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Prosecutors want crackdown on websites selling illegal sex

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jackie Lacey, district attorney for Los Angeles County, talks at an international sex trafficking summit today in Honolulu. Prosecutors from around the world say the fight against sex trafficking is moving online as traffickers use popular websites to advertise sexual services.

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Darlene Pajarito, executive director of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, in the Philippines, talked about child sexual abuse today in Honolulu. Prosecutors from around the world say the fight against sex trafficking is moving online as traffickers use popular websites to advertise sexual services.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Michael Ramos, president of the National District Attorneys Association, talked about pushing for legislation in the United States to make it illegal to use websites to solicit illegal sex today in Honolulu. Prosecutors from around the world say the fight against sex trafficking is moving online as traffickers use popular websites to advertise sexual services.

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Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro speaks at an international sex trafficking summit today in Honolulu. Prosecutors from around the world say the fight against sex trafficking is moving online as traffickers use popular websites to advertise sexual services.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro speaks at a summit on sex trafficking at the Sheraton Waikiki on Wednesday.

Prosecutors from around the world say the fight against sex trafficking is moving online as traffickers use popular websites to advertise sexual services.

They talked today about how they can crack down on the problem at an international sex trafficking summit in Waikiki that drew prosecutors from Asia, the U.S. and Canada.

The challenges each nation faces are similar, and victims are often unwilling to cooperate with investigators because they’ve endured a history of abuse, said Jackie Lacey, Los Angeles County District Attorney.

“Most of this is underground,” Lacey said. “It’s not like in the ’80s and ’90s where women were on the street. It’s all done by social media, cell phones, emails, text messages.”

Michael Ramos, president of the National District Attorneys Association, said he plans to push for legislation in the United States to make it illegal to use websites to solicit illegal sex and to hold Internet companies accountable for sex trafficking that occurs on their platforms.

“There should be some place that says you need to do a better job with the content that’s on your promotional site,” Ramos said. “It’s just so easy right now…Instead of having prostitutes out on the corner like they used to in a red light district, now they just go online, they hit a button, and it’s like ordering a pizza.”

Other law enforcement officers, such as Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro, said websites that allow sex ads have helped officers catch traffickers by identifying locations where there’s a problem.

Sonia Paquet, a Canadian prosecutor, talked about how prostitution is illegal but there’s little enforcement. She said online reviews of establishments are out in the open, and she pulled up one on her phone.

“If we go on the internet site, we see the girls naked,” Paquet said. “They are from everywhere around the world.”

Prosecutors form Canada, China, Japan, Palau, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand attended the summit.

American prosecutors attended from more than a dozen states including Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Virginia, Washington and Washington D.C.

26 responses to “Prosecutors want crackdown on websites selling illegal sex”

  1. HRS134 says:

    Any women from Africa or the South Pacific?

  2. allie says:

    free speech laws will make this difficult

  3. st1d says:

    adult book stores, massage parlors and hostess bars advertisements in the star advertiser sports section would be a good start.

  4. islandstyl says:

    Selling illegal sex? Are there websites that are selling sex legally?

  5. dontbelieveinmyths says:

    How about you folks concentrate on prosecuting perps who get caught committing crimes. Catch a guy in a stolen car, but can’t charge him with stealing the car? People committing crimes who have multiple convictions but are still running around. Instead of putting more on your plate, how about cleaning up what you have on that plate!

  6. den says:

    Kaneshiro has to say this stuff for the sake of publicity.

  7. pgkemp says:

    geez, is that it….what a waste of a gathering……….

  8. HawaiiCheeseBall says:

    License prodtitition, regulate it, and tax it.

  9. SHOPOHOLIC says:

    HPDs ALL over this!

    Shagging prostitutes to “gather evidence”

  10. makiki123 says:

    How about we crack down on an incompetent prosecutor? Why do people keep voting for Kaneshiro?

  11. sailfish1 says:

    I would be interested in hearing what the prosecutor from Thailand says.

  12. saywhatyouthink says:

    Kaneshiro’s weird obsession with prostitution and any form of gambling is not normal. There are many more higher priorities for limited law enforcement resources than targeting what are for the most part, victimless crimes. He reminds me of Charles Marsland back in the 80’s going around arresting video store clerks for renting porn movies. He needs to be retired and fade away along with his deputy Kealoha and her crooked husband.

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