Big Sister was a brothel in Prague , Czech Republic , and an online voyeuristic pay site. Operating from to , it described itself as the only brothel where customers could use the women's services for free, subsidized by paying Internet viewers; live video and audio streams and archived videos of the activity in the brothel were available on the website for a fee. The name of the club was a reference to the television series Big Brother , in which contestants live in a house with cameras in every room, recording their every action.
The start of the Internet operations in was followed by a heavy publicity campaign across Europe , leading to some 40 media reports in German, English, French, Czech, Italian and Russian, including reports by the largest TV stations in Germany and the largest newspapers in Germany and Switzerland. During the FIFA World Cup in Germany in the summer of , the company undertook a marketing campaign, in association with Heat TV , in which they visited Munich , Leipzig , Hamburg and Cologne with their "love truck", a brothel on wheels with six prostitutes offering customers free sex in exchange for publication rights of the recorded video.
In June , a series of online broadcast swingers nights were launched, on which prostitutes did not work and only couples and females were allowed. A free buffet and beverages were included for couples. Big Sister closed in Another company tried to open a traditional brothel without cameras in the same location but closed after one year.
Prostitution in the Czech Republic is allowed for persons over 18 years of age, but pimping and brothels are illegal according to Section of the Criminal Code. It is disputed whether or not Big Sister was a brothel. All customers were required to present identification papers, [3] and sign a contract purchasing a DVD of their actions in the club, and at the same time selling the online and DVD distribution rights for the material. The length of each visit to a room with a prostitute was limited to one hour.
The majority of the women were Czechs or Slovaks , [2] but some were from Brazil or Ghana. The club was fitted with about 58 cameras, including some in the living quarters of the prostitutes. In , photographer Hana Jakrlova released Big Sister , a book of pictures she took in the club between and Contents move to sidebar hide.
