Practical tips for a new era?

[+ saminseattle]

Just over two years ago, on August 25, 2015, the Department of “Homeland Security” raided Rentboy.com’s business office, arrested its employees, seized its money, and shut down its website. Since then, we have seen a cascade of changes in online advertising platforms. Written reviews, interview answers, and specific words have been removed. Massage descriptions have been relabeled and masseurs’ pictures have been censored. Some sites have moved away from allowing professional advertising or have shut down entirely. Rentmen.com’s recent decision to hide rate information is only the latest development in this trajectory. What all these changes have in common is that they remove information that advertisers want to present and potential customers want to know, making it more difficult for service providers and their clients to connect than it used to be.

 

What is worse is that these “inconveniences” may not be the end of the story. There are increasingly aggressive efforts to police the Internet and eliminate content that “the powers that be” disapprove of, whether directly or indirectly, through threats and intimidation. The goal in some quarters appears to be to drive all escort advertising off the Internet. Likewise, at least one prosecutor has also suggested that all review board type websites should also be shut down in the name of reducing “exploitation.” https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/crackdown-continues.110695/#post-1310799

 

While this would have seemed laughably absurd a few years ago, such a sanguine attitude now seems imprudent. There has been very little backlash as prohibitionist zealots have pushed the crackdowns that are triggering these changes. Officialdom, and much of the public on both the left and the right, seem to be on board with this agenda, having bought into a narrative of widespread “trafficking” and abuse of women and children. The fact that it is mostly consenting adults who are caught up in this misguided effort is ignored, as these people are understandably reluctant to publicize their side of the story given the stigma and criminal sanctions involved. Because there appears to be little to stop the prohibitionist agenda, it seems likely we will continue in this direction for the foreseeable future.

 

Thus, we seem to be entering a new era. We should now seriously consider the possibility that Rentmen.com and all sites like it may be shut down entirely. This very forum may be shuttered.

 

The point of this thread is not to debate when or how likely this is to occur, whether the First Amendment will prevent the worse case-scenarios, or even if some kind of political/legal organizing effort could stop the public policy misadventure we seem to be embarked on (although that would be a great thread for someone to start). The point is that these things could happen, and it would be wise to start thinking now about what practical steps can be taken to prepare for and to live in such an environment. How can people best adapt to increasingly oppressive situations where their activities are suppressed?

 

It occurs to me that there are many analogous situations that might provide useful lessons. Whether we think about the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, political dissidents in authoritarian regimes, or drug dealers and users in the U.S., (or many other examples), they all found successful ways to avoid detection, connect with each other, and organize activities that were officially banned and actually suppressed. How did they and others survive, if not thrive, in repressive environments? Code words to recognize each other? Burner phones and encryption apps to exchange information? Clandestine meetings in places known to be safe? Social networking to build trust and vouch for new participants? Use of difficult-to-trace cash transactions? Pay-offs to corrupt cops? Underground agencies/networks to act as trusted intermediaries? Keeping password-protected lists and information about people and activities?

 

One thing I wish I had done a month ago is to note advertised information that was available at the time, but is no longer easily available. I have recently done this in some cases for information that remains available, knowing that it may not always be so.

 

I am curious to hear others' thoughts on practical steps that can be taken to prepare for and operate in the new era that we seem to have entered.**

 

**I am putting this in the Ask an Escort forum since I hope this will result in more professionals out there seeing this post and responding, but of course everyone’s practical tips would be appreciated.

[TruthBTold]

I think one of areas that will not be closed down will be massage sites. A trick may be to come up with language that will convey that "non-traditional" massage might be administered by particular masseurs. Because it is such a big business and engaged in by both sexes it would be hard to shut down sites that are used by male to male. I think there may be constitutional grounds if it is tried.

[+ sync]

I too believe more aggressive oppression/suppression will be coming. It will be difficult against the current administration, we will probably have to "roll with the punches" for awhile. My concern is that this administration, being self-aware of its unpopularity, will become increasingly more stealthy and chameleon-like in its tactics.

[Cyd_StVincent]

I have to be honest, although definitely under Trump there has been an increase in censorship legislation targeting pornography and any website that contains spurious content, the misapplied war against sex trafficking has been building quickly over the last decade. In mid 2010 Craigslist shut down its adult section, in 2014 Redbook - a west coast escort site for women, mostly, was shut down and since then TER and Rentboy. While I think that the male side of the industry is much less attractive to claim as a good cause for rescue, I think all online platforms that cater to sex workers are at risk with the potential exclusion of twitter which is maybe untouchable. We will all have to adapt or hopefully websites that operate out of legal countries will prove harder to take down (Rent.men is European). I do think that saving information is smart. I think being a little cautious about making sure your escort or your client have some trackable background is also. You would think with the world being what it is that we wouldn't have time for a moral panic about some people fucking for a little cash, but like the drug war the war on sex trafficking proves a good distraction.

[+ quoththeraven]

Good point about Twitter. DMs are a way to communicate if the provider so allows and if not, an email or website listed in a profile are also alternatives.

[+ saminseattle]

I also note that @Lance_Navarro mentioned in another thread the value of having one’s own website https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/rent-men-escort-rates-not-visible-today.127115/ (post 20). Of course, this is less convenient for everyone involved than having one site that caters to all advertisers and their clients, but it would also be far harder for the authorities to shut down. Of course, many web hosting services engage in self-censorship with respect to certain kinds of content, so even here, the degree of transparency allowed in the future may be limited. https://whdb.com/blog/2007/free-speech-hosting-11-web-hosts-that-wont-dump-you-at-the-first-sign-of-controversy/; http://www.hostsearch.com/adult_web_hosting.asp

 

One other idea occurs to me that may affect how all this plays out in the future. Much of the current crackdown is focused on shaming and punishing clients, while seeing providers as exploited victims. This editorial from my hometown paper illustrates the mentality. http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/justice-for-victims-even-tech-elite-sex-buyers-are-not-above-the-law/ This ideology actually has the potential to lead to decriminalization on the selling side and/or focusing enforcement and stings and so forth purely on the buying side as a matter of policy. https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/nordic-model-hypothetical.120321/ This could actually be a positive development for all concerned. If providers did not fear arrest, that could potentially free them to be more transparent in their personal communications. Moreover, if there were a way for clients to have confidence that the provider was genuine, and not a fake trying to set them up somehow, they would also have little reason to fear arrest despite the new focus against clients. The trick in this scenario would be for the provider to find a way to reliably establish his reputation and to communicate effectively with potential clients, which could be a challenge if sites like RM and review boards were shut down.

[Milo Farnsworth]

There is something called Creeping Sharia (Law.)

[dc_billm]

I discovered 2 days ago that the rates are now being shown on RentMen, but only if you use RentMen apps for Windows and Android. I'm not sure if the iPhone app shows the rates since I don't own an iPhone. The rates, at least in the US, do not show if you are using a browser to get to RentMen.