The Chicagoist will be launching later but in the meantime please enjoy our archives.

It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Streams It on the Web

By Matt Wood in News on Dec 27, 2006 1:14PM

chicagoist_200612_happyendings.jpgA "massage parlor" on the Northwest Side may have been making a little extra money for their happy endings, but the real money may have come from broadcasting sex on the internet. Police have long been acquainted with the V.I.P. Salon and Day Spa on 4412 N. Milwaukee, where customers have to be buzzed in and can apparently pay for sex along with their back rubs.

Hold on ... forty-four ... twelve ... North ... Mil ... waukee ... okay. Anyway, the cops have raided the place seven or eight times in the past 18 months, but last week they spotted a hidden camera in one of the curtained booths. They followed the wires to a server housing videos of johns having sex at the spa. A woman arrested in the raid said they charge men for having sex, but the real profits came from selling the videos on the web.

Most of the police raids only resulted in misdemeanor charges, but officials are now seeking more serious charges against the owner for unlawful videotaping, and hope that this will be enough to close the business for good. The lesson, of course, is that running a brothel is bad, but violating people's copyright is the last straw.