Does LinkedIn have a prostitution problem?

so the real reason why prostitutes use linked in isn't to FIND new clients or to create networks of whores on linked in -- it's to verify that their clients aren't cops.<p>in a lot of places, prostitution is illegal, and clients and "service providers" alike are worried about the repercussions of getting caught. some are regular people who are trying to make money, or like their side alter ego, but don't particularly want their friends or family to find out.<p>getting busted is scary for both parties. in order to protect themselves, they resort to ID verifications of sorts and a variety of other practices to help them increase the odds that the person they're spending their time with is not an officer of the law.<p>a busy linked in profile, business cards, and a drivers license that all point to the same person is a pretty good sign that that person ACTUALLY has the job they claim and they're not a cop.<p>source: i love hookers.

Call me old fashioned, but I still don't get these articles that consist of 10 copy-pasted tweets. Where's the content? Other than the press release and some comments from random people, this has 0 information content.

I had never thought of it before, but LinkedIn is a brilliant place for a escort to market their services. Lots of business travellers, who are often a middle-aged man travelling alone. The marks should have money, are likely to be disease and drug free, and probably these exchanges occur in a low risk environment such as a business traveler's hotel.

Technically they are professionals connecting to customers.

The problem seems to me that sex work is stigmatized and, as a direct result of that, still not legalized and regulated in too many 1st world countries.<p>The 1st world global cultural gap (between e.g. the US and Europe, or even northern and souther Europe) may seem small when you stroll through your average mall to shop for apparel.<p>But it is often huge when it comes to views about morale and what is considered ok or not ok.<p>To someone from northern Europe who is living in a country where sex work is 'ok' in most people's view, legalized anyway and regulated in recent years, this LinkedIn stuff is one of these stories that sound like they're from another, previous century.

Fiction becomes reality:<p><a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-still-searching-for-hookup-subculture-on,29003/" rel="nofollow">http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-still-searching-fo...</a>

Aljazeera.com article a case for Betteridge's law of headlines?<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline...</a>

No, just with social media marketing. But the two areas are easy to confuse.

I deem this as an indication to the fact that LinkedIn is the de facto online social network for business.

The reason this got talked about in my workplace was that another article covering it claimed that people were even endorsing prostitutes for various skills on LinkedIn.. the mind boggles :)

The title of the article raises a good question, though: what is the rationale for clamping down on this?<p>Have they had a real problem, or is it merely moralistic?

ok, in which countries do sex workers identify themselves with their name and actual profession and it is completely ok? likewho would even create a profile like this?<p>don't other families don't trash her as a bad mother, doesn't it affect their employment prospects, are their kids or parents not harassed etc?<p>if there is a country like that i want to live there.

I am speculating that the reason LinkedIn did it, is to get distanced from legal problems, not only in relation to prostitution laws (for example, Brazil says prostitution is allowed, but facilitating prostitution is not... LinkedIn was a facilitator? Also, several other countries have equally, or even more confusing laws on the subject), but also to law enforcement efforts against sex slavery and human trafficking.<p>I guess LinkedIn don't want the ball thrown on their court and be responsible for checking who is a real prostitute and who is a slave or a scammer.

No.