Backpage Founders

[ndrosen]

You don’t have to approve of prostitution to see problems with the moral panic over “sex trafficking” — a usefully ambiguous phrase which can mean abduction and enslavement, or voluntary sex work, or giving a prostitute a ride. There was an article in Reason about the founders of Backpage, the supposed evil sex trafficking site which was in fact commended by law enforcement for helping them catch actual coercive sex traffickers.

The prosecutors seem to be attempting to postpone an actual trial, while keeping Larkin and Lacey confined to their homes, and seizing property associated with them, trying to make it impossible for them to obtain legal representation.