'Escort review' website where users RATE prostitutes sparks controversy from critics who say it 'treats women like menu orders'



An 'escort review' website that allows users to rate prostitutes based on services rendered, physical assets and price, has sparked controversy.



ECCIE.net, which is run from North Texas and has global reach, allows registered members to post reviews on the hundreds of teenage and adult women profiled.

Since CBS flagged up the site on Monday, it has become the source of debate with some arguing that it treats women 'like they can be ordered off of a menu' and others stating that it merely helps 'inform consumers'.



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Worrying trend: An 'escort review' website that allows users to rate prostitutes based on services rendered, physical assets and price, has sparked concern

One commentator wrote on Jezebel : 'The problem is treating women like they can be ordered off of a menu.'



However, another defended the site on CBS, stating: 'Nothing better than being an informed consumer.'

And someone with the same view added: 'The legalities and ethics of prostitution notwithstanding, I'm afraid I simply don't see anything wrong with this rating site.'

David Marwell, a special agent with the U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement agency, revealed that it is near impossible to shut down such sites and instead they are used to crackdown on sex trafficking.

' A lot of these internet websites are reflective of pure prostitution. [However] some of these websites have actual legitimate ways of means and services that they produce,' he explained.

'So having these websites, looking into this aspect of the websites, doesn’t necessarily make the entire website seizable or being able to close it down.'

'The problem is treating women like they can be ordered off of a menu'

ECCIE.net, which stands for Escort Client Community Information Interchange, appears to have been launched in 2000, according to the copyright year stated on the site.

CBS discovered that the domain name is owned by KCN Infosys, LLC, a company created by three businesspeople living in North Texas who did not respond to a request for comment.



Reviewers on the site generally state the name of the prostitute, their contact details, the activities that they offer, the session length, fee, hair color, age, smoking status and ethnicity.

A one-sentence description of the woman's body, along with a simple yes/no recommendation completes the post .



Controversial: A review of one of the female prostitutes featured on the ECCIE.net site

One member going by the name of BossHogg50 wrote of 24-year-old woman in Alabama: 'She wasn't ugly but she was nuthin [sic] special either. Very round in the middle.'

And another user called Kchobby described a 45-year-old woman from London as a 'must see ' with a 'very athletic . . . amazingly [sic] body' and 'an incredible ass (just the right size for her frame).'



Jenny Ford, a human trafficking expert with Texas-based, non-profit All Church Home Child and Family Services, expressed concern at how the 'oldest profession' is taking advantage of modern technology to attract new custom.

'I’ve seen worse ads and websites than this . . . It’s happening everywhere. I mean, you can call and get somebody delivered to your house, to your apartment, or to a hotel,' she said.

However ICE agent, Mr Marwell, highlighted how sites like ECCIE can actually help Homeland Security Investigators combat prostitution and related crime.

'It’s happening everywhere. I mean, you can call and get somebody delivered to your house, to your apartment, or to a hotel'

Myredbook.com, which reviews massage parlors that offer sex and lists 90 such establishments in San Francisco, has facilitated numerous pimping arrests over recent years.



Former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom previously highlighted: 'Vice doesn't have to look for you, the escort ads and escort review sites give the police all the information they need to find and bust you.'

Despite the barriers, Texas state senator Leticia Van De Putte is currently pushing a bill through the state senate in a bid to stop escort review sites from operating.



'We know the internet is a problem. But what’s happened with these internet sites is that they’ve become advertising, money making ventures,' she said.

'This is not your prostitute standing on your street corner. This is online solicitation.'



CBS confirmed with the Texas Attorney General’s office that ECCIE is now a factor in a several of their investigations.



They did not offer any information on the case or specify if anything on the site is illegal.

The laws controlling prostitution are far from straightforward.



While selling or buying sex is not in itself illegal, certain activities surrounding it are, including soliciting in a public place, kerb-crawling and owning and managing a brothel.

