Taking a Stand Against SOPA and PIPA

As a party that holds numerous copyright registrations and is in-process of registering additional material, my opinion should count when it comes to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). However, the response from Senator Bill Nelson (Florida) could easily be summarized as:

It's all good. We know what's best for you and you really don't know a damn thing about it. I'm going to vote where the money is and it is overwhelmingly in support of PIPA. So go bake a cake or do something useful.

A main issue that I have with the SOPA and PIPA legislation is that it gives our government agencies such as the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) even more power than each already holds. As a copyright holder, I am more than capable of sending out a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown notice and have done so in past. I do not need or want the US government to have the ability to block the offending party's domains and initiate prosecution. Thanks, but no thanks – I'll pass.

As a blogger that often posts YouTube music videos I am also on the other side of that street and am well aware that the SOPA and PIPA legislation could serve as a platform to remove and/or block this blog, my other blogs, and my websites and prosecute me.

Any copyright holder of the music in a particular YouTube must only contact Google and request that it be removed or embedding be blocked. Many copyright holders do precisely that. I had a YouTube on my Blueprint Blog a couple of days ago that stated, “This content is not available in your country,” or something close to that when I returned to change it the following day. An example of embedding disabled is the Haddaway YouTube, “What is Love” found HERE. I love that video, but can't post it on this blog as it states, “embedding disabled by request”. So as you see, this is a simple solution for copyright holders.

So what in the hell is the Problem?

Well, the backers of the PIPA and SOPA legislation will slam you with all sorts of twisted reasoning about why we need these bills to pass, but the truth of the matter is that the laws will be abused and used to remove and/or block blogs such as this one. Consider what they managed to do with the PATRIOT Act long ago. As an early victim of the PATRIOT legislation passed in October of 2001, trust me when I tell you that they used it to eliminate the Fourth Amendment protections of many citizens. I was far from alone.

When the backers respond that this thesis of defense is all hype, just remember the PATRIOT Act, which I actually read shortly after it passed, unlike the dazed representatives that voted to pass it. Thanks, but I will pass on my government protecting me from pirates in other countries and anything else for that matter. They taught me long ago that they are the perpetrators, not the protectors.

As a writer with numerous registered copyrights, I am the alleged victim that they claim to help with this legislation and I want you to fight them all the way to the courthouse steps. Wikipedia, Reddit, Mozilla, WordPress, and Boing Boing will be implementing a blackout of all websites at 12 midnight EST (Washington DC time) on 18 January, 2012. That is tonight at midnight and it will be in effect for 24 hours. Contact Google, Twitter, Yahoo!, and Bing and request that each support this blackout also!

Now, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, since I have published my viewpoint, I think I will go bake that fucking cake. Thanks for nothing as usual.

Before I leave here, just in case the legislation does pass at some point, you may want to know about the MAFIAA Fire Redirector: MAFIAA

For more information from the Electronic Frontier Foundation: Setting the Record Straight on SOPA: Some Evidence-Based Analysis 

Backpage Under Attack: My Expert Opinion

Yesterday I did a search for the term “backpage” in Google News and found pages of news articles concerning recent arrests that involve ads on Backpage. Today I did the same search and found additional articles of arrests made in the past day. Village Voice Media, the owner of Backpage, is under serious attack by anyone and everyone that hates adult business of any type. Cops are using the website for stings all over the US now - really - search for yourself.

Before continuing here, I would like to go ahead and establish my expert status on the topic. While I am not an expert on sex trafficking, I do consider myself an expert on the so-called “sex trafficking experts” that are demanding Backpage remove its entire “adult” category, which includes the sub-categories: escorts; body rubs; strippers & strip clubs; dom and fetish; TS; male escorts; phone & websites; and adult jobs. I have dealt with one form or another of these experts with an agenda since 1992, and that is longer than any one of the so-called experts have tackled sex trafficking.

The religious groups involved in attacking Backpage are still cheering with delight over their victory at Craigslist. To clarify, it wasn't really a victory as those type of ads are now spread-out through many categories on Craigslist – participants in adult business manage to find the ads. Beyond this, Craigslist only lost in the court of public opinion and not in any actual court. In fact, if anything threatened by so many state attorney generals had actually gone to any court, Craigslist would have won and they all know it, which is why they choose the court of public opinion.

I would also like to establish that I have no horse in this race. I placed ads promoting my books in the “adult jobs” sub-category for close to a year ending over a year ago. So, I have no personal or business need for the “adult” category of Backpage and in fact, quite the opposite as many that purchase my Blueprint books start an escort service and follow instructions in the books and have websites and local listings online. There is no advice in any book to advertise services on Backpage or Craigslist and there never has been. There is an option discussed to place an ad in the sub-category “adult jobs” if one has any trouble finding independent escorts for the business, but then all advice is geared to working only with escorts over 21 years of age and even this option is updated to exclude such an ad anywhere on the Blueprint Blog.

The “adult” category ads on Backpage interfere with escort businesses that operate properly with websites and local listings, so I do not have any reason whatsoever to defend Backpage or the crowd that advertises in the “adult” category. Who really wants all these independent escorts advertising a $100 special? Not me or anyone that bought my books to enter the business. You can conclude that I have no horse in this race. My interest is based solely on the First Amendment rights of the publishers and an unequivocal disgust for the anti-adult business crowd.

The Print Publishing Agenda

When anything and everything adult went online many years ago we all realized that there would be good and bad. The world has progressed beyond print ads and this is true of any category. Is there anyone out there that actually believes that there were no sex traffickers that actually exploited children in operation before adult business went online? There were pimps on the street. There were underage prostitutes that worked for businesses that advertised in mainstream newspapers, independent news publications, and yellow pages. Nothing at all has changed except the delivery of the ad.

Print publications that include “adult” or “entertainment-adult” categories that have not succeeded in the world of online publishing and marketing would love to see the “adult” category of Backpage eliminated. Those inept advertisers not capable of creating and publishing a website or not interested in putting forth time and effort in their businesses to list online locally would probably flock back to print and they'd be back in the money – and make no mistake – it was big money for the print publishers. My print ads in the Reuben H. Donnelley (now Dex One Corporation) yellow pages in Central Florida total was around $50K back in 1996. These days one could accomplish the same by spending less than $1K a year online. Hopefully you understand the point here.

The Sex Trafficking Expert Agenda

These so-called sex trafficking experts disseminate false information to the naïve general population and most fall for it hook, line, and sinker. More often than not, people do not even bother to question the source agenda. You do realize that the DOJ passes out major grant money and funding to all of these so-called non-profit groups, right? They are non-profit” only in the sense that they do not show profits or pay tax on profits, but in reality all participants are collecting serious money in the form of paychecks and research grants. Do include local, state, and federal law enforcement in this agenda.

They have all formed task forces for what has existed forever by giving it a new label – the sex trafficking label. The pimp from the street moved online and now they all need $millions+ to find him – have you ever heard anything that absurd? I could pick out the pimps and underage prostitutes online easily in much less time and for much less money. These people are inept idiots that have managed to give themselves long-term paychecks at the expense of adult business, the US taxpayer, and the First Amendment.

DOJ-Funded Human Trafficking Task Forces – An excerpt:

“To facilitate multidistrict contacts and cooperation in sex trafficking cases, the U.S. Department of Justice has funded 42 jurisdictions and 36 trafficking victim services providers to form human trafficking task forces to identify and rescue victims of trafficking by proactively investigating such cases.”

Or could it be that it is not really a deep concern for a few underage prostitutes and their pimps and more of an anti-adult business agenda? Bingo. These people want to wipe-out all forms of adult business, but escort services and advertising websites used by escorts are the target du jour. They are happy that they'll put 200K+ adult independent escorts out of business with some lame pretense that they must stop a few minor girls from being sex trafficking victims. Bullshit – I have looked closer at many of their crap cases on this blog.

The fact is that they want no advertising venues to accept ads for any adult business or operator of any type. They have been at this for many years in the US, but have finally figured out out to get serious $$$$ for the agenda. Back when the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI) went after Sprint Yellow Pages in Orlando there were no big funds available and few rallied to the cause – the MBI was on their own (with grant money from Disney) against the First Amendment rights of publishers and it was an ugly game. Read Yellow Pages Fiasco for more information on that mess.

More recently (2007-08) there was the MBI's lone pursuit of Orlando Weekly and its employees – a local Orlando newspaper: Well, Google the term “orlando weekly and mbi” to see the pages of results as all stories about the MBI in the Orlando Weekly are currently down or have been eliminated (http 500 error) or read First Amendment attorney Marc Randazza's thoughts: The Orlando Weekly Case

Now I am curious as to what is going on with the Weekly. All of the previously published stories about the MBI are unavailable, including The Morality Police, a major story published concerning many cases, including my own case. All stories that exposed the truth about the MBI have disappeared.

The Religious Agenda

This should be obvious to you. In the name of religious zealotry, the sex trafficking card is played often these days, but it isn't anything new for religious groups in the US to pursue the anti-adult agenda with any means available. A short story from Memoirs:

For an entire year I received about forty to eighty calls a month on my main toll-free number wherein the callers requested a free book about Jesus that they had seen advertised on a Christian program on television. I was always nice, and explained that it was a business line and I had no such ad. I advised them to call the program and question them about it. This was no big problem and only added about twenty or thirty dollars to my monthly bill.

After about a year, things suddenly changed: The phone would ring off the hook with calls coming in from all over the country. The callers were responding to an ad for free phone sex that ran on USA Network affiliate stations everywhere. Some stated that they saw the ad in a magazine as well. The callers described an ad with ladies almost entirely nude except for a small piece of lingerie. They all repeated my number to me, and the phone rang constantly with this crap from around eleven in the evening until two or three in the morning.

After about two months of these harassing calls I had the number disconnected. Every time I picked up the phone the billing started, and it was ten cents a minute. It was seriously running up the bill. I never actually saw the ad on television, but an escort that worked for me did and called me and described it to me. This was a toll-free number that I’d had since opening the business, and many repeat clients called it, usually from out-of-town numbers.

When I thought about the situation I realized that the free book about Jesus ad had not served the purpose that someone intended: to get me to turn the number off. Regardless, someone dug into their deep pockets and finally achieved the desired result. I was never able to get a person on the phone at any affiliate station that could direct me to anyone that had the advertiser’s information. This was an intelligent maneuver deliberately used to prevent me from receiving toll-free calls from clients, and it was successful.

The Court of Public Opinion

I can see that someone wanted all of those articles from the Orlando Weekly removed and unavailable online to the general population. They do not want you to know how long this war has been going on here and would prefer that you believed it was an admirable agenda. Someone told me many years ago (1993-94) that Orlando was a testing ground of sorts – I believe it. What used to be an MBI agenda is now being pursued all over the US using any and all tools in the toolbox. Caveat Emptor. The goods they are selling the general population are indeed defective in this situation.

Blocking Escort Services During Conventions

I have posted on this blog on occasion concerning the blocking of escort business telephone numbers and websites during conventions in Orlando. Telephone lines have been periodically blocked at least as far back as late 1992, because that is when I discovered the problems in Orlando. Eddie Munoz in Las Vegas started filing lawsuits back in 1995, so it has occurred in Vegas since at least that year and actually much earlier. In the early days of my business (1994), I heard from escort business operators in Los Angeles and Anaheim that they were experiencing the same trouble.

Last week I posted an article on my Blueprint Blog discussing the blocking and strategies of discovery and possible solutions. One reader was paying attention. He stated that he has quietly watched as huge conventions came to his city of operation out west for the last month, unsure of the next move. The conventions brought no business. One intelligent escort that contracts with him and a couple of other area services had similar thoughts, but after the last huge convention brought nothing, zero, zilch, she commented: “What is this, a eunuch convention?” I had to laugh – apparently all conventions in Orlando are eunuch conventions.

I am sorry that I cannot reveal which specific city in the Western US we are discussing here, but I am sworn to secrecy. I don't know this guy, but I verified that he is who he says he is before helping with his mission of discovery. Last night he contacted me and the first sentence out of his mouth was: “I bet you have had a lot of people saying that you are just a conspiracy nut, but this is really happening.”

Yes, no joke on both counts, right. I will name the man Joe so I don't have to continue calling him the guy or that man etc.... I can reveal some basic information here, but nothing that could prevent further discovery – apparently there's much discovery to deal with. Joe felt that several other operators in his area were in a state of “ignorant bliss” in that they haven't really noticed this serious problem. I have found that when an escort operator books every idiot that calls in a 60 mile radius, doesn't check any information, books crap motels and bad neighborhoods or college party situations, it isn't noticeable; not really anyway because they're still making decent money. They aren't taking into account that they'd be making triple or quadruple the $s if convention attendees could reach them.

My situation, especially in the later years of business, was that I always verified calls and only booked nice, mild clients in nice houses or better hotels. The few cops that I booked from late 1992 through September 2001, when I closed my business prior to my arrest, did check out. By the time I booked the last 2 out of the 4 over the years, they knew they had to work to book with me, and they did. The second to the last one had a verified return flight to Omaha. The last one was a repeat client - a good repeat local client turned informant.

These days, if I bother to deal with it to cover my research costs, I won't books locals or anyone not with a convention. The fact of the matter is that not one single caller that I have heard from since mid-January (yes – almost 5 months ago) has been here with a convention. Not even one. How believable is that? Especially when considering that the phone rings often from outlying areas (other counties), questionable areas (maybe safe and maybe not), UCF apartments, dumpy motels etc... It would be nice to believe that men had changed and none dial escort services anymore; however, the calls that I do receive prove otherwise. Only men in Orlando on conventions do not dial escort services. Hmmm...

Anyway, let's get back to Joe's discovery.

First Joe, armed with a variety of wireless phones, a laptop, a wireless modem, and a few helpers, drove to the area of this city's main convention center and set out towards hotel #1, a Hilton. Joe used an unknown wireless phone (not one that's in any ad anywhere) to dial his main business line that he had a helper answering in another area. He reached an odd recording that stated: “you must enter your PIN # to reach this number”. I must add that this sounds like one of those fake recording set-ups that I suggested on this blog long ago if a possible informant is dialing you in Responses to Witnesses and Informants.

Joe continued in his quest for answers. He walked a block from the main convention center and the Hilton, but still to no avail as he reached the same weird recording. He dialed his other helpers and had each move to a different area and each had no trouble at all reaching him on his main business line. He walked out another block – so now he was two blocks from the convention center and the Hilton. Same crap. It's clear that this is not tied to the Hilton alone. Joe repeated the same exercise with a Marriott, also close to the convention center, and received the same results. He walked out over 100 meters from each hotel with the same results.

Joe's tests were done at a time when there was a large convention in the area – 20,000. He also tested to see if he could search for and click on his websites. He was able to do both and viewed his websites from hotel lobbies using the wireless modem. He had no way of testing the hotel's ISP – I suggested on the Blueprint Blog that a person needed to check from inside a room using the hotel's ISP, not the free Wifi. Checking the Wifi access is a good idea too, but less important because blocking with the Wifi is simple for any hotel as I discussed in a previous post herein: Hotels using Wifi to Block and Censor.

A friend and I recently actually paid a convention attendee in Orlando to allow us to come-in and use the hotel's ISP for a check, but Joe wasn't comfortable with this. I was unable to view my sites using a wireless modem, the hotel's Wifi, or the hotel's ISP. So, Joe is better off in that the website is viewable with a wireless modem, but then again no one can reach his number anyway.

Given the radius that Joe's business line was unreachable, I must say that my original assessment in the last post on this blog on the topic that there is a satellite involved, is on target. It is not only inside a hotel or related to any specific hotel. It also answered another question for me: There have been many times that I heard from a potential client when he was 10 miles from his hotel and on the way back. I'd instruct that he should call me when he reached his room, but I would never hear from him again.

Joe believes that someone is doing all of this business, not much different than what I discovered back in 1993-95, when “Kendall” and I went out to the Disney Swan and Dolphin playing investigator. This is in the earlier chapters in Memoirs. Joe has some reasoning to believe this, but I am not so sure about that part. I have not explored this aspect of the problem in Orlando recently, but do intend to in the near future. Needless to say, Joe intends to get to the bottom of the entire debacle and find out who is screwing him out of so many good calls. In Joe's city this is a new problem and it wasn't happening a couple of months ago.

Of course I had to warn Joe – the relentless pursuit of me only began after I started gutting the telephone troubles and discussed it loudly with people in high places, including telco security. My arrest came after more loud discussion at the wrong people. Poor “Kendall” was ambushed (also in Memoirs). As far as I am concerned the blockers owe me $millions, and I am still looking to collect.

One thought to ponder: We must wonder what other types of businesses they're blocking. Small transportation companies? Small pizza parlors? I'm sure the practice is not isolated to the escort business.

Image: Digital Globe 2008 © Vasiliy Yakobchuk 2011 © iStockphoto.com

Blocking Escort Services in Orlando: Always Evolving

Since I first discovered that escort business lines in Orlando were being blocked in area resorts, the methods have certainly evolved. Make no mistake – the simple techniques of past are still in operation, though at a more advanced stage; however, other means became necessary as technology (and phones) progressed and improved.

Back in the early days it was all about blocking escort business telephone numbers in hotel PBX systems and also programming at the telco central office in the case of one particular telco. It took me a good year to figure out the how back in 1993-94, but few could manage to wrap their minds around it. I met with statements that it could not be done and was impossible – from telephone company security, believe it or not. Hell, if they were that stupid, no wonder it was easily implemented. Denial, denial, and more denial topped with a jab of “that's crazy”. Yet it was so simple when we look back today.

To simplify how it worked with the old PBX systems:

There were a variety of PBX systems on the market and many had such a “blocking” feature. It was as simple as the tech guy programming the PBX to block a list of telephone numbers from being dialed from a block of rooms, say rooms reserved through a convention services company for a specific convention. Yes, PBX systems had a call blocking feature – still, I was called “crazy” and the fact that this was even technically possible was denied by everyone.

By the time the attendees arrived and checked-into their rooms that list of numbers was blocked and that conventioneer couldn't dial a number on on the list from his room. Other rooms not reserved for the specific large convention at that resort could dial the number without trouble. This caused many to believe there were no blocks at all. In Memoirs I used the example of a convention booked at the Dolphin Hotel and discussed our investigation – the large convention of 900 attendees experienced the blocking; the smaller convention of 100 attendees did not. This is discussed in-depth in the book.

Back in those days there was also blocking at the central office level. I know this for fact as payphones on Disney property were also blocking the escort business numbers. The telephone company at that time was Vista United Telecommunications – the first all-digital telephone company in the world; however, in early 2001 Vista United was acquired by Smart City. This is also discussed in the book. Read more about Smart City advances here: Smart City: A Magic Phone Company


More Advances brought new forms of Blocking

As time progressed so does the technology utilized by the blockers. Website blocking entered the equation and conventioneers searching for escort business websites hit a wall in Orlando area resorts. This later evolved into blocking using WiFi. But the issue with both was that some callers still got through when using a more advanced phone or not using the hotel's WiFi or saving the telephone number on the website before they left home. There is no sense in repeating myself – read more about this in: Hotels Using WiFi to Block and Censor


The Blockers found New Solutions

The practice of blocking escort service telephone numbers has certainly evolved since the early days, and even in the last year. We are dealing with an entirely different animal today. In my opinion there's a Lockheed Martin satellite involved and we have moved to an entirely different scale with added participants. If you live in Orlando you know who Big Brother is around here and I am not going to expound on that statement. Sound crazy?

I have a website that I have used in research for quite some time. Let me offer a sample of results from my ongoing research:

In late January of 2011 – the Golf Merchandise Show brought 45,000 people to International Drive and Disney resorts. This many people will fill-up many resorts in both areas, and then of course there were other smaller conventions going on at the same time. Result:

Not a single caller from any resort on International Drive or Lake Buena Vista / Disney area. Plenty of callers from out-of-the-way places, such as nearby Brevard County, Lake County, Volusia County, Polk County, and Seminole County. A handful of callers from deteriorated motels on the 192 strip in Kissimmee, but none from sizable resorts in Kissimmee or Osceola County.

The results are not believable, so it is a good thing that I have a couple of witnesses and take great notes for my research.

In February and March the same crap continued. We had many conventions in Orlando, including a list with 30,000+ attendees, and not a single phone call from anyone booked in any nice resort in Orange or Osceola counties. The website implements a tracking of sorts and was viewed an average of 600 times daily with at 200+ unique IP visits – that is daily! Some days the website had 1000+ visits. Yet not a single telephone call, even when switching telephone numbers and including a second number. It is as if the entire I-4 corridor through Orlando and Kissimmee has the numbers blocked, and that screams satellite.

I have one other party with an Orlando website to compare notes with. That party has experienced the same problems and still books calls, but the calls are the typical non-convention outside area calls. So is it busy? Sure, if you opened a service in Orlando to book drunk idiots out at UCF, men in groups in dumpy apartments, or people in surrounding counties.

As technology evolves, so do the blockers.

New Censorship Trends in the US

I am in disbelief over the various new ways that any outlets that distribute and/or publish any adult material are currently under attack. Indeed, it is a new trend in censorship in the United States. It didn't start with the attack on Amazon yesterday and it sure won't end there.

Anderson Cooper is running again on CNN as I type. It is Anderson Cooper and his sidekick Amber Lyons that bashed Craigslist all over the place and succeeded in getting the online publisher to remove the "adult services" and the "adult gigs" categories as I described in Censorship by False Light. Well now the censors are after Backpage.com with the same reasoning of a 14 year-old runaway being pimped on the website. They have titled this attack "Children Sold for Sex on the Internet".

Some lousy bimbo (a woman in Missouri) pimps this 14 year-old runaway and the entire world of adult business in the US is under attack. The reality is that this girl ran away from home and met a bad person – this happens every day everywhere. How does this give Anderson Cooper and Amber Lyons the right or the platform to pursue any online publisher that offers adult businesses ad space?

As with Craigslist, the people at Backpage are being harassed and pursued with a vengeance. The target is really adult business though, and that is obvious. I posted a few days ago about a new form of censorship in Google Maps on my Blueprint Blog. When did the words sexy and stripper become "naughty" words according to Google? I am picturing some ancient prune in the background deciding what is good for all of us, and let's face it – the US depends on Google these days.

Now Anderson Cooper is back to attacking Amazon. Well, my books are distributed by Amazon and my company is the publisher. Granted, the book described by Cooper is abhorrent, but now the show is going after Amazon to remove other books.

They have really gone crazy with this. I have never heard of any pedophile reading a book for instructions so in my opinion this is being blown way out of proportion. It is a flippin' book for crying outloud! There are people posting on forums everywhere demanding a list of books be removed from Amazon or threatening that the company would be boycotted. So now we have the censors controlling what books will be sold where. Why not just burn them all – I'm sure these groups can find something wrong with lots of books, and that includes many classics and the Bible.

What I am really sick of hearing is the crowd that claims to not want to ban any books, but finds reason to ban that particular pedophile book. Well it looks like they've now expanded that but to include other books in the demands of banishment to Amazon, again under threat of boycott.

Do you really believe it will stop with a couple of pedophile books? Not a chance, and the earlier pursuits of the show prove that.

When History is also the Present

A few days ago my anonymous attacker that claimed Memoirs was lies also included a statement that the story was old news. Actually the story was never news at all – not really – as my persecutors at the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI) worked tirelessly to bury their dirty deeds and any reference to the telephone line blocking that has gone on for a minimum of 18 years.

There was indeed a change of the guard over at the MBI, but not until December of 2008, when former director William Lutz exited. Hell, his goodbye statement is still on the top of the main page of the MBI website which is otherwise unchanged since. The MBI victimized thousands during the course of the Lutz era, but Lutz was never alone, obviously. The line blocking continues and was joined by website blocking by 2007. That is what the champions of censorship do – they censor access to any telephone number or website that they choose. Read about the agency's past censorship pursuits in The Yellow Pages Fiasco.

When I have discussed The Bingo Racketeering Case in past it is because the case and the story are a part of history and a part of the present. Philip Leroy Furtney died in September of 2007; however, if all the money owed by the State to Furtney's estate has been paid the moment passed without fanfare. The Great Bingo Fiasco reveals the current state of the case in Orange County, Florida civil court under Case # 1995-CA-006890-O. The last entry on the docket sheet shows that there was a Satisfaction of Judgment filed by Furtney's estate on July 12, 2010. It was the mostly unpublicized case that continued for 15 long years. Whether this means that the estate has recovered the $millions owed or not is questionable.

I have occasionally discussed the ongoing situation with Operation Plastic Empire (MBI) and the case that started that ball rolling, Operation Out Call (IRS). Did you imagine that either of these messy cases were history for the hundreds of defendant-victims? Racketeering and credit card factoring convictions do not disappear and these people were wrongly prosecuted to begin with, as I stated in State as a Con Artist when explaining the new filings on this 1995 mess. Two of the defendants in the case disappeared prior to trial and there is still a Capias issued for each. Another 1996 case that really is still not resolved. The State of Florida case is Orange County, Florida Case # 1996-CF-011913-B, and the last file entry was made on March 10, 2010. The entry is an Order Denying Motion to Vacate and Set Aside Judgment of Conviction and Sentence. I seriously doubt that this was an ending, but know it has never ended for the list of defendants. Read more in Operation Plastic Empire Update and Skeletons in the Closet.

Another case that I have discussed is the Fabozzi case – a case connected to Operation Plastic Empire (MBI) and Operation Out Call (IRS). This is Orange County, Florida case # 1996-CF-003504-A-O addressed in The Fabozzi Case. This MBI prosecution is really not history either – Joey Fabozzi is still on felony probation from the case and he did serve four years in a Florida prison. Do you think it's all history to him? His co-defendant and brother Carmine died shortly after his release from prison.

Of course I also refer to my own case and story often on my blog. Would anyone expect any different? My case is not history. I had two co-defendants – Beth Sams and Robert Mihalek (Rocky). This is Orange County, Florida case # 2001-CF-015492. Rocky served time in prison, but is still on felony probation until 2014 and must pay the assessed court and investigative costs monthly. If you care about what was done to Rocky that caused him to plead guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Racketeering (RICO), just read The State of Florida Drugs Its Witnesses. And what ever happened to Beth Sams? According to the records under her name, there was an AFFIDAVIT FOR VIOLATION OF PROBATION filed on February 11, 2008. According to the Florida Crime Information Center, there is still a Warrant issued for Beth for the Violation of Probation. Apparently she has hidden herself well – good for her!

One issue that is connected to all other issues except the Bingo case mess is the continued blocking in the resorts and hotels on International Drive, Lake Buena Vista, and Disney. If you doubt that the issue existed in past and still exists today, then it is only because you haven't done your homework. Memoirs is far from "old news" as my attacker asserted. Neither are Eddie Munoz's cases that are easily accessed in PACER.

There is also a list of cases that have yet to be resolved by plea or trial from the long, horrifying Lutz era of the MBI. It was only over in December of 2008. I think I will start bringing each of the remaining cases to the forefront here.

I always think about what people state when they personally attack me. I question the statements in my mind. I deleted the post as it was ridiculous and I refuse to argue with an anonymous idiot on my blog. I also question the attacker's agenda – Who is he or she? What is his reason in covering my story by referring to it all as lies? Why does he care so much that I post on this blog and attempt to sell my story? I have been attacked here in past by another escort service owner, but this time I feel it was different. My trial may have concluded with my acquittal by the jury in 2003, but the harassment sure didn't stop there, and actually I wrote the book at the end of 2008 because of the continuing harassment and the informants showing-up at my door. Is the attacker one of those informants, angry that the second edition has her real name? I am sure that I'll never know who specifically it is, but I do recognize the pattern of intent to discredit.

For the full story on Operation Outcall (IRS) read "The Love Float" starting on page 30 of the New York Magazine Google Books box at the Footer of this blog.

Denial doesn't change the facts. My story is all still real and it is history, but it is not in the past – it is the present that I discuss.

Image: Orlando Cityscape in Early Morning 2009 © Josh Rinehults / 2010 © iStockphoto.com 

The Network Blockers and the Hotels

I have spent so many years of my life investigating the bizarre and sophisticated line blocking that is still ongoing at Orlando area resorts that I often feel as if abandoning the project is in my best interest. When I discovered that Eddie Munoz of Las Vegas has been on a similar trail for 17 years and approached the problem by documenting evidence and filing court cases, well, I felt vindicated in some small way. At least no one that has taken a few hours to read through his various case documents and the trial testimony can call Vicky crazy, and anyone that doesn't bother with the easy research is immaterial and has no leg to stand on here anyway.

Still to this day I am collecting statistics and have a front for a business that doesn't do business. It all exists for the research. The only booking that I've done is to cover the expenses of that research, and I am positive that I'd have little trouble proving that if it ever reaches such a point.

Sometimes I throw statements and assertions out there as a fishing line of sorts. Yes, I admit that. When I toss out my fishing line it is with the intention of provoking reaction. I collect more information on what transpires next and specific incidents that are new and an obvious result of my rouse. I am sure that Eddie Munoz in Las Vegas does the same. It all still always comes down to what I positively know, what I believe is probable, and what I consider a possibility.

It is my intention to explore the facts, the probabilities, and the possibilities in depth during the next couple of months or longer on this blog, tackling one issue and situation at a time. At the conclusion of each post I will label it accordingly.

It will be like solving a bizarre and sophisticated puzzle – one that top telephone company security techs have failed to resolve, so it will be some work. I would appreciate any possible insight from any direction and will publish comments that pertain to the situation. Consider this notice that the puzzle will be the central topic here for the foreseeable future.

 
Image: Telephone Numbers 2008 © Andrey Volodin / 2010 © iStockphoto.com

For or Against New Porn Domain

The new .xxx top-level domain name for websites that have adult content is now here, or at least will be soon. This topic has been an argument for years and is now a reality.

What's my position?


As with many others I will grab a website or two with the .xxx because if I don't I'll be sitting on the sidelines at some point in the future, and it's always better to be prepared. It is not mandatory for websites to move to this domain yet, with "yet" being the keyword. At this point one can only reserve a specific .xxx domain for $60 and it will be assigned in the near future.

This is not a good thing for adult business. They want to shove any website with adult content into the .xxx ghetto, and mark my words – that is precisely what it will become. It will be the internet equivalent of the red light district on the outskirts of town. Some will find the websites, but most will not when their internet service providers (ISPs) begin to block all .xxx websites. But then that is the general idea, right?

There are already so many tools available to ISPs, parents, hotels, and anyone in-between to block websites by keyword searches, categories, and URLs, so this move will take it a step further and enable blocking of any website considered adult or with adult content. I view it as tossing the adult books in a pile across town, blocking the road to them, and instructing interested parties to search as they wish.

The new ghetto will be blocked by every library, hotel, or business that offers free internet access or WiFi. If you are in adult business you should understand this translates to much of the population never finding your website. Write erotic stories? Better find something else to do. Own an escort service or an entertainment company that books strippers at parties? Good luck reaching your potential client base.

They are indeed killing the internet for anyone that is an adult and thinks that they should be able to view normal adult material or visit an adult website if they so desire. The results will serve to kill-off much of adult business.

So why are websites like CNN, FoxNews etc… presenting this as if it is an achievement for adult businesses? Either the writers are just plain dumb or they assume the readers are. To pre-reserve your .xxx website, visit the ICM Registry and have at it, but first you must sign-up for an account here – I just did.

Hotels Using WiFi to Block and Censor

Anyone that has read my Blueprint books knows that I have a website and a couple of telephone numbers that I have used extensively in research. I've been working on my other book concerning the wireless network blocking that began as PBX blocking so many years ago. For me the line block phenomena began back in 1992 when I opened my businesses in Orlando, though I've heard that it was already transpiring at that point.

This is more about how the blockers are going about it today. I included a chapter in Memoirs of an Accused Madam entitled "The Experiment" and referred to IP blocking as a method of blocking websites at that point in time, but this is about URL filtering and other tools and it is happening at all sizeable resorts in the Orlando area and all resorts in Disney World.

As a guest at one of theses hotels this should really bother you. Your hotel censors the internet for you, but sure doesn't admit to it. I know that my research website contains no porn or nudity type of content; it is a conservative website from any standpoint. Unless you appreciate book burnings this should be appalling to you, but wait till you read what they do with it.

There are numerous methods that hotel management utilizes in the quest to censor your internet, and several are too simple for comfort. McAfee makes URL filtering software called Webwasher URL Filter and brags of 64 categories that can be enabled, depending on your censorship needs. They state: "Undesired content of any kind can be managed within the categories of the filter database."

Another big hit with the hotels theses days is Antamedia HotSpot. As most people are aware, most smart phones on the market have WiFi connectivity. Since most potential clients are searching for information online with a smart phone, a netbook, or a laptop, all of this is great news to the censors at Orlando area resorts. Most likely this is occurring elsewhere also, though I only know for sure about issues in Las Vegas at this point.

Antamedia HotSpot enables the hotel to become the Internet Service Provider (ISP) for guests and others desiring access within a specified range. The software includes a feature that allows for forced customer data collection that can be used for collecting records or for marketing purposes. The software also has features such as website blocking that can redirect all blocked websites to the host's home page. URL tracking is another added feature – the hotel can log URL addresses that customers visit, along with their username, IP, MAC, and date and time when page was visited.

The most useful Antamedia HotSpot censorship tool is the ability to block access to websites that contain specified keywords in URL address, say for example, the term "escort". Of course this can be used with any specified keywords though. They also have a tool that can specify keywords which redirect the customer browser to another URL. They state: "For example, when customer enters competition brand name, browser will be redirected to your website."

Obviously search engines like Google index content with keywords, so all of this is bad news for restaurants, pizza places, transportation companies, taxi drivers, and who knows what else that is competing with hotels for guests' money. One thing about Disney is that they want guests to spend all money on the property, so imagine how this is probably being used to interrupt other local business.

The funny thing about censorship is that it sure doesn't stop at "escort services," and more likely that the "escorts" keyword was only the first of many URL filters. I used to speak with taxi and limousine drivers that were in business for themselves and had similar experiences to my own. Disney resorts only utilize one transportation company: Mears. As long as I can remember they've done their best to keep any other operating companies off property unless dropping off guests. Smaller pizza places have periodically reported similar troubles.

When big business is allowed to censor and block small business an open economy is severely diminished. It has gone far beyond playing Net Nanny. I may just pursue my legal options on this problem. It sure ain't legal!

Telephones and Blocks

I just noticed a comment on my blog from an anonymous reader that is either a foot in mouth statement, or comes from one of the few aware.

Anonymous stated:


"Your making a big deal over phone blocks. You really don't know how it is done? Not as smart as you thought, are you."

Considering the fact that the telephone line blocks in area resorts that I described thoroughly in Memoirs of an Accused Madam and have discussed on this blog occasionally have been denied at the highest levels, I must consider that this poster hasn't a clue. From the moment that I sat down and addressed the issues with Sprint's head of security in Orlando back in 1993, until basically today, each and every person, with the exception of a few victims in Las Vegas, have taken my statements as an opening to play the "Vicky is crazy" card.

In Orlando in the past other escort service owners knew that it was going on, as our joint pursuit of the blockers is described in Memoirs. In Las Vegas the matter has been pursued in federal court cases since 1993, with a recent new case.

Does "Anonymous" think that I am referring to a simplified PBX block in which any guest just can't dial a "blocked" number? Or is it a reference to a call-blocking feature of every telephone (landline and wireless)?

I will not presume that the poster meant anything, and instead will wait and see if I am contacted.

What I find most interesting about the comment is the blocks that I have referred to since 1993 have been denied by all except a few victims. Most escort service owners in Orlando and Las Vegas cannot even comprehend that there is a puzzle. The problem was denied by the infamous and allegedly intelligent MBI, the Statewide Prosecutor's Office, telephone company security at Vista United Telephone in Disney (now Smart City), Sprint Telephone under its various new names, AT&T, the now defunct Bellsouth, and all but one reader of Memoirs, and he happens to be in a tech field.

So Mr. or Ms. Anonymous, please do come forward and put me in my place. There is one answer or missing piece to this ongoing and evolving puzzle that I am still missing. Prove your level of knowledge and I will ask the question. Answer the question and several of us will pool our funds and pay you.

In short time you can gain recognition as having surpassed even Kevin Mitnick in the area of telephone security. You could name your price with the telcos as it has been stated in a court of law that none of the top security officials comprehend the problem - they admit it is transpiring, but are otherwise clueless.

I am waiting. We are waiting.

Ongoing Conspiracies

The thing about ongoing conspiracies is that the conspirators are prosecutable for years after the conspiracy actually ends. In this case it is continuing at this very moment, so these conspirators are far from off-the-hook no matter what they might believe. The Real Orlando News touched on some of the basics of the phone-line block conspiracy as it relates to Orlando; however, if you read Memoirs then you know that Orlando was far from the only city where this was and is transpiring. The main areas with the problem are Orlando, Anaheim, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, but we can also include Charlotte, Houston, Dallas, Indianapolis, San Diego, Reno, San Antonio, and Washington D.C. – now most of these cities were added later in the conspiracy, but the first listed are the original four. I'm not sure if it all began in Orlando or Anaheim.

In Early Phone-line Blocks I described the basic process in the 1990s. While I was called nuts by several heads of security for Vista United Telephone that sits on Disney property and United Telephone (Sprint) in Orlando in 1993-1995, by 1997, there were others experiencing the same problems in Las Vegas. One victim in Las Vegas pursued it in state court in 1997, and then later in federal court. The last of the case was dismissed in 2006. Eddie Munoz blamed Sprint, primarily for having insecure telephone lines. Now Munoz was not an escort service owner; he owned an advertising business where escort agencies placed advertisements. I'll quote from case documents filed in the 2004 federal case:

Mr. Munoz asserts that Sprint has allowed calls to his business, primarily from Las Vegas strip hotels, to be diverted, blocked, or otherwise controlled or routed to competing outcall service businesses. Mr. Munoz alleges that some callers to his business get false busy signals, beeping sounds, or dead air; that calls are gone before they can be answered; that phones cut-off in the middle of conversations; that his business phones stop ringing for extended periods during hours that are normally his busiest business hours; and that during such periods not even wrong numbers are received.
There is a list of witnesses included in the complaint documents. I need to discuss this briefly here: Eddie Munoz blamed Sprint because the company was supposed to be selling secure telephone lines, and he didn't claim to know specifically who did what where to the telephone lines – he simply held Sprint accountable. In court Sprint argued several points, including that they shouldn't be held accountable anymore than any other telephone company, but they did reluctantly concede that there were indeed line-block troubles, but they were not clear as to what specifically was transpiring. Munoz also named Kevin Mitnick, hacker extraordinaire turned computer security consultant, as his consulting witness.

Kevin Mitnick testified that he couldn't find any case where they could recreate the situation where a call was diverted to a competitor, but that it was his opinion, "that further testing needs to be done." Mr. Mitnick further testified "that he does not know if Mr. Munoz's calls are being blocked or diverted." The court decided that there was evidence of other causes that may be responsible for Munoz's problems, including "diversion and/or blockage of telephone calls at private hotel PBX systems," and declared the possible causes as not the responsibility of Sprint.
Now I would tend to agree with the court in that if an expert like Kevin Mitnick couldn't pin it down – what could be expected of Sprint? I was only angry with Sprint here in Orlando because no one in the upper-level of security would acknowledge that what I stated was possible – they all acted like I was a kook. The Munoz case in Las Vegas wasn't presented until several years later, and that was the state case in 1997.

For those in the legal field, the cases referred to herein are:
EDDIE PAUL MUNOZ vs. CENTRAL TELEPHONE CO. NEVADA d/b/a SPRINT OF NEVADA, Case No. CV-S-04-1212-RCJ-RJJ, Filed in United States District Court, District of Nevada

Court of Appeals Docket # 05-15295, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

State of Nevada Case No. 97-15906
At any rate, I've worked on this since early 1993, in-between saving my life and the two-week jury trial, and five years of college, and finally today I have more answers. I have answers in relation to the PBX line blocks, as already discussed, and I also have answers concerning the new, or more recent, wireless blocking that is transpiring in the resort areas here in Orlando.

As far as I'm concerned I'm owed lots of money by the conspirators and some serious apologies from the Orlando MBI of past and the Office of the Statewide Prosecutor – well, I'll settle for the money from the conspirators at this point in life. I imagine that Eddie Munoz would feel the same. But I won't be going away – I can't because that's what happens when you spend so much time discrediting a person, attempting to bury them in a Florida prison, and leaving that person with nothing to lose. I'm not dumb enough to believe that the clowns from the MBI concocted that criminal case without instigation from our gang of conspirators involved herein – it might be a great time to tell them (the MBI) that they were unknowingly used.

Next: I'll continue painting the picture of the ongoing conspiracy