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This morning Bytegeist contacted Rep. Carolyn Maloney for a comment on the Google Android App Utoopi, which uses Google Maps to offer “all the paid sex of your city geogargeted.”
Rep. Maloney has now sent a letter to Google CEO Larry Page regarding Utoopi:
| September 18, 2012Mr. Larry Page Chief Executive Officer Google, Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043Dear Mr. Page, I have long admired Goggle and I am even more impressed by the statement on your investor relations page, that your motto is “also about doing the right thing…following the law, acting honorably and treating each other with respect.” Your response to a recent letter to you from Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn and myself about sex trafficking ads on Google certainly sounded like it was in keeping with that motto. Your spokesperson said that Google bans ads for sex trafficking, child pornography and prostitution and further that “it’s a constant battle against these bad actors so we are always looking at ways to improve our systems and practices — including by working with leading anti-trafficking organizations.” It is with that in mind that I wish to draw your attention to a matter of profound concern to me as the Congressional Representative of New York’s 14th district. It involves Google and an application designed to be used in furtherance of illegal escort services. The app, marketed under the name Utoopi, is used for the purposes of advertising, soliciting and recruiting sex workers and is designed to operate on phones and pads that use your Android operating system. The app promotes sex trafficking in four cities, one of them my own. The web site for Utoopi services in New York City features a picture of a street corner that is in my district.It is appalling beyond belief that someone would try to market an ‘app’ like Utoopi, which is about illegal escort services plain and simple. I urge you to ban the promotion of sex services and immediately remove Utoopi from the Android ‘app’ marketplace hosted by Google. I look forward to hearing about your prompt action in this matter. Sincerely, |
In an interview with Bytegeist, Rep. Maloney pointed to a section of the Utoopi website that clearly indicates it is marketing its “paid sex” app to young people:
The new escorts are on Utoopi, where both they and their clients have the information they need at hand. Now they can alternate between their studies or work and their services as escorts with complete privacy.
“This clearly seems to imply that Utoopi is engaged in an effort to recruit into the sex trafficking business those who are college age or younger” says Maloney. “In reality, sex trafficking is not the sanitized victimless crime presented in films like ‘Pretty Woman.’ It is grim and dangerous business that destroys the lives of tens of thousands of young women every year. It is in short, evil.
“Google needs to live up to its own stated promise to ban the promotion of sex services and immediately remove Utoopi from the Android ‘app’ marketplace hosted by Google.”
Update: Google has removed the Utoopi App from Google Play.
16 Comments
so much for “do no evil”
Well at least they finally seem to think privacy is important.
What’s ‘Goggle’?
Oh, and Google should pull the app. They have control over the Android Marketplace. They should do the right thing here.
I’ve been trying to get Google on the phone all day. Emailing, calling…someone sent me an email saying Google was pulling the app and that I could attribute that to anonymous Google spokesperson, but I don’t find any compelling reason to grant anonymity here. So I’ll keep trying.
I think it’s important to point out here, for the folks upset at Google, that this isn’t a Google or Android app.
An independent developer used the open source Android code to develop an app, then upload it to the Marketplace. I don’t know what Google’s screening process is, if any, before apps ‘go live’. Things hosted on the marketplace, however, have nothing to do with Google.
If we make enough noise here, with the Congresswomen that are already involved, Google will certainly pull the app. It is unreasonable to blame Google or think them culpable in this beyond that. If they don’t pull the app, then any anger or disappointment would certainly be justified.
I hope they do pull the app soon. It doesn’t seem characteristic of Google to not respond promptly once this issue is brought to their attention.
Question – is this app available on iOS devices?
I’d like to know what their review process is. They claim that they use all kinds of sophisticated techniques and work with law enforcement with real cool tech tools to make sure their networks aren’t being used to exploit and victimize young people, but their efforts apparently don’t extend to reading the websites of the apps they offer in their app store.
I’d also like to know how much money they’re making on sex ads each year, and how that breaks down in international vs. domestic, and countries where prostitution is legal vs. where it’s illegal. They undoubtedly know it.
I know this stuff gets demagogued by culture warriors all the time, and I’m not unsympathetic to Google on that front. I’d just like to know how much money we’re talking about here.
Hopefully this singular issue can serve to draw attention to your broader points. If Google is profiting from the sex trafficking in any way, they should answer for it.
Can I play devil’s advocate here? How do we know this app isn’t part of an ongoing sex sting operation? If it is, just downloading the app would put a big target on your back. An app would “concentrate” all the perps in to one neat little package, so much easier to arrest. Just a thought.
What’s beyond belief is Puritans still exist? What’s appalling is the reaction to “app” because it deals with sex. More like my wife’s irrational reaction to “Penthouse Letters” under the bed’s mattress, while “5O Shades of Grey” on her nightstand has all sorts of different page corners folded over?
We should be more concerned with data collected on citizens by corporations such as Google, first. But that’s not even on the radar screen here?
Prostitutes walk the streets, put ads in papers, set up parlors, and set up internet sites. But if they use an app, now that’s going too far! Too funny. Somehow, I seriously seriously seriously doubt that somewhere down the road, if you ask a prostitute what drew her into that line of work, you are ever going to hear her say it was that amazing Google app. Too funny. Perhaps the Puritans of 2012 would benefit from a trip to Pompei where you can see block after block after block of brothels. When future histories of prositution are written, this app won’t even make it into a footnote.
And given how shocked Mrs. Maloney is, here’s another thing that might shock her. Given just how fucking rich her constituents are, there is little doubt there are many more acts of prostitution taking place in her district than 99% of the other districts in the fucking country. Again, too funny. I tend to doubt she even grasps that basic economic fact. The 1% use prostitutes much more than the 99%.
Eyes Wide Shut
Could be.
It was already suggested at the first article about this.