Angry hookers protest ad costs

Prostitutes in New South Wales are mad. Escalating advertising costs in local papers have prompted these street-walkers to take to the … um … streets. The Scarlet Alliance thus protested outside the NSW Parliament House, fighting for anti-discrimination laws to protect their rights. In addition to advertising, they want better treatment from banks, lenders and local councils.

Sex work is legal in this part of Australia, but local businesses don’t seem to be terribly interested in fairness. Remarks Ivy McIntosh, a local in the biz, “I’m paying much for a measly two inches.” There’s no indication of whether she considered her own rates for the same length.

It’s no coincidence that they chose International Whores Day to make their stand. In honor of this holiday, which began in France in 1975, the Aussie sex workers dressed in red and carried red umbrellas.

GPS Platforms help Working Girls of the Night

There’s a travel angle here, but I’m not quite sure what it is.

Perhaps some of our readers might be able to figure it out.

The concept is simple; an alarm for prostitutes. The technology, however, is rather cutting edge. It involves inserting a GPS unit into the quintessential streetwalker accoutrement: platform shoes.

If things start to turn bad during a trick, the sex worker merely pushes a button on her shoes and an audible alarm will sound. In addition a distress signal with the exact GPS coordinates will be sent over amateur radio frequencies to alert the police (thus combining the world’s oldest profession with the world’s most modern technology).

Fascinating. I’m sure pimps will love this; they could sign on to their laptops and know the exact location of all their girls. Or customers could plug into the grid as well.

As for travelers… a GPS system built into hiking boots or your summer Birkenstocks probably has some practical application, right?

(via Wired.com)