Site Accuses Women of Prostitution, Demands Money to Take Their Private Info Down

[RobX 2084]

A site called Potential Prostitutes allows anyone to anonymously upload any woman's photo and contact information, then publicly accuses them of prostitution - Site Accuses Women of Prostitution, Demands Money to Take Their Private Information Down

 

Here is an extract from the article:

 

A site called Potential Prostitutes allows anyone to anonymously upload any woman's photo and contact information, then publicly accuses them of prostitution. They demand $100 from each woman to take the listing off their site. If that's not extortion, I don't know what is.

 

The site lists alleged "convicted prostitutes" along with women who in theory have no criminal record whatsoever. Every entry includes the woman's photo, name and telephone number. This is so impossibly wrong at so many levels that my head is exploding in a big bang of swearing.

 

We tried the site submission system ourselves and, indeed, anyone can send any photo, add the name and contact information, and submit it. What's even worse: the uploader doesn't have to provide any contact information whatsoever. There's zero accountability for the dickhead who does this. This means that any butthurt douchebag may be able to defame his ex-girlfriend or ex-wife.

 

The site is located in Sweden, while the women who are being targeted are mostly American. It may prove difficult to have the site shut down. However, the group Anonymous has taken note of the site and may be planning to attack it.

[kechara 2526]

This is just wrong is so many ways ..:(

[canuckhooker 19203]

I will say it is sooo wrong, but typical of certain segments of the American culture. And don't get me wrong, I often work in the US and have a lot of American friends. The people who upload to this site are out to hold a grudge. I went through the browse function to see who is listed and I made the following observations.

1. Most of the women work in certain localities such as Ft Myers Fla, Hudson New York, Huntsville Alabama

2. All of the Ft Myers women's pics look like they are from Mugshots. They all have the same lighting and background. I think someone seeded the database with people from an LE database.

3. Hudson, New York is a small little town, but if you search on New York, the only names that come up are from Hudson. Over 10 pages or about 70 women. My conclusion, is that their submission system was fucked up, and it puts the location of the reporter, not the person they are trying to out. Look at the Area Codes and you can see too many, for a small segment. Same with some of the other towns and cities.

 

I think this is a poorly thought out scam to try and prey on women. Whether they are really sex workers, or just some poor woman made into a victim by another individual, it is wrong.

 

The pricks responsible for this should be flogged. A good reason to bring back corporal punishment.

[jane303437 494]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. GOOD to KNOW ABOUT.

I hope the photos on CERB can not be downloaded.

[kerrixoxo 33719]

I kind of like that Anonymous heard about it and may do something it about it! --crosses fingers--

[Cowboy kenny 50799]

The m.o. is very much the same model as that of "the dirty", another site that serves no purpose and does no good. This is trend of 3rd party irresponsibility is a disturbing one.

 

In the interest of open disclosure I have been asked a few times to remove numbers from my avoid list on my website on a few occaisons. Situations where phone number owners have claimed their numbers were used or ads place by a friend or whatever. In all cases where their story had some potential truth to it I agreed to remove the number in exchange for proof of a charitable donation to the United Way or The Humane Society, they've never replied back with proof, so the numbers stay. The phone numbers on my site are not readily searchable on the internet either unless you know to replace the last digit with an -- and I don't publish private or confidential information.

[Studio 110 by Sophia 150333]

Why is this person not prosecuted for defamation?? (Or whatever)

Is it Swedish law? Is that why they are based there?

I hope they are found....by not so nice people! What a disgrace! This one of many reasons why I am so glad to in the open to the people who matter in my life!

[Andee 220524]

Even thought it sucks for those being uploaded and having no recourse except to be extorted, eventually the site will be known for what it is, and people won't take it seriously.

[RobX 2084]

Why is this person not prosecuted for defamation??

Apparently' date=' the site claims that it is protected from prosecution for defamation by Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (wikipedia: Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act):

www.ibtimes.com: Potential Prostitutes' Website Allows Users To Label 'Suspected' Prostitutes, Charges $100 Removal Fee

It claims impunity from defamation charges on the grounds of a law called the ?Communications Decency Act.?

 

According to the website, Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, guarantees that such a website as Potential Prostitutes can't be treated as the publisher of user-generated content, even if it refuses to remove content that has been proven to be false.

 

?Because the submitted profiles on PotentialProstitutes.com are authored by users of the site, we cannot be legally regarded as the ?publisher or speaker? of the reports contained here, and hence we are not liable for reports even if they contain false or inaccurate information,?

 

The site makes this claim at the beginning of their FAQ webpage:

www.potentialprostitutes.com/faq:Thinking about suing PotentialProstitutes.com? Read this first! - The Law You Need To Know - The Communications Decency Act

[Cowboy kenny 50799]

Their FAQ is full of contradictions, in one breath they say they DON'T remove posts, in another they say they DO but for a price.

 

They claim no responsibility or ownership of posts made by others, yet they claim the removal fee is to alter the content on the site, the content they previously claimed they had no ownership of.

 

While they claim no ownership of posts made by 3rd parties, they are still open to charges of liable and slander as they OWN the website and website url "Potential Prostitutes" which implies that these women are in fact prostitues and that there is shame associated with such a profession

 

Their offer to remove content for a fee is flawed as well. Why would anyone give CREDIT CARD information to an individual or organization GUILTY of extortion, libel, slander and blackmail. Would you trust this organization to honor the trust associated with processing cc info. I wouldn't.

 

Much like other sites like this one and the dirty, consider the source, nobody with any level of intelligence believes the crap printed on those sites and most people know they are nothing but gossip, lies and distorted opinions with no proof to claims made.

[Phaedrus 209521]

Yes, this is clearly just harassment. And they don't understand the CDC; that applies to organizations who act in good faith and take down stuff that people object to when they're asked to. What they're doing is extortion, pure and simple.

 

Alas, prosecuting douchebags like this is frequently not easy. The person behind it is probably in the US, but if the servers are in another country and the domain is registered in the a third and administered by a company in a fourth jurisdiction... well, it's difficult. And if someone does successfully bring an action against them in one country they can just move that bit of the operation to yet another. Realistically, it can't be done.

 

Which, alas, only really leaves direct action. I'm not entirely convinced about the ethics of that either way, but I suspect that now this has come to the attention of the Interwebs, it won't be long before someone outs the people behind it and a hole truckload of crap comes their way...