There's a Website That Offers Customer Reviews of Hookers

FORT WORTH (CBS 11 NEWS) – People like to read reviews online before buying a car or reserving a hotel room. But one website, http://www.eccie.net (NSFW) once based in North Texas, allows users to review the services of local prostitutes. CBS 11?s I-Team Investigator Mireya Villarreal confirmed with the Texas Attorney General’s office that the website is a factor in a few of their investigations. They wouldn’t expand on what they’re looking for or share if anything on the site is illegal; but just the idea that you can review prostitutes has a lot of people concerned… State Senator Leticia Van De Putte has been pushing for years for stricter trafficking laws in Texas. She believes sites like this can lead to human or sex trafficking. That’s why she’s filed SB94, a bill that go after the people using them. “We know the internet is a problem,” Van De Putte said. “But what’s happened with these internet sites is that they’ve become advertising, money making ventures. This is not your prostitute standing on your street corner. This is online solicitation.” Van De Putte says if law enforcement can connect individual postings with reports of human trafficking or prostitution complaint, then they’ll go after the poster.

Wait.  So they’re trying to make posting reviews of hookers a crime?  Shouldn’t they be praising these guys for performing a public service instead?  I mean, Attorney Generals are supposed to be all about protecting the public.  How often do you see some state AG running to a bank of microphones to thump their chests about how they’re looking out for consumers because they brought charges against some shady contractor or they’re indicting some predatory lender or whatever.  Well how is this any different?  Guys who call escort services have the same right to be protected from fraud and ripoffs as anyone else.  If a whore is going to show up at your door with something awful… bad teeth, a hideous cheap boob job, BO, open sores, Chlymidia or a penis or whatever… well you have every right to know.  And if the government’s not going to regulate the industry, it’s up to other consumers of their services.  I don’t buy anything any more without reading on line reviews, whether it’s a car or a resort or even a camp site.  And I’d sure as hell not hire an escort to bang me without checking with her other johns to know what I’m getting.  Caveat emptor is good advice, not a crime.  @JerryThornton1