"An intelligent young man with very clear talents in the high-tech field." This is how Tel Aviv District Court judges described Tal Zohar, who was arrested in 2003. The court's examining officer was also impressed by Zohar, now 37, and wrote that he had "high personal cognitive abilities." His friends described him as a young Internet entrepreneur who became embroiled in a project that got out of control following the high-tech crises of the late 1990s.
In December 2000, Zohar set up the Escort Plus Web site, which featured the details of women who could be ordered for paid sex. Zohar received a commission on every order from the site, which was deducted from the fee paid by the clients.
The enterprise, however, did not end there. In 2001 Zohar began traveling to European countries to hire young women. He housed them in apartments in Israel and "marketed" them via the Web site. The indictment details how he purchased two Ukrainian women from a man named Igor, and two Moldavian women from a man named Pasha.
According to the prosecution, Zohar even cheated his victims concerning their wages. In light of the charges and the evidence, the court convicted Zohar of trafficking in human beings, pimping and exploitation, and sentenced him to five years in prison plus a suspended sentence.
Zohar's case is unusual, mainly because the Israeli law enforcement system seldom tries and convicts pimps who operate virtual brothels. This, despite the existence of several dozen such sites. The Tapuz portal, for example, has 38 sites listed in its "Escort Agencies" category.
The Hotline for Migrant Workers last month submitted a bill to the Knesset Subcommittee on Trafficking in Women, to amend the wording of the existing law prohibiting the operation of a business involved in prostitution to include virtual brothels.
According to the draft of the bill, the phenomenon of virtual whorehouses has spread in recent years, but their operation is still not considered a felony.
Attorney Nomi Levenkron, adviser to The Body in the Law clinic and the legal advisor to the hotline, explains that these sites increase the demand for prostitution, because they make it more accessible and more discrete.
"There are people who would be afraid to accept a flyer offering sex services from someone in the street, but it's no problem to go to an Internet site, says Levenkron.
"The traffickers in women do their homework, learn the market and keep up to date. The law must also be updated. The law's current format allows for the trial of a person who operates a virtual brothel, but the proposed amendment stresses the severity of this type of whorehouse."
"The proposed amendment also states that not only are the owners or operators of a virtual brothel accountable to the law, but also the graphic artist and the site's content editor.
"This determination has a foundation in the existing law, according to which not only the operator of a regular brothel is liable, but also the cashier, the driver and the guard."
"It doesn't matter if you are only a graphics geek who once set up a site. If the woman you advertised is a victim of human trafficking, you must be accountable," says Levenkron.
The Internet became a global marketplace in human trafficking in the 1990s, but the last three years have seen a surge in this field.
The flourishing of escort Web sites apparently stems from the 2004 court ruling that forced three major newspapers to stop advertising escort services.
Unlike newspaper advertisements, the use of the Internet costs almost nothing from the pimp?s point of view.
"Traders in women get a lot of use out of the Internet," says Levenkron, "and it also protects them from arrest. The police at least inspect the regular escort institutions. A policeman enters a brothel, orders a woman and if one is given to him, he can make an arrest. With a virtual whorehouse, however, it is impossible to get in."
