SAFETY AND SECURITY ENHANCEMENTS

Backpage.com is committed to preventing those who are intent on misusing the site for illegal purposes. We have implemented a series of new safety enhancements over the past several months to better protect our communities and will continue to further increase our safety practices. 

-- Steve Suskin
Backpage.com spokesperson
[email protected]

Backpage.com Safety & Security Measures 

The following are some examples of recent safety measures that Backpage.com has implemented.

Implementing Stronger Policies to Prevent Illegal Activity

• Implemented no nudity policy
• Implemented strict content policies to prevent illegal activity
• Implemented stricter image content standards

Preventing Inappropriate Content

• Images are reviewed for compliance with content policies
• Keyword searches conducted across site to locate inappropriate or illegal content
• Banned inappropriate terms list utilized to identify and prevent illegal content
• Child exploitation response process used to prioritize child related matters

Increasing Online Classified Ad Controls to Prevent Abuse

• Inappropriate ad content removed
• Known bad URLs blocked from being posted on site
• HTML images blocked in ads (except for trusted users)
• Character limit on ads (ad size) reduced significantly
• Users attempting to inappropriately edit ads after review/approval blocked from ad editing process
• All ads edited by user after initial review and approval are reviewed again
• Built tool to restrict ad poster capabilities for policy violations
• Suspicious URLs linked to off-site destinations reviewed manually by staff for appropriateness
• Ad moderator accountability system implemented to increase quality and efficiency and moderation staff increased significantly
• Built quality assurance tool to increase ad moderator effectiveness
• Two tier system used to moderate content to increase quality of ad review
• Time alerts utilized to ensure ads are reviewed within 20 minutes of upload
• Ads deleted for egregious violations of Terms of Use
• CAPTCHAs added to report abuse process to prevent abuse reporting misuse
• Increased security measures to better protect user information

Partnering with Law Enforcement and Safety Advocates/Experts

• Added time, date, and time zone stamps to improve quality of information provided to law enforcement
• Ads containing possible minors investigated and referred to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)
• All law enforcement inquiries involving minors given first response priority
• Worked with law enforcement to improve understandability of information provided during investigations
• Created FAQ document with each Cybertipline report to assist law enforcement
• Created an automated process to expedite ad reporting to NCMEC.
• Child safety experts enlisted to help guide safety strategies and help prevent illegal misuse of Backpage.com

Click here to download the Backpage Safety & Security Measures (Updated 9/29) in PDF format.

OCTOBER IPAD WINNER

We have selected our final iPad winner; Debbie from Denver, CO is the lucky winning job poster for the month of October after posting an ad in our Jobs section.

Now Debbie can read applicant's resumes on her brand new iPad!

BACKPAGE STEPS UP SAFETY EFFORTS, CALLS FOR NATIONAL TASK FORCE

Over the last several weeks, Backpage.com has been working closely with our Internet safety expert, Hemanshu Nigam, and his company SSP Blue, to identify areas where we can put up stronger defenses against those intent on placing illegal ads on our site. We made a lot of progress and will continue to march forward with our commitment to the safety and security of our community – both adult and minors alike.

Today we announced the suspension of some limited areas of our Personals and Adult sections while we build up our safety defenses. We also announced some significant steps we are taking to ensure that the content and images in the ads placed on our site is legal and in line with our terms of use. Finally, we also believe that we are at a stage in our industry’s growth where we can all benefit greatly from a multi-stakeholder national task force to identify key best practices to prevent illegal ads and those intent on victimizing the vulnerable. We call upon our friends in the industry, like YellowPages.com, Twitter, Yelp, YouTube, and Eros.com, and others we have listed below, to join us at the table in working with state Attorneys General, law enforcement, and child advocacy groups to take on the challenges of this new frontier. Only then can we all succeed in isolating the abusers.

We treat the development of a holistic safety and security program as a journey not a destination. We will remain committed to working diligently in providing a place to advertise that puts user safety and security first.

Here are just some of the things we are doing:

• The review of all ads and images in the personals and adult sections of the site.
• The implementation of key word searches to quickly identify banned advertisements and inappropriate discussions.
• The significant increase in staff to quickly identify illegal ads.
• The implementation of roadblocks to prevent minors from accessing mature content.
• The implementation of dedicated tools on the site to educate users regarding online safety and security.
• The empowerment of users to report abuse and an expeditious process to handle user complaints.

Other online classified and personals sites for national task force:

Adultfriendfinder.com, alt.com, amateurmatch.com, ashleymadison.com, bdsm.com, bestgfe.com, bigdoggie.net, citysearch.com, cityvibe.com, elclasificados.com, escorts.com, escortsite.com, fling, gay.com, gayfriendfinder.com, myproviderguide.com, myredbook.com, naughtyreviews.com, openadultdirectory.com, sexsearch.com, sipsap.com, sugardaddy.com, superpages.com.

INTERNET SAFETY EXPERT HIRED BY BACKPAGE.COM

The safety and security of our community is a top priority for Backpage.com. Backpage.com has just retained Internet safety expert Hemanshu Nigam of SSP Blue to partner with us in implementing a holistic plan centered around preventing criminal activity on our site. We also look forward to continuing our productive dialogue with the Attorneys General and expect to announce some significant changes to our site very soon.

- Steve Suskin, Backpage.com

• • • • • • • • • •

Statement from SSP Blue

We understand the very complex safety, security and privacy challenges that Backpage.com faces and we look forward to identifying ways to protect the vulnerable. Immediately, SSP Blue will take a thoughtful look at the site's infrastructure to determine where necessary and impactful changes can be made to provide a safer site.

- Hemanshu Nigam, Founder, SSP Blue

SEPTEMBER IPAD WINNER

As promised, we're keeping the ball rolling with our iPad Giveaway. For the past several months we have been selecting users posting ads in our Jobs section to win free iPads. This month's winner is Lorraine 0'Neil of 10 Minute Manicure who posted an ad in salon/spa jobs.

Lorraine, a Ft. Lauderdale, FL native, will receive a brand new iPad, courtesy of backpage.com, simply for posting a free ad and helping put America back to work!

Stay tuned because we still have one more winner to go.

BACKPAGE.COM REJECTS CALLS FOR CENSORSHIP

Backpage.com respectfully declines the recent demand by a group of 21 state attorneys general that it close its adult classifieds website.

Backpage.com is a legal business and operates its website in accordance with all applicable laws. In response to concerns raised by the AGs in recent months, Backpage.com has increased its efforts to provide clear, legal rules to users who post classified ads and to ban users who violate those rules. While no system is perfect, even the AGs acknowledge Backpage.com's good-faith cooperation with law enforcement.

In the last two years, Backpage.com users have posted 58 million ads and only 6 million in the adult services section. Federal and state authorities have called on Backpage.com to testify in just five cases involving alleged abuse of underage persons. Backpage.com continues to respond to valid subpoenas from law enforcement officials whose job it is to investigate, apprehend and prosecute criminals who wrongfully post illegal ads and victimize others.

Backpage.com is disappointed that the AGs have determined to shift blame from criminal predators to a legal business operator in an apparent attempt to capitalize on political opportunity during the election season.

The Internet was born. The federal government enacted laws to regulate its use and to allocate responsibilities and immunities to web operators. Backpage.com follows those laws and it declines to censor an entire section of free speech from its website.

Censorship will not create public safety nor will it rid the world of exploitation.

BACKPAGE.COM HELPED FBI CATCH CHILD PREDATOR

Press Release

By Andy VanDeVoorde

On Friday, an attorney attempted to milk a tragedy by suing Village Voice Media Holdings, LLC and its related entity Backpage.com in a child predator case in which Backpage.com's records helped convict Latasha Jewell McFarland of pimping out a minor.

The lawsuit is riddled with errors. The claim that we knowingly assisted McFarland in committing criminal acts is a lie fabricated by a trial lawyer looking for a payday. The attorney seeks to redirect blame from a convicted predator to Backpage.com, which helped prosecute the criminal.

Without our knowledge, the predator violated our terms of use. Backpage.com has stringent safeguards in place to ensure that only adults use the site. We provided the FBI with the perpetrator's I.P. address and credit-card information.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 recognized that the very nature of the Internet meant that vast traffic depended on the ability of citizens to post directly onto websites like Backpage.com, Facebook, MySpace or eBay, or to have search engines like Google and Yahoo find postings without pre-screening or censorship. The responsibility, under the law, rests with the person supplying the post.

In the last two years, Backpage.com has had 58 million posts, of which 6 million were adult. In this vast exchange of information, law enforcement agencies have asked for our testimony in precisely five underage cases.

Because one case is too many, we have, and we will continue to, cooperate willingly with authorities.

For more information please click here.