Prostitution in a wired world (Sydney Morning Herald)

[icymist]

It may be the world's oldest profession, but prostitution is using some 21st-century tricks.

The prostitution scandal involving New York Governor Eliot Spitzer lays bare some of the inner workings of modern-day sex work: text messaging to clock in the client, electronic fund transfers, a website featuring colour photos, prices and rankings.

There has always been a distinction between indoor and street-level prostitution, and advances in technology have increasingly separated the two, said Ronald Weitzer, author of Sex for Sale: Prostitution, Pornography and the Sex Industry.

Not only can prostitutes and escort services now run more efficient businesses, but they can leverage word-of-mouth advertising in new ways to build their brands and troll for clients. Online social communities built around the escort and sex worker industries can solidify customer loyalty.

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"The surprise should not be that (Spitzer) was a client, but that he got exposed," Almodovar said. "Despite the technology we have, 99 percent of them will never get discovered.

NSA telephone surveillance anyone?
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