(CNN) -- Underage sex trafficking is an awful thing, on that we can all agree. But the growing clamor by individual U.S. states for the shutdown of Village Voice Media's web-based advertising site, Backpage.com, is panicky, scattershot, legally suspect and potentially just as dangerous. Backpage.com is a personals website with a special "adult" section containing a wealth of listings for escort services. Like the back pages of most alternative local news weeklies, or for that matter the Yellow Pages of the phone book, the website contains ads and pictures that make no pretense about what is being offered. These are ads for prostitutes.
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Douglas Rushkoff: Calls to close Backpage.com are scattershot, potentially dangerous
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He says authorities say ads there peddle underage prostitutes, which is heinous
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He says federal law doesn't hold sites responsible for third-party generated content
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Rushkoff: Village Voice may be right to resist challenge but should ditch sex listings
But the listings on @placeholder don't reflect such priorities, nor do they reflect well on the integrity of the company that is hosting them.