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Topic: [ANN] Pink: Escort startup Series A share sale - page 4. (Read 3820 times)

sr. member
Activity: 770
Merit: 250
With that much knoweldge and expertise on security, why not just be a security company instead of the escort app? Have you thought about that? Could the revenue be higher, and there wouldn't be a need for hiding?

Most companies do not want this kind of security. They view security as a cost. Look at Equifax. Hacked and their share price is doing just fine. There is no reason for these companies to care. If Equifax goes out of business from the hack maybe there will be a need. It is not even the right design. Pink trades availability for security.

A lot of our security is to fight against law enforcement. This is a problem few companies have.

That's a damn shame too. A mess up that huge should have buried that company way under ground.
full member
Activity: 486
Merit: 101
That's interesting you have an escort on staff. What's an example of a policy directly influenced by having someone with her experience there that you wouldn't have otherwise thought of?

One thing was health checks. As an outsider, it seems like a good idea. It sounds straightforward. Health checks actually received a very negative response from sex workers. If we advertise that everyone is certified healthy, then clients are more likely to pressure providers into doing unsafe acts.


On top of that, it's virtually impossible to assure health status in any individual in this industry - clients or providers alike.

Other policies:

- Having to sleep with a provider to prove she is a real provider - that was scrapped as soon as I heard of it
- We're actually getting testimonials and feedback from providers, which wasn't done before I arrived
- Tiered screening

Fascinating insights. Thanks for taking the time to answer.
full member
Activity: 476
Merit: 100
How many people are working on this project in total, roughly?

Roughly 10

How many of those are working full time on this project?
member
Activity: 70
Merit: 10
Is there anyone you have your eyes on for the CEO position?

Not something we'd talk about until we figure out their exact exposure. Some people are more confident being publicly associated with our project than others.

I feel like this industry gets such a bad rap, and for no other reason than religion. Thankfully, the US seems to be moving away from it's roots.
newbie
Activity: 9
Merit: 0
That's interesting you have an escort on staff. What's an example of a policy directly influenced by having someone with her experience there that you wouldn't have otherwise thought of?

One thing was health checks. As an outsider, it seems like a good idea. It sounds straightforward. Health checks actually received a very negative response from sex workers. If we advertise that everyone is certified healthy, then clients are more likely to pressure providers into doing unsafe acts.


On top of that, it's virtually impossible to assure health status in any individual in this industry - clients or providers alike.

Other policies:

- Having to sleep with a provider to prove she is a real provider - that was scrapped as soon as I heard of it
- We're actually getting testimonials and feedback from providers, which wasn't done before I arrived
- Tiered screening
newbie
Activity: 56
Merit: 0
That's interesting you have an escort on staff. What's an example of a policy directly influenced by having someone with her experience there that you wouldn't have otherwise thought of?

One thing was health checks. As an outsider, it seems like a good idea. It sounds straightforward. Health checks actually received a very negative response from sex workers. If we advertise that everyone is certified healthy, then clients are more likely to pressure providers into doing unsafe acts.
newbie
Activity: 56
Merit: 0
How many people are working on this project in total, roughly?

Roughly 10
full member
Activity: 476
Merit: 100
How many people are working on this project in total, roughly?
full member
Activity: 378
Merit: 100
What made you decide to take the blockchain route? The potential for anonymity?

Any thoughts on this?

Yes. We could have raised money from people we know. But that would increase our operational risk. With blockchain currencies we are able to maintain a tight ship.

It's a good tool, especially in this industry.
full member
Activity: 486
Merit: 101
newbie
Activity: 56
Merit: 0
With that much knoweldge and expertise on security, why not just be a security company instead of the escort app? Have you thought about that? Could the revenue be higher, and there wouldn't be a need for hiding?

Most companies do not want this kind of security. They view security as a cost. Look at Equifax. Hacked and their share price is doing just fine. There is no reason for these companies to care. If Equifax goes out of business from the hack maybe there will be a need. It is not even the right design. Pink trades availability for security.

A lot of our security is to fight against law enforcement. This is a problem few companies have.
member
Activity: 92
Merit: 10
newbie
Activity: 56
Merit: 0
Please provide an answer to how you'd protect the service providers, last thing we want is blood-coin on our hands

(bad pun i know)

Provider safety is top of our list. Our VP of Product and Development, Sarah (Twitter @SarahPinkApp) is an active sex worker and has helped a great deal in designing our policies. We enable easier screening for providers, so that more clients will screen. This is big for business, but also increases the average level of security. Providers are constantly harassed by clients that don't understand the need for or don't want to go through the process of screening. They don't understand the risk providers face. Here are two articles Sarah wrote about the difficulties of escorting and how Pink helps:
https://medium.com/@PinkApp/challenges-in-the-business-of-pleasure-d22e9ec03b75
https://medium.com/@PinkApp/providers-for-pink-cd37087eda7a

Pink acts as a clearinghouse. Providers can either trust us to screen, or allow us to pass through client info directly so they can be screen the client themselves. All this will just be one click for clients. And our ultra security setup makes clients more likely to trust us. Not to say anything bad about good agencies, but our data security policies are a lot stronger than most companies can even do, let alone afford. Read about our setup here: https://medium.com/@PinkApp/pink-app-trading-latency-for-anonymity-and-other-techniques-815ee21c6da4 TL;DR:

  • Database is stored 2 Tor hidden services deep.
  • HS uses authenticated mode, so the .onion is not published in the HSDir. No one can stumble on it or access it without the auth cookie.
  • All systems are RAM-based, no disks. Encrypted backups are streamed and can be restored quickly in case of failure.
  • App and DB servers are physical hardware, not virtual or cloud. Combined with no HDD, no one can image our systems, even if they did manage to find the servers.
  • DB access is gated per user, rate limited. SQL injection and attacks like that are not possible, even with an app layer compromise.
  • Servers do not have Internet connectivity. For DB, only connectivity is inbound hidden service traffic. So even with exploit, data exfil is incredibly difficult.
  • Clear net proxy (www.pinkapp.io) is TCP->Tor proxy only. SSL keys are only on the app servers. Even if someone monitors or controls the gateway, all they get is IP addresses, no content.

We will have third party security audits and publish the results. There will not be a better place to ever have your information.
newbie
Activity: 56
Merit: 0
they're adding deepsend, which (they claim) will make it one of the most anonymous coins out there.  remains to be seen if that works out.

also, with the new ethereum hard fork, zksnarks can be used with ethereum. do you see ether as providing any kind of strong anonymity in the near future?

So far everything DASH has done feels very scammy. We'll see if they overcome it. We are not prejudiced and we will accept anyone that brings solid tech.

If Eth gains traction with lots of private transactions we'll gladly use them too. Our focus is on our business. Everything else is only a tool in that goal.
jr. member
Activity: 112
Merit: 2
We are an extrajurisdictional company. If our opsec fails, then the core team will be prosecuted.

Interesting. So your whole team is okay with this fact? What kind of charges and penalties do you expect you would be facing?

Most of the team does not know each other. Principle people are very few. Most people are trustless contractors that have little to zero liability.

Will not comment on what penalties and charges. But I will say: Morality over legality. Laws we break are to benefit people only and we do not use our anonymity to go around committing crimes.



Wholeheartedly agree with the morality over legality. Good answer, thanks for your time.

Please provide an answer to how you'd protect the service providers, last thing we want is blood-coin on our hands

(bad pun i know)
full member
Activity: 486
Merit: 101
We are an extrajurisdictional company. If our opsec fails, then the core team will be prosecuted.

Interesting. So your whole team is okay with this fact? What kind of charges and penalties do you expect you would be facing?

Most of the team does not know each other. Principle people are very few. Most people are trustless contractors that have little to zero liability.

Will not comment on what penalties and charges. But I will say: Morality over legality. Laws we break are to benefit people only and we do not use our anonymity to go around committing crimes.



Wholeheartedly agree with the morality over legality. Good answer, thanks for your time.
newbie
Activity: 56
Merit: 0
Is there anyone you have your eyes on for the CEO position?

Not something we'd talk about until we figure out their exact exposure. Some people are more confident being publicly associated with our project than others.
newbie
Activity: 56
Merit: 0
What made you decide to take the blockchain route? The potential for anonymity?

Any thoughts on this?

Yes. We could have raised money from people we know. But that would increase our operational risk. With blockchain currencies we are able to maintain a tight ship.
legendary
Activity: 1260
Merit: 1001
You cannot use the name pink, its already used by the real pink coin. They are the real PINK
Anyway I doubt that your idea is good it sounds fishy to me and if its not an altcoin (no coin/token) it does not belong here in my opinion


You cannot use the name Starlord, its already used by the real Starlord. He is the real Starlord.

Look at that guy username don't take the half part of it.

This guy is asking the valid question there is already another coin with same ticker than it will make the things confusing for people.

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/pinkcoin/
sr. member
Activity: 770
Merit: 250
You cannot use the name pink, its already used by the real pink coin. They are the real PINK
Anyway I doubt that your idea is good it sounds fishy to me and if its not an altcoin (no coin/token) it does not belong here in my opinion


You cannot use the name Starlord, its already used by the real Starlord. He is the real Starlord.
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