Anyone else notice that Hookers is offline.
It looks like it’s been taken down intentionally due to an attack.
This will limit new girl research.

Yep I have noticed that too. Fingers crossed they’ll sort it soon

They got hacked a few months ago.
Members information. including identifying items like E-mail addresses were taken,
and I have heard there were attempts at extortion, though I cannot personally confirm this.
Honestly, the site has been a disaster since they upgraded, and lost their very useful maps with profiles organized by location. It has been a mainstay for years among the Dutch guys.
I'll miss it, but I have seen mounting problems over the last 2-3 years, and I have slim hopes that they are going to recover.

Weasel

I hope its not a specific attack on Hookers, but isn't there a worldwide problem with Cloudflare at the moment whom they use? https://www.cnet.com/news/cloudflare-dn ... reachable/

The site has only been offline in the last few days.

When you say mounting problems, as users we don't really see that. I was able to access reviews and content as normal over the last couple of years. The interactive maps going was however a huge deal as those maps enabled much faster due diligence and the ability to see reviews for a specific location. After the maps went there was far more work involved to find reviews for a girl at a particular location - I must say it led to me having a few more gambles on girls where I hadn't found a review (overall those gambles not a positive experience). Nevertheless I still used the site a fair bit after the maps went and although I had a few gambles, I generally visited ladies after finding some positive information on the site.

I must admit that I will feel lost without the site if it doesn't return.

For those who use that site, hookers has removed (or is removing) all reviews that do not link to a profile on an external website (like kinky ads, privehuizen, ...).
This was planned a couple months ago and the reason is to comply with privacy laws (GDPR).

It is not mentioned whether this is related to the data breach last year (maybe that woke up the authorities?).

(BTW I can just reach the site at this moment.)

What do you mean by this? I encounter an 'access denied' message when attempting to view. Message appears stating 'website is using a security device to protect itself from online attacks'.

Exactly same with me I just get access denied page I have gotten the last few days. With this I think from cloud flare:
"This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks."

Which might suggest its not an internal decision to remove certain reviews, but some kind of external problem.

That I am reading the site at this moment without problems. Can you try with a VPN to the Netherlands? I tried by VPN-ing to different countries and when I access hookers via the UK I get the same error as you.

Interesting. So they have identified the attack as coming from overseas and put a block on some or all overseas countries but access to people in the Netherlands is ok.

I will try with a VPN server based in the Netherlands and see whether that works.

Oh boy I set up a NL VPN & got through to Hookers. Only to find all the reviews for Amsterdam window girls have gone, apparently due to privacy concerns.

I too could only connect through a Dutch VPN.
I don't get why there are privacy issues for the window girls section, none of them use their real names and even if they do it's just a first name, so they cannot truly be identified.
If this continues, it's a big blow IMO.

Agreed they nearly always use a false name, claim a false age & a false nationality. Which is fine I don't blame them but it means in reality they are not identifiable from reviews. Protecting the privacy of anonymous pseudonyms?

Perhaps it’s to protect punters.
If their contact details have been compromised, it may be best that nobody can see details of their daring do in Amsterdam.

It now looks like SJ are having the same issue.
SexJobs

Routing it through Google Translate kind of works.

It sems to be gradually becoming available again.

Due to the aforementioned new privacy laws, window girl reviews are gone. The main deciding factor seems to be that the windows they work and their physical features - including height or bust size - qualify as personal data and, being practically impossible not to find any in a review, there you have it.

To answer the point raised earlier: names and pseudonyms are indeed not an issue - since the girls can manage them to their liking and could tell a different one to each punter if they wanted to - but nearly everything else is.

Behold as this business reverts back to the reputability levels of 20 years ago in an instant. Incidentally, also welcome the next generation of scammers with their creative ways to use Covid-19 as the new rip-off exploit.

It seems that the Hookers.nl site is on its last legs. All messages on there are going to be removed from 8 July, and it appears its only a matter of time until the site disappears completely. See the email below they have sent out to members. Sad times.......


Dear Xxxxxxx,

A lot has been going on in the background about Hookers.nl and the AVG in recent times. After the data breach in 2019, the investigation by the Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) and the adjustments to the forum, we recently received the investigation report from the AP.

The results of the report are not good and although the last word on this has not yet been said, Midhold has had to decide with a heavy heart to take Hookers offline for now. The biggest pain point now is that, according to the AP, reviews with a link to an advertisement do not comply with the AVG guidelines, because information is given that is not in the advertisement and for which the sex worker has not given explicit permission. In our view, this negates Hookers' right to exist. We are still in discussion with the AP and if more is clear about this, we will inform you further.

In concrete terms, this means that as of 8-7-2021 all users and messages will be removed from Hookers. Only the links to the ads on Kinky, Sexjobs and Redlights will remain active for a while. In this way, visitors can still find the advertisements of the sex workers that have been discussed.

We plan to post the same message on the forum next Monday and email it to all members.

We are really sorry that we have to close Hookers.nl but see no other choice for now. As soon as more is clear, we will inform you. We hope for your understanding.

Regards,
Midhold B.V.

This is a sad day.
Hookers was a great resource. The go-to site for my Dutch friends for years.
They have had a horrible run of luck
I have a hard time wrapping my head around this.
In the information age, a site like that one can't exist?
What's next?

Weasel

this is an article about the subject. As for most dutch articles, please use google translate to read
https://www.want.nl/privacywet-nekt-ned ... kswerkers/

I'm not a member there. (I came into the scene after they locked their site 2019)