The site has been met with criticism, most notably in 2009 from
Harriet Harman. Harman, who was the UK government's
Minister for Women and Equality at the time, asked then-California governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger to ban the website, given that it was based in California, US. The web owners thanked Harman for increasing web traffic to their site. In 2013, Trishna Datta, a former
outreach worker from
Ilford, Essex, launched a petition to have the PunterNet website taken down. She said the website lacked adequate safety measures to ensure details that could put sex workers in danger were not revealed. Additionally, she expressed concern that some of the sex workers reviewed on the site might be underage or victims of trafficking or sexual assault. PunterNet commented that it would report underage prostitutes to the authorities, and that it encourages customers to report underage prostitutes and victims of trafficking to
Crimestoppers UK. ==Academic reference==