The column is called "The Best Policy," and will run every other week. In his debut column for Slate titled "Too Big Not To Fail" Spitzer takes the U.S. government to task for trying to bailout financial institutions.

In his column Spitzer writes "It is time we permitted the market to work: This means true competition with winners and losers; companies that disappear; shareholders and CEOs who can lose as well as win; and government investment in the long-range competitiveness of our nation, not in a failed business model of financial concentration and failed risk management that holds nobody accountable."

Scanning the comments section of the article, reaction to Spitzer is mixed. One reader comments "Gosh, Eliot, I wish I could take you seriously. But in my mind, ‘Eliot Spitzer’ is a synonym for ‘sleazeball politician with God complex and a lingering rash.’"

Another reader praises Slate for bringing Spitzer on as a columnist while lamenting the fact he was forced to resign as governor.

"Thank you for having Eliot Spitzer as a contributor. I thoroughly enjoyed the column– and his work in cleaning up some of wall street–a shame that America has forgotten his great work. Maybe, if he had been allowed to stay, he would have been able to do more housecleaning."

Just kidding. Now that Dad’s hanging around, we may have less exciting Britney-moments. Maybe now we can focus on real news, like expensive hookers.

In the past 30 days, searches for information about Ashley have dwarfed searches for the pop icon, even if there’s less difference in the amount of online news coverage about the two women. The spike was short-lived though and is on its way down. Searches may spike again though in light of the recent revelation that after about fifth-in-line Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis was to offer Dupre $1 million to "work" for him on video, his crew informed him they already had her on tape.

When she was 18, Dupre spent a week on the GGW bus, signed legal releases, and got it on with everybody from other girls to the GGW cameraman.

"So, she was a ho from the get-go," says our lead graphic designer.

Well, technically hoes get paid. According to Francis, who just got out of jail for selling videos of underage girls and is looking at another stint in jail for tax evasion, he had to kick her off the bus for her underage drinking. Plus, as he says on his blog, no "drunken" women allowed on camera. That would just be wrong.

Class act, that Francis, who says Dupre looked better when she was 18. Well, sure. That was before the prison tatts. Francis said he felt like he won the lottery by saving a cool million, and will feel more like that once enough people shell out $30 a pop to check out the 2003 seven-tape series on the website.

So, unlike Hustler, which comes out looking somehow classier in this scenario, which offered Dupre a million to pose, or Penthouse, which offered her a highly-paid spot on their website, or Vivid Video, who reportedly said Dupre could become the next highest paid performer in the adult video industry, Francis gets the goods for:

The cost of the Greyhound bus ticket he "personally" bought for her in Miami so she could get home after being tossed out of her hotel. Thanks for helping me get rich, try not to make eye contact with anybody on the 12-hour ride home.

But nobody’s being exploited, he blogs.

Despite the reported offers that keep coming in from Vodka companies looking for a butt/spokesmodel, book deals, and movie offers, an attorney for Dupre and the other women who were busted in the federal sting fears her window of opportunity may be closing as the buzz dies down. Sure enough, Dupre-related searches are back down to Britney-levels, with US searchers being the most interested. Dupre made a reported $200,000 from downloads of her music (this seems to be the latest number; reports have varied from $13,000 to $2 million), but that interest seems to have stalled as well. Visits to her MySpace page have also plummeted.

It’s hard to say if the Girls Gone Wild revelation will mean the aforementioned adult-oriented businesses will lose interest if there is no real exclusivity or if it just sweetens the deal. But I wouldn’t worry too much about Ashley. She’ll end up making more money in the next few weeks than she did in her entire career as a high-class call girl.

If she plays it smart (I said "smart," not necessarily "morally"), she’ll buck’em all and start her own site. At least then, she’ll be in control of her own exploitation.  

Or whichever teenage expletive keeps them out of Mom-trouble in 2108. That it’s kind of trashy is just a bonus.

Update: The New York Post just posted pics. Hmmm. Tattoos on her shoulder, hand, forearms, and belly. Not artsy, pretty tatts, but prison tatts. Well, what do you expect on a Governor’s wages?

Documenting, though, is kind of difficult when it’s not very clear who exactly Ashley is. It’s worse when documenting the Web/Social Media developments in association with Ashley, when there could be countless posers, and where news outlets change their stories more than an Idaho Senator.

She seems to have a MySpace profile, which was in constant flux and spoof yesterday, and a Facebook profile, which was set up just yesterday, and now even a personal blog which I’m calling BS on because it’s just a little too entertaining and bombshell-dropping.

There’s no real way to validate any of it. But the search sure is fun.

Offline historians would have a hard enough time verifying the woman in the flesh, much less the pixilated version. Her hooker-handle was Kristen. Then we find out her name is Ashley Alexandra Dupre, who was born Ashley Youmans, only to learn she has a much more Italian stage name, Ashley Rae Maika DiPietro, headshots available.

And one report says she might be 32, not 22, at least according to public records for Ashley Youmans. It’s going to take a while to get to the bottom of her…well, longer than it used to anyway.

It’s only compounded online where anybody can be anybody and nobody can really tell for sure. The excepted wisdom is that the address of her MySpace page is this: http://www.myspace.com/ninavenetta. Yesterday though, that page was continuously in ownership flux, and spoof pages appeared on MySpace as well.

Though MySpace never got back with us about that, one anonymous commentator (the elusive Ashley?) explained that MySpace red flags went off when the page went from few page views to millions over night. Always sensible with its reactions, MySpace deleted it, which left that address open to a number of brand new one-namers like Barry, Johnny, Brandy, and Nina.

That last name brings attention back to the address. Why does Ashley Whatshername’s MySpace profile URL point to yet another name?  

The original MySpace profile was restored, suggesting the social network validated that at least the traffic was legitimate.

All this attention has been good for her, if you don’t assume she’s also humiliated or that her humiliation isn’t outweighed by her new fame. Her previously free songs on Amie Street, which offers download prices based on popularity, skyrocketed to the cap of 98 cents faster than even recent Bare Naked Ladies tracks.

Nice choice of artists for comparison from Valleywag, eh?

Speaking of Valleywag, and by guilty association Gawker, they are the chief suspects behind the recent appearance of Ashley’s brand new blog, entitled "High-Class Hooker With a Heart Of Gold." Not because anybody tipped us off but because it looks like something they’d do.

The blog is very Fake Steve Jobs in its sublime, hilarious pseudo-reality. On it, Ashley (or maybe in this case, Nick?) posts the texts of email requests for interviews from major news outlets, brags about her two million downloads, as well as offers from Penthouse and Playboy. All of this makes it sound like she is now very comfortable being known that way and is giddy about cashing in. The best posts – ingenious if created and hilarious if true – involve revelations that Spitzer liked her to call him "Mr. Governor," and was more of a Shar-Pei than a Pit-bull.

It’s good enough that this guy bought it, anyway.

But the biggest tip-offs are the copious mentions of Valleywag and Gawker there, to which "Ashley" links among the gazillions of sites and posts popping up around the Net. Hmmm. Fishy.

The most recent post reveals a $10,000 offer from Digg-founder Kevin Rose to come spend the night…which is either way too good to be true or monumentally stupid. I’m going for the first one, and that makes it very clever.

Still, how does one trace it back to someone associated with Valleywag or Gawker? Well, you stretch it till it nearly breaks. The blog design came from Bill Israel, who follows Jason Kottke on Twitter, who follows Andy Baio, who follows none other than Valleywag’s Nick Douglas!

Score!

Or not. The truth is, at the end of the day, it’s not worth investigating too thoroughly, unless you’re the official historian that will be going mad trying to get it right for the books (or ebooks), and who will not be able to rely on the Internet for that true reflection of reality.     
 

Or even know exists.

The online escort/call girl/"model"/prostitute scene isn’t so hard to find, though. Just use Google. If the organic results don’t fit what you’re looking for, AdWords can help, too.

The truth is, investigating this scene is much like investigating the adult entertainment scene. The breadth, depth, and scope of prostitution available via online booking is staggering, indicating that just like the online porn industry, sex trade is not just a huge industry, but one that employs cutting edge marketing techniques, and one that apparently is thriving.

Just Google It

It’s unclear at this point exactly how Governor Spitzer was referred to the Emperor’s Club website. But if he’s a self-starter, he could have used a search engine like Google. A search for [new york call girls] for example brings up a host of relevant organic links, most of which seem to be news article related.

The sponsored links, though, are another story. Sponsored results for these keywords brought back websites like BadGurlModels (screen shots will be provided but no links), HourGirl, and a site advertising "full service" $50 half-hours and $100 hours. Full-service is, according to research, code for you-know-what.

Similar results came back for [full service escorts] and [ny gfe]. "GFE" is another code meaning "girlfriend experience," which means the escort is open to certain things like kissing and other "girlfriend"-type activities. [ny gfe] brought 491,000 results in Google, along with their very own targeted ads.

Not all incarnations of the word "prostitute" work, by the way. A search for "whore," for example, brings back a myriad other results. Apparently the connotation of that word has changed a bit.

An Open Sex Market

It would be impossible to explore every website offering some kind of escort service, and many of them seem to have shut down since the revelation about Governor Eliot, including the Emperor’s Club website he used. But perusing some of them reveals details that would be mundane if talking about any other business.

When people think of prostitution, they generally think of street-walkers with cash-only policies. The 21st Century, though, brings change to the world’s oldest profession, too. Visitations can be booked with cash or credit. There is often a registration process for potential clients, or a requirement that the client participate in a screening process. One escort requested that clients specify ethnicity when booking.

Some have model-recruitment programs, and offer $250 per referral, payable after the "model’s" third successful appointment.

Some offer discounts for daytime appointments. Others have senior citizen discounts.

Though some are pretty up-front about what they offer, the more cautious ones provide a legal disclaimer, that usually is worded something like this:

Payment is for companionship only. Anything outside this is a matter between two or more consenting adults. This is not an offer of prostitution. 

Regardless, that "companionship" and anything a client can talk her into usually has a flat-pricing model, with hourly rates ranging from $150 to $3,600. Just like in the brick-and-mortar world, some places of business are more of the Wal-Mart variety, while others cater to a more, well, selective clientele.

Some of the more expensive ones put some of that money toward very high-tech, 007-type surveillance equipment that allows them to watch whomever might be watching them.

A Virtual Smorgasbord

Governor Spitzer obviously had a certain taste: prostitutes he could take to Washington on important visits that didn’t look like a prostitute and could provide him confidence that she would exercise her right to remain silent. There are more expensive women than $4,300 for two hours, but he is a government employee at the end of the day.

If money is no object, a fat-walleted client can choose from a menu of women on sites similar to the Emperor’s Club, some with the same diamond-rating system. A seven-diamond lady, if paying by credit card, will run about $3,600 per hour. If paying by cash, a client can get a $600 per hour discount. If he wants to weed out the less expensive, less exclusive women, he can run a more specific search for [high class call girls] or [high class escorts] and Google will bring him back what he is looking for, thanks to some good SEO and SEM.

With the Internet, though, choices aren’t limited to the New York area (NYC though is some kind of high-class call girl mecca) or to one type, or even to just two genders. Options are available anywhere one might travel: Los Angeles, Denver, Atlanta, Chicago, or Las Vegas. Admittedly, given the legal status of prostitution in Nevada, Las Vegas is a degree less shocking.

Flying to London, France, Italy, Romania, or Czech Republic? No problem. Thailand or the Philippines? The Internet has John covered. 

Approaches are notably different in the southern United States than in New York. Websites devoted to southern escorts appear to be more up-front with what is offered via easily-deciphered code language. Thanks goes out to UrbanDictionary.com for help with the decoding. Many of their websites, though, are no longer online.

Southern escorts don’t have "rates," by the way, but they do accept donations, and are happy to post the types of gifts they enjoy.

One, for example, expressed a liking for World War II memorabilia.

All of these options too Anglo? Again, no problem. There are websites devoted to every ethnicity. One Asian escort website promised "new girls every two weeks" as though they had regular shipments of "product."

Prostitution 2.0

If all of this isn’t surprising enough, some of the thousands of websites are well ahead of the online marketing game and employ just about every avenue at their disposal. The sites are very well designed, some very expensive looking. The more expensive ones employ the right blend of Flash and text.

Many have blogs and interactive calendars. Some are portals. Many are set up like social networks where clients are treated as "friends" who refer other "friends." In fact, many are reference-based only, which makes one wonder if Spitzer was referred by someone, or if his name-recognition got him a free (and perhaps nerve-wracking) pass. Then again, he’s been reportedly participating for ten years, before these sites became so sophisticated. Maybe he was a usenet guy.

One site was set up exactly like a traditional dating site, an eHarmony for hookers. It boasted 2,800 direct phone numbers for registered members.

And then there are the niche-industry players, the support-industry. Some websites specialize in escort web-design, and judging by the quality of some of the sites, there’s a decent market for it. Some of these offered free websites for escorts, as though part of an affiliate marketing program.

The websites are heavily SEO’ed to make them appear in the top ten results for certain queries, which makes one wonder how involved the SEO business is with the online escort scene, especially when the branding efforts are sophisticated enough to include paid search result complements.

They also haven’t forgotten to make use of local search engines and mapping services. Just for one example, you can check out prostitute blogger College CallGirl’s guide to New York City sex hotels on GridSkipper.

 What Now?

Well, one thing we know: As long as there are clients willing to pay and entrepreneurs willing to provide, this industry isn’t going away. So the industry itself is probably not in trouble.

Spitzer probably wishes the same could be said for him, since he has resigned. As for orchestrated online marketing campaigns for the sex trade, or activities that could be construed as the sex trade, it is unknowable at this point if a crackdown would be likely, possible, or fruitful.

It could be, maybe, at least temporarily, until they pop up again "under new management." One other thing we know: Other "underground" heavily marketed products, like pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, etc., are not quite so sophisticated or up-to-date in their online campaigns. Some illegal markets are pretty heavily masked and much more clandestine and difficult to find. 

The sites we found, not all of which claim directly to be prostitution sites, are not so careful, and in fact are very much designed for anyone to find them. We found via search. They have put a lot of effort and money into online marketing and seem to have mastered every element from site design, to search marketing, to social media, to vertical search and mapping.

And that’s, well, pretty blatant. 

In online commerce, consumers are supposed to pay tax on their purchases if their state normally collects a sales tax. This has not been enforced outside of companies with a physical presence inside a state, an example being dsports.com, which will charge me 6 percent Kentucky sales tax when I buy a Giants Super Bowl Championship hat from their website.

Purchases on Amazon don’t trigger a sales tax charge, since Amazon is based in Washington state. I will have to fork over a few bucks as an honest citizen at tax time for buying a few things on the site in 2007.

Spitzer’s position as noted in the Bits Blog would make Amazon do the tax collecting instead of relying upon the citizenry to remember those purchases at tax time and fork over the required tax dollars to Albany, in New York’s case. Amazon wants no part of that.

New York State will try to get around the inconvenient court ruling that permits Amazon to avoid collecting taxes. Bits blogger Saul Hansell said Spitzer and crew will try to classify any business with an affiliate program, and at least one member in the state, as qualifying it to collect sales taxes.

The technology for collecting taxes online has been in existence for some time. Wal-Mart’s website does so, as do plenty of other companies. They rely on specialized software to do so; Netflix CEO Reed Hastings cited Vertex Inc on Bits as a program to accomplish this.

It’s a contentious issue that will become even more so, as people argue the merits of paying tax to a state that does not provide services to an out of state retailer, as some Bits commenters argued. Habitually cash-strapped states will probably try to follow New York’s lead, if Spitzer succeeds.

Residents currently are on an honor system when it comes to reporting Internet purchases and paying taxes on those items. Online retailers with a brick-and-mortar presence in the state are required to collect sales tax at the time of the transaction.

Other online retailers are not required by law to collect sales tax. The plan by Spitzer would require all online retailers with annual sales of $10,000 or more in New York to collect the state’s minimum sales tax. The state estimates that would bring in $47 million a year.

Amazon vice president of global public policy Paul Misener says the proposed sales tax would be a radical departure from anything that’s being done in the U.S. The company says it’s not against collecting states sales tax but wants the laws to be simplified. It says that there are too many taxing jurisdictions that impose sales tax on different sorts of items.

The New York Times makes a good point about the tax issue. "Walmart.com sells all kinds of things in all sorts of places. And because Wal-Mart has stores everywhere, it has to collect sales tax following all those rules. So does Target.com, and who runs Target’s Web site? Amazon."

From a consumers standpoint no one wants to pay more taxes and from Amazon’s viewpoint it does not want to lose potential customers to brick-and-mortar stores offering more competitive prices. As for the state of New York as with any state government $47 million extra a year sounds pretty good.