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BBC Uses Skype Links In Murder Hunt
Posted by
kdawson
on Sun Dec 17, 2006 11:12 PM
from the free-and-anonymous dept.
from the free-and-anonymous dept.
Nico M writes "The highly publicized UK murder hunt for the serial killer(s) of five young sex workers in Suffolk is using Skype to ask the public for information. BBC News is embedding freephone Skype links to both the police incident room and Crimestoppers UK. Is this the first time Skype has been used in this way?"
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Sex workers? (Score:4, Insightful)
Dan East
Why yes... (Score:3, Informative)
Why yes...will grab for code. (Score:4, Funny)
Or the average slashdotter...once they hit daylight that is.
Parent
Re:Why yes... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
...who collectively feel like they deserve to be paid more than 400x as much as a regular worker [faireconomy.org], then outsource our jobs to India. But of course, you never see their jobs being outsourced, even though I'm sure China and India have plenty of business school graduates who could do the job for a hundredt
Re:Sex workers? (Score:5, Informative)
I am amazed that so few slashdotters (reading the first 10 posts or so) are unfamiliar with that term. (Do you all live under rocks or something?)
Its basically a superset of prostitute - including people in the industry who don't actually fuck for money, ie strip dancers, porn stars, topless waiters, dominatrixes (sp?) etc.
Nothing PC about it.
Parent
Re:Sex workers? (Score:5, Funny)
What kind of boring non-fucking porn do you watch?
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Point taken, but there's plenty of solo/etc porn out there - and it was merely an example of non-fucking-for-money.
[ot your sig]
John Carmack fan, browsing at +5 since 1999.
How did you read my comment (rated +3 at time of writing)
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because it appears since you're subscriber
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They may not live under rocks, but it would be interesting to know where they do live.
Here in Australia, 'sex worker' is a fairly common pseudonym for prostitute.
> Nothing PC about it.
An ironic comment from someone with a web address of http://whineymacfanboy.googlepages.com/ [googlepages.com] !
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> Nothing PC about it.
An ironic comment from someone with a web address of http://whineymacfanboy.googlepages.com/ [googlepages.com]
I actually think it would've been more appropriate to link to my diary Why is Apple afraid of being PC
Re:Sex workers? (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Sex workers? (Score:4, Insightful)
A lot of Slashdotters are American and the term isn't really used in the USA, probably since prostitution is illegal in most parts of the country (excepting Nevada but not Las Vegas city). So terms that "legitimize" it are less likely to be used.
-b.
Parent
Re:Sex workers? (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously? Illegal? (not just regulated?)
Why is it illegal to sell a (much in demand) service in the land of the free?
Parent
Re:Sex workers? (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah, illegal, except for "rural" Nevada. Enforced to various degrees depending on where you are, and there are always loopholes for people setting up brothels ("it's a massage parlor, dammit!"). As to why - probably due to religious taboos to a large extent. After all, the USA *was* founded by Puritans.
I hate to say it, but better illegal than legal *and* legally recognized by the State as a "normal" profession like in Germany. There was the recent case of an unemployed lady there who was refused continuing unemployment benefits because she didn't take a job as a "sex worker." (Cite: [telegraph.co.uk]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ne ws/2005/01/30/wgerm30.xml [telegraph.co.uk] ) I'd be ok if it were legal for the purpose of harm reduction but not overtly encouraged by the State.
-b.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I hate to say it, but better illegal than legal *and* legally recognized by the State as a "normal" profession like in Germany. There was the recent case of an unemployed lady there who was refused continuing unemployment benefits because she didn't take a job as a "sex worker." (Cite: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ne [telegraph.co.uk] ws/2005/01/30/wgerm30.xml ) I'd be ok if it were legal for the purpose of harm reduction but not overtly encouraged by the State.
That seems like a much better argument for "legal but voluntary" than "illegal". The police in the US must waste so much time trying to stamp out something that is never, ever going to go away. Here in New South Wales (the most populous state in Australia), prostitution has been legal for decades. It's not like there isn't still a social stigma attached, but I find it hard to see how throwing criminal sanctions into the mix is helpful.
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Agreed about the "legal but voluntary" part. As far as US police, I don't think that they try *that* hard. They may run an occasional sting operation in some cities to look like they're doing something or if the residents of the neighborhood complain, but the law isn't enforced all that severely.
-b.
Re:Sex workers? (Score:5, Insightful)
The big advantage of having prostitution legal and recognised as such is that you can require regular checks for STD's, as well as enforce standards for working conditions.
Parent
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Re:Sex workers? (Score:5, Informative)
Note there are no names or dates in that stpory. It's an urban legend. Never happened. http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/brothel.asp [snopes.com]
Parent
Re:Sex workers? (Score:5, Funny)
No. The term you're thinking of is Penile Stimulation Engineer, or something to that effect.
Mike.
Parent
sex workers? (Score:3, Insightful)
But when in the hell did hookers become "sex workers"? What happened to prostitute?
Whore, escort, streetwalker, lady of the night, etc. Sex workers?
I guess this is like the "sanitation engineers"(garbagemen) or "network engineers"(i got a website and a linksys router and have 15 workstations to manage at work.)
Puto
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Although I must admit, doubleplussex worker has a nice ring to it.
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"Sex Worker" is a pretty descriptive term and useful as a generic category.
No one is calling them "Happiness Workers"
This is probably a really bad idea (Score:5, Informative)
Anonymity is really important, especially if they want other sex workers to contact them. After all the recent "crack-downs" and "zero tolerance" policies, not to mention the bad reputation the police have, is it any wonder that prostitutes dont want to talk to them?
Re:This is probably a really bad idea (Score:5, Informative)
1) They have a normal number in addition to the skype links.
2) You can anonymously use skype from an internet cafe (most have it installed, with mic + headphones these days)
3) Its for convenience sake, so someone who doesn't think it's worth calling (for the little thing they remember seeing walking past) will just click on the link when reading a story.
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Notwithstanding your other points, if I were concerned about anonymity/privacy, I wouldn't be blabbing about this kind of stuff in an internet cafe.
- RG>
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First time for what? (Score:5, Funny)
Mobile Phone Tracking (Score:4, Interesting)
There are NO SKYPE LINKS in TFA (Score:5, Informative)
Which idiot wrote the headline without even looking at TFA?
Re:There are NO SKYPE LINKS in TFA (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Story is false (Score:5, Informative)
Guys, this story is false. I see no Skype links. Do you see any Skype links?
Slightly Offtopic (Score:3, Funny)
Interviewer: There's been a massive public response to your request for information hasn't there, how are you coping with the sheer volume of information you are getting ?
Police: Obviously we're very pleased with the positive response and we're working through everything we receive.
Interviewer: A lot of its very helpful but you were just telling me you're also getting a lot of calls about peoples dreams and what cards or dice have told them ?
Police: Er, yes we are. That sort of information isn't a high priority
Interviewer: Clearly you're being polite, it's just a waste of your time isn't it ?
Police: We would rather concentrate on serious information
Interviewer: These people are just getting in the way of your investigation by phoning up with this, frankly, nonsense aren't they ?
Police: Well yes, we would rather they didn't bother us with superstious nonsense.
Slashdot's most offensive moments (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, these women may be prostitutes, but the key facts are: 5 people were murdered in a market town in the space of a couple of weeks. These people were people; daughters, mothers, sisters. They were all, I believe, hooked on drugs. And one day they may have got off drugs and enjoyed a normal life. Not now. The fascination some
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Oh, and for the record, I tagged this article 'deadpeople' and (since this is sla
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Murderers MySpace Profile! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Murderers MySpace Profile! (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Sex and Womens rights (Score:3)
Here in the UK, I was reading a Littlewoods mail order catalogue (just for christmas gift ideas) and came across a new toy for young girls.
It's a *POLE DANCING* kit !
What is wrong with this picture ? I mean, have the womens liberation movement ceased to exist ? I mentioned this to a friend of mine and he replied that he already knew about it, and that his daughter had been doing it as a course at school ! WTF.
I am all for liberisation etc, but surely this is a bit over the top. I mean, do they teach these children what the fucking pole represents ?
I tried to get to Littlewoods website to find a link, but the net is slow here right now, google has some good links to a story on it though, as it appears Tesco [google.co.uk] had a similar product. I remember a time when women got pissed off if you bought a young girl a pram and a doll, now apparently we can train them to be erotic dancers, at public expense ! Jesus H Christ, on a bike. What's next, My Little Pony Fuck 'n' Suck outfits, Crotchless panties (age 5 to 6), Leather gear for the discerning 8 year old ?
Amazon have the same product [amazon.co.uk] and it even includes toy dollars ! They also have a toy lapdancing kit, which seems to have the words "not a toy" hastily tacked onto the description.
Sometimes you do actually have to think of the children.Nail (Score:2)
Re:i cant see them (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Yeah .. hilarious (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Yeah .. hilarious (Score:4, Funny)
Baby jokes never get old...
Aisle seat please.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Agreed, but can you really help them if they don't want to go into drug treatment or maybe even don't think they have a problem? AFAIK, Britain has one of the best systems in this regard anyway, since they'll actively pay for drug treatment for addicts rather than just jailing them.
-b.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
You seem to be implying (albeit unintentionally) that our only justifiable course of action is to continue to ignore their plight. Also, if you think that police have not cared about the murder of prostitutes before, I'd like to direct you to information about Jack the Ripper [wikipedia.org], who killed exclusively prostitutes in the late 1800s.
Furthermore, are you implying that we are onl
Re: Why do people suddenly care? Answer & Cont (Score:5, Insightful)
The answer: This case involves a large number of murders within a short space of time in a quiet semi-rural area where murders are exceptionally rare and crime very low.
Let's not kid ourselves that anyone (significant) cares about prostitutes, especially not drug-addicted ones. This is about five murders within a fortnight in a middle-class provincial town (100,000 folks). Ipswitch [wikipedia.org], contrary to London-based journalists misunderstanding, doesn't have a "red light district". It has a corner of a road near a truck stop. Not even one whole street. Think almost the furthest town you can imagine from The Bronx. Think Agatha Christie's "Miss Marple".
To give context, the town is only a few miles from where Constable painted The Hay Wain [wikipedia.org], possibly the most famous English countryside scene of all time. Imagine five naked dead women on the banks of that painting- the bodies were found in similar locations. THAT is why people suddenly care, because it is so incredibly unusual given the semi-rural location.
Parent