[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 18104-18106]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   ELIMINATING THE ``ADULT ENTERTAINMENT'' SECTION OF THE CLASSIFIED 
                   ADVERTISING WEB SITE BACKPAGE.COM

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 439 and 
the Senate proceed to its consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 439) expressing the sense of the 
     Senate that Village Voice Media Holdings, LLC should 
     eliminate the ``adult entertainment'' section of the 
     classified advertising website Backpage.com.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
 Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, we often hear and read about stories 
of young boys and girls in foreign countries forced into sexual 
slavery. Helpless children as young as 11 and 12 years old are 
threatened, abused, raped, and sold for sex. But we rarely hear about 
the child sex trafficking that happens here at home in Chicago, New 
York, Atlanta, Miami, and most major metropolitan cities in the United 
States. Experts estimate that each year as many as 300,000 children are 
at risk of commercial sexual exploitation in the U.S. An alarming 40 
percent of incidents investigated by federally funded task forces on 
human trafficking between 2008 and 2010 involved the sexual 
exploitation of a child, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics 
report.
  The numbers are rising, in part because it has become frighteningly 
simple to order a child prostitute on the Internet. One merely needs to 
look at the classified ads on Backpage.com, the leading Web site for 
prostitution advertising in the United States according to the Advanced 
Interactive Media, AIM, Group. The website's ``adult entertainment'' 
section generates more than 80 percent of total prostitution 
advertising revenue on the web. This section includes services such as 
``escorts'' and ``body rubs,'' a thinly veiled code for prostitution. 
Just a few clicks on this site easily enables ``johns'' to purchase 
children for sex. Law enforcement believes that the existence of 
Backpage encourages the recruitment of victims for sexual exploitation 
because it allows traffickers to operate out of sight from police 
patrols.
  Backpage.com is owned and operated by Village Voice Media Holdings, 
the former parent company of the alternative weekly Village Voice 
publications. The company, which makes an estimated $26 million per 
year from these ads, claims it polices the ads on its site, but the 
statistics and devastating reports say otherwise. According to the 
National Association of Attorneys General, 23 States have cumulatively 
filed more than 50 charges against suspects trafficking minors on 
Backpage.com.
  In August 2011, nine members of the Vice Lords and other south and 
west side of Chicago gangs were charged with operating a major sex 
trafficking ring. Some of the girls forced into sexual slavery were as 
young as 12 years old. Victims suffered immense abuse, including 
beatings, branding, tattooing, death threats, being locked in car 
trunk, and forced to sleep outside even in cold Chicago winters. The 
gang members used Backpage.com to facilitate their operation.
  In August 2012, Marques Williams was arrested and charged with a 
Federal sex trafficking complaint for trafficking a 15-year-old girl in 
Rochester, NY. Advertising the young girls services on Backpage.com, 
Williams forced her to take up to 15 customers a day.
  In December 2012, Fernando Gonzales was sentenced to 20 years in 
prison for

[[Page 18105]]

child sex trafficking. Fernando raped and impregnated a 16-year-old 
girl, then forced her into prostitution and advertised her services on 
Backpage.com. When the victim tried to escape, Fernando threatened to 
kill her and her child and then carved his initial into her arm.
  Unfortunately, there are too many stories like these. As news reports 
of pimps and traffickers using Backpage.com to advertise sexual 
services by minors continue to increase, we cannot leave our children 
defenseless. The profit-first mentality at Village Voice Media, which 
prioritizes the rights of pimps, not children, must end.
  Fifty-one attorneys general, 36 clergymen, dozens of anti-trafficking 
organizations, columnists and editorial boards across the country, and 
240,000 individuals through change.org have called on Village Voice 
Media to shutdown the ``adult entertainment'' section on Backpage.com. 
Even John Buffalo Mailer, son of Village Voice's co-founder, publicly 
urged Backpage.com to eliminate the section.
  Over the past year, I joined with several of my colleagues in a 
bipartisan fashion to work to prevent children from being exploited and 
trafficked on Backpage.com. In March 2012, 18 Senators joined me in a 
letter to the Chairman and CEO of Village Voice Media Holdings, 
demanding the elimination of the adult entertainment section on the 
classified advertising Web site. I then led an effort to bring to the 
attention of those advertising on Village Voice publications the kinds 
of activities supported by the company. As a result, eight companies 
and organizations responded to our letter announcing the end of their 
advertising relationship with the publications. This had a clear 
effect, as a number of then-executives at Village Voice Media Holdings 
spun off the weekly publications as a new company in an apparent effort 
to circumvent the public relations disaster Backpage.com rightly caused 
Village Voice Media. But children continue to be bought and sold on 
Backpage.com.
  Senator Blumenthal and I introduced S. Res. 439 as part of this 
effort to curb online child sexual exploitation. The legislation calls 
on Village Voice Media Holdings to eliminate the ``adult 
entertainment'' section of Backpage.com. By passing S. Res. 439, the 
U.S. Senate will present a united front in the fight against online 
child sex trafficking. We will be making it clear that the American 
public strongly condemns the facilitation and perpetuation of human 
trafficking by website operators. I want to especially thank Senators 
Blumenthal, Rubio, and Cornyn for their great partnership and 
leadership on this effort, hope the rest of our colleagues will join us 
and pass S. Res. 439.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to 
reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or 
debate, and any statements related to the measure be printed in the 
Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 439) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 439

       Whereas, according to the Department of Justice, there was 
     a 59 percent increase in identified victims of human 
     trafficking worldwide between 2009 and 2010;
       Whereas, according to the Department of Health and Human 
     Services, human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal 
     enterprise in the world;
       Whereas experts estimate that up to 300,000 children are at 
     risk of sexual exploitation each year in the United States;
       Whereas experts estimate that the average female victim of 
     sex trafficking is forced into prostitution for the first 
     time between the ages of 12 and 14, and the average male 
     victim of sex trafficking is forced into prostitution for the 
     first time between the ages of 11 and 13;
       Whereas the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 40 
     percent of incidents investigated by federally funded task 
     forces on human trafficking between 2008 and 2010 involved 
     prostitution of a child or the sexual exploitation of a 
     child;
       Whereas, according to the classified advertising consultant 
     Advanced Interactive Media Group (referred to in this 
     preamble as ``AIM Group''), Backpage.com is the leading 
     United States website for prostitution advertising;
       Whereas Backpage.com is owned by Village Voice Media 
     Holdings, LLC (referred to in this preamble as ``Village 
     Voice Media'');
       Whereas the National Association of Attorneys General 
     tracked more than 50 cases in which charges were filed 
     against persons who were trafficking or attempting to traffic 
     minors on Backpage.com;
       Whereas Myrelle and Tyrelle Locket--
       (1) in February 2011 were each sentenced to 4 years in 
     prison on charges of trafficking of persons for forced labor 
     or services for operating an Illinois sex trafficking ring 
     that included minors; and
       (2) used Backpage.com to facilitate the prostitution;
       Whereas Arthur James Chappell--
       (1) in March 2011 was sentenced to 28 years in prison on 
     charges of sex trafficking of a minor for running a 
     prostitution ring with at least 1 juvenile victim in 
     Minnesota; and
       (2) used Backpage.com to facilitate the prostitution;
       Whereas Brandon Quincy Thompson--
       (1) in April 2011 was sentenced to life imprisonment on 
     charges of sex trafficking a child by force for running a 
     South Dakota prostitution ring that involved multiple 
     underage girls; and
       (2) used Backpage.com to facilitate the prostitution;
       Whereas Clint Eugene Wilson--
       (1) in May 2011 was sentenced to 20 years in prison on 
     charges of sex trafficking of a minor by force, fraud, or 
     coercion for forcing a 16-year-old Dallas girl into 
     prostitution, threatening to assault her, and forcing her to 
     get a tattoo that branded her as his property; and
       (2) used Backpage.com to facilitate the prostitution;
       Whereas Demetrius Darnell Homer--
       (1) in August 2011 was sentenced to 20 years in prison on 
     charges of sex trafficking of a minor for violently forcing a 
     14-year-old Atlanta girl into prostitution, controlling her 
     through beatings, threatening her with a knife, shocking her 
     with a taser in front of another underage girl whom he had 
     placed in prostitution, and forcing her to engage in 
     prostitution while she was pregnant with his child; and
       (2) used Backpage.com to facilitate the prostitution;
       Whereas Leighton Martin Curtis--
       (1) in February 2012 was sentenced to 30 years in prison on 
     charges of sex trafficking of a minor and production of child 
     pornography for pimping a 15-year-old girl throughout 
     Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina to approximately 20 to 
     35 customers each week for more than a year; and
       (2) used Backpage.com to facilitate the prostitution;
       Whereas Ronnie Leon Tramble--
       (1) in March 2012 was sentenced to 15 years in prison on 
     charges of sex trafficking through force, fraud, and coercion 
     for forcing more than 5 young women and minors into 
     prostitution over a period of at least 5 years throughout the 
     State of Washington, during which time period he constantly 
     subjected the victims to brutal physical and emotional abuse; 
     and
       (2) used Backpage.com to facilitate the prostitution;
       Whereas, according to AIM Group, 80 percent of online 
     prostitution advertising revenue for the month of February 
     2012 was attributed to Backpage.com;
       Whereas, according to AIM Group, the number of Backpage.com 
     advertisements for ``escorts'' and ``body rubs'', a thinly 
     veiled code for prostitution, increased by nearly 5 percent 
     between February 2011 and February 2012;
       Whereas, according to AIM Group, Backpage.com earned an 
     estimated $26,000,000 from prostitution advertisements 
     between February 2011 and February 2012;
       Whereas Backpage.com vice president Carl Ferrer 
     acknowledged to the National Association of Attorneys General 
     that the company identifies more than 400 ``adult 
     entertainment'' posts that may involve minors each month;
       Whereas the actual number of ``adult entertainment'' posts 
     on Backpage.com each month that involve minors may be far 
     greater than 400;
       Whereas, according to the National Association of Attorneys 
     General, Missouri investigators found that the review 
     procedures of Backpage.com are ineffective in policing 
     illegal activity;
       Whereas, in September 2010, Craigslist.com removed the 
     ``adult services'' section of its website following calls for 
     removal from law enforcement and advocacy organizations;
       Whereas, by September 16, 2011, 51 attorneys general of 
     States and territories of the United States had called on 
     Backpage.com to shut down the ``adult entertainment'' section 
     of its website;
       Whereas, on September 16, 2011, the Tri-City Herald of the 
     State of Washington published an editorial entitled 
     ``Attorneys general target sexual exploitation of kids'', 
     writing, `` . . . we'd also encourage the owners of 
     Backpage.com to give the attorneys general what they are 
     asking for'';
       Whereas, on October 25, 2011, 36 clergy members from across 
     the United States published an open letter to Village Voice 
     Media

[[Page 18106]]

     in the New York Times, calling on the company to shut down 
     the ``adult entertainment'' section of Backpage.com;
       Whereas, on December 2, 2011, 55 anti-trafficking 
     organizations called on Village Voice Media to shut down the 
     ``adult entertainment'' section of Backpage.com;
       Whereas, on December 29, 2011, the Seattle Times published 
     an editorial entitled ``Murders strengthen case against 
     Backpage.com'', writing, ``Backpage.com cannot continue to 
     dismiss the women and children exploited through the website, 
     nor the 3 women in Detroit who are dead possibly because they 
     were trafficked on the site. Revenue from the exploitation 
     and physical harm of women and minors is despicable. Village 
     Voice Media, which owns Backpage.com, must shut this site 
     down. Until then, all the pressure that can be brought to 
     bear must continue.'';
       Whereas, on March 18, 2012, Nicholas Kristof of the New 
     York Times wrote in an opinion piece entitled ``Where Pimps 
     Peddle Their Goods'' that ``[t]here are no simple solutions 
     to end sex trafficking, but it would help to have public 
     pressure on Village Voice Media to stop carrying prostitution 
     advertising.'';
       Whereas, on March 29, 2012, Change.org delivered a petition 
     signed by more than 240,000 individuals to Village Voice 
     Media, calling on the company to shut down the ``adult 
     entertainment'' section of Backpage.com;
       Whereas, on January 12, 2012, John Buffalo Mailer, son of 
     Village Voice co-founder Norman Mailer, joined the Change.org 
     petition to shut down the ``adult entertainment'' section of 
     Backpage.com, stating, ``For the sake of the Village Voice 
     brand and for the sake of the legacy of a great publication, 
     take down the adult section of Backpage.com, before the 
     Village Voice must answer for yet another child who is abused 
     and exploited because you did not do enough to prevent it.'';
       Whereas, on March 30, 2012, a private equity firm owned by 
     Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. completed a deal to sell its 16 
     percent ownership stake in Village Voice Media back to 
     management;
       Whereas, in M.A. ex rel. P.K. v. Village Voice Media 
     Holdings, LLC (809 F. Supp. 2d 1041 (E.D. Mo. 2011)), the 
     United States District Court for the Eastern District of 
     Missouri held that section 230 of the Communications Act of 
     1934 (47 U.S.C. 230) (as added by section 509 of the 
     Communications Decency Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-104; 110 
     Stat. 137)) protects Backpage.com from civil liability for 
     the ``horrific victimization'' the teenage plaintiff suffered 
     at the hands of the criminal who posted on the website to 
     perpetrate her vicious crimes; and
       Whereas the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (Public Law 
     104-104; 110 Stat. 56) and the amendments made by that Act do 
     not preclude a service provider from voluntarily removing a 
     portion of a website known to facilitate the sexual 
     exploitation of minors in order to protect children in the 
     United States: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) supports the efforts of law enforcement agencies to 
     provide training to law enforcement agents on how to identify 
     victims of sex trafficking, investigate cases of sex 
     trafficking, prosecute sex trafficking offenses, and rescue 
     victims of sex trafficking;
       (2) supports services for trafficking victims provided by 
     the Federal Government, State and local governments, and non-
     profit and faith-based organizations, including medical, 
     legal, mental health, housing, and other social services; and
       (3) calls on Village Voice Media Holdings, LLC to act as a 
     responsible global citizen and immediately eliminate the 
     ``adult entertainment'' section of the classified advertising 
     website Backpage.com to terminate the website's rampant 
     facilitation of online sex trafficking.

                          ____________________