seems to have realized he has a hard job and so won't do anything and won't try.
As long as we have a federal system with a new government every 500 miles or so, we can never have a truly functional nation that fits the mold made in the 20th century, much less, the 21st. We are a country out of time-we exist in a phantom zone somewhere between 1899 and 1901 and the only people who have done us much good since then were both Roosevelts.
1
The DHS is interested in one thing: money. When they realized that this 18 year old site's owner had $1.4 million in assets which could be seized in a civil asset forfeiture, that's all they needed to know.
And if you think this government greed for your money is only limited to "bad" guys, think again:
https://www.aclu.org/issues/criminal-law-reform/reforming-police-practic...
http://www.cato.org/events/policing-profit-abuse-civil-asset-forfeiture
They can grab the money and claim is has some relationship to crime. Then the rentboy principles can spend all their money in court trying to get it back. It won't matter if the case against renboy succeeds or not. The forfeiture will remain.
And if you think this government greed for your money is only limited to "bad" guys, think again:
https://www.aclu.org/issues/criminal-law-reform/reforming-police-practic...
http://www.cato.org/events/policing-profit-abuse-civil-asset-forfeiture
They can grab the money and claim is has some relationship to crime. Then the rentboy principles can spend all their money in court trying to get it back. It won't matter if the case against renboy succeeds or not. The forfeiture will remain.
86
I too was perplexed why DHS would be leading this...your angle makes perfect sense.
$1.4 million? Don't make me laugh! That is peanuts - it will cost more to prosecute these cases than the government will ever recover. This was pimping, plain and simple. And that is illegal - whether straight, gay, or any other persuasion. This outfit just got complacent and expected the authorities would always look the other way. It finally caught up with them. My advice: instead of skirting the law, work to change it. It worked for marriage equality.
2
Very good idea to source both Cato and the ACLU, shows it's not a left-right issue and attempts to MAKE it a Left-Right issue are nothing but diversionary tactics.
Its a new DA. What better way for a new DA to look he/she is doing something than going after this website. It's easy and flashy but accomplishes no social good other than career advancement.
41
All laws are not enforced equally. Some laws are only enforced when there is another purpose.
35
Again, there is no federal law against prostitution and it's legal in Nevada. Can DHS raid every porn shop in America because selling marital aids is illegal in Alabama?
I'm as "sex positive" a gay man as there is, but we can't scream homophobia or that we were targeted when the site was clearly doing something illegal.
Like Alex Garner, I, too, believe that we should be talking about legalizing prostitution. But this led me to ask myself why I wasn't having that conversation before now. Garner needs to realize that "we" includes him -- and me and everyone else who was content with the status quo until it affected our community so publicly.
Like Alex Garner, I, too, believe that we should be talking about legalizing prostitution. But this led me to ask myself why I wasn't having that conversation before now. Garner needs to realize that "we" includes him -- and me and everyone else who was content with the status quo until it affected our community so publicly.
68
I am as yet undecided whether or not to support legalizing prostitution, but FYI this "conversation", as you call it, has been very much going on. Just follow the news. Last month Amnesty International announced its support of legalizing prostitution, and this in turn had many responses and debates, from both individuals and organizations.
Until today I had no idea this was still illegal.
1
There is no federal law against prostitution, and it's legal in Nevada. The only reason for the federal government to get involved is to grab some money and try to garner some fame as 'law enforcers' when that's not their task.
1
In this case? I'm all about the DHS.
7
why "this" case? specifically because??
10
So they found a little niche site and missed Madison Ashley? Why do you think that may be? Make a couple guesses and I'll let you know if you're getting warmer.
32
Ashley Madison didn't involve money being exchanged.
1
The site facilitated illegal activity. Hard to defend that.
70
Yeah, well, so does YouTube, which last I checked was mostly pirated video and songs.
18
The site facilitated a meeting point for consenting adults to communicate a mutual interest in each other's company. Anything beyond that is pure speculation. It's actually fairly easy to defend.
All gun sales facilitate illegal activity. And people die when the gun dealers wash their hands of responsibility. I simply want the DHS to prioritise their efforts to shut down "facilitators" based on the harm they facilitate.
I can only imagine the DHS meetings that led up to this. "Yeah, never mind all that terrorism stuff, let's just....(smirks)"
I was taken back in time to my youth, when such raids were everyday affairs. Made me feel young again; ah, the silver lining of persecution.
I was taken back in time to my youth, when such raids were everyday affairs. Made me feel young again; ah, the silver lining of persecution.
55
Prostitution and the facilitation of prostitutiin are illegal; the sexual preferences of the customers are irrelevant.
4
I know, right?
How dare a law enforcement agency go after an organization that blatantly breaks the law?
How dare a law enforcement agency go after an organization that blatantly breaks the law?
3
How dare they enforce the law? Where will such outrages end?
I don't think a comparable site for heterosexual prostitution would be treated any differently.
I don't think a comparable site for heterosexual prostitution would be treated any differently.
70
Oh, so the multiple hetero sex-for-sale websites are treated the same? "[Homeland Security] was involved because the crime involved the internet," U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman Nellin McIntosh said. "I don’t have an answer as to why now rather than some other time." http://gothamist.com/2015/08/25/feds_bust_rentboy.php
21
Does Ashley Madison ring a bell? It's in the news only because it was hacked by non-government criminals.
19
Oh, for God's sake. There are plenty of sites that advertise female escorts, try a Google search. Here's one that just came up:
http://miamibabefinder.com/
The law is stupid and everyone knows it -- prostitution is no more eliminated by this kind of stupidity than pot smoking is. Meanwhile, there are real offenses to deal with. Thousands of rape kits are sitting on shelves unexamined, and they're wasting time and money closing a gay escort site? How many women will be victimized by serial rapists while the idiots at DHS tilt at windmills?
http://miamibabefinder.com/
The law is stupid and everyone knows it -- prostitution is no more eliminated by this kind of stupidity than pot smoking is. Meanwhile, there are real offenses to deal with. Thousands of rape kits are sitting on shelves unexamined, and they're wasting time and money closing a gay escort site? How many women will be victimized by serial rapists while the idiots at DHS tilt at windmills?
28
Raiding a gay hookup site is a "Homeland Security" issue!?
Just what is the government's interest in this case; I'm not sure I understand the logic of Homeland Security being involved.
Just what is the government's interest in this case; I'm not sure I understand the logic of Homeland Security being involved.
104
Homeland Security is a massive bureaucracy. We tend to associate it with dealing with terrorism, but it also deals with natural disaster, cybersecurity, immigration, border patrol, and pile of other things. Judging from the photo, it looks like this was and Customs raid.
5
It was involved because it is responsible for criminal activity on the Internet. According to the affidavit, it only started investigating when indiscreet quotes from the site's owner in the media was brought to its attention.
5
It's a big, unwieldy agency that tries to do too many thing and thus becomes generally ineffective.
4
You better believe it's infuritiating, and not just to "gay activists."
73