RIP Jim Larkin, co-founder of Backpage

[sweetmoment]

"Jim Larkin, pioneering co-founder of Phoenix New Times and Backpage, dead at 74"

While his c0-founding and management of Backpage with Michael Lacey was controversial, it is sad to read of co-founder Jim Larkin died by suicide one week before the start of his retrial in federal court.

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/jim-larkin-pioneering-co-founder-of-phoenix-new-times-dead-at-74-16810276

[Bit Banger]

For a while, his group also owned WestWord.

Their legal issues are a classic 1st Amendment case. Unfortunately they fell into a trap. LE (& puritans) complained about graphic content on BP. Instead of rejecting the paid for content, they edited it to conform with LE standards. But that moved them from platform (w/Sec 230 protections) to publisher, responsible for content.

[sparkey600]

21 hours ago, sweetmoment said:

"Jim Larkin, pioneering co-founder of Phoenix New Times and Backpage, dead at 74"

While his c0-founding and management of Backpage with Michael Lacey was controversial, it is sad to read of co-founder Jim Larkin died by suicide one week before the start of his retrial in federal court.

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/jim-larkin-pioneering-co-founder-of-phoenix-new-times-dead-at-74-16810276

I'm sad to hear this news. 

[sparkey600]

13 hours ago, Bit Banger said:

For a while, his group also owned WestWord.

Their legal issues are a classic 1st Amendment case. Unfortunately they fell into a trap. LE (& puritans) complained about graphic content on BP. Instead of rejecting the paid for content, they edited it to conform with LE standards. But that moved them from platform (w/Sec 230 protections) to publisher, responsible for content.

And that's what killed BP?

[Bit Banger]

7 hours ago, sparkey600 said:

And that's what killed BP?

And why they (Larkin & partners) are still on trial. But their choices were: Hide behind Sec.230 with public scorn and loss of credit card services, edit their content thereby surrendering their Sec.230 protections, or eliminate the lucrative ‘adult’ business (which is what CL did).  They (Larkin & partners) we’re ‘free speech’ journalists from the 70s, starting their business in response to Kent State.  Of course they were going to fight The Establishment!

[gr8owl]

On 8/6/2023 at 10:53 PM, sparkey600 said:

And that's what killed BP?

 

On 8/7/2023 at 6:36 AM, Bit Banger said:

And why they (Larkin & partners) are still on trial. But their choices were: Hide behind Sec.230 with public scorn and loss of credit card services, edit their content thereby surrendering their Sec.230 protections, or eliminate the lucrative ‘adult’ business (which is what CL did).  They (Larkin & partners) we’re ‘free speech’ journalists from the 70s, starting their business in response to Kent State.  Of course they were going to fight The Establishment!

If memory serves there was also the little matter of money laundering and not paying taxes and ads with minors.

[Bit Banger]

1 hour ago, gr8owl said:

 

If memory serves there was also the little matter of money laundering and not paying taxes and ads with minors.

The ads with (X) is the issue I was addressing. As a platform they are not responsible for 3rd party content.  Those placing the ads are responsible. BP was asked (told) to police this.  If I placed 20 random photos of ladies, could you identify the (X)? I probably could not.  Could you identify a fake ID from a photo? I could not.
In no way do I endorse this activity! I’m just pointing out the difficulty of policing it.

They were also asked to police ‘graphic’ content. They should have just taken these ads down, instead of trying to edit them, thereby crossing the platform/publisher barrier.

As for money laundering & tax evasion - IDK?

[Mustang87]

Before I found Backpage I booked a few ladies on Craigslist back in the day. They had adult listings that were very similar to BP. They took those listings down around the time BP started to get heat. I always wondered why the man came down on BP and left CR alone. Anybody else remember the adult listings on Craigslist?

[Bit Banger]

2 hours ago, Mustang87 said:

… They [CL] took those listings down around the time BP started to get heat. I always wondered why the man came down on BP and left CR (sic) alone. Anybody else remember the adult listings on Craigslist?

The Righteous went after CL first. Sheriff Dart (Cook County, IL) even got credit card companies into the act. Once they got CL to heel, they started on their next target, BP.

[Kali Sensual Reiki]

On 8/8/2023 at 6:02 PM, Bit Banger said:

The Righteous went after CL first. Sheriff Dart (Cook County, IL) even got credit card companies into the act. Once they got CL to heel, they started on their next target, BP.

Makes sense!