Prostitution site still active on Web

Prosecutors will seek another order to kill the site. The site's attorney says it's protected speech.

©Associated Press
October 7, 2002

TAMPA -- Despite a judge's order that it shut down, an Internet site advertising prostitution was still running Sunday.

Authorities arrested the owner of the Tampa-based Web site, bigdoggie.com, in June. They also arrested 12 women accused of using it to advertise call girl services.

For $129 a year, members can gain access to the site's chat rooms and swap information about female escorts and prostitutes. Women also pay to advertise services on it.

Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Gregory Holder had ordered the Web site shut down, but it was in operation on Sunday.

Prosecutors say they'll seek another order shutting down the Web site today, claiming it endangers the community. State prosecutor Chris Brown said he wants the site's owner, Charles S. Kelly of Tampa, held in contempt of court for ignoring Holder's order.

A lawyer for the business says the Web site is presenting constitutionally protected speech.

"Web sites tell how to make bombs, Web sites tell how to make methamphetamine," said the site's attorney Luke Lirot. "That's the whole nature of the First Amendment. It's the exchange of information."

Lirot compared the site to others that discuss marijuana cultivation. Growing marijuana is illegal, talking about it over the Internet isn't, he argued. It's the same for prostitution, he said.

"You can speak about those issues without fear of reprisal," Lirot said.

Brown counters that the First Amendment doesn't allow people to put people together for the purpose of committing a crime.

Lirot said Holder's order was invalid because it amounts to a prior restraint on speech.

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