The various state attorneys general have focused like a laser on Craigslist these past weeks. Like most politicians hoping to get reelected, Attorneys General tend to follow the press and jump in front of any parade they see.
Years ago if a crime was committed and anyone involved had a MySpace account, the press focused only on the MySpace angle. The attorneys general went after them with a vengeance. Then it was Facebook, who managed to stay in the spotlight only momentarily.
Now Craigslist is firmly in the AGs’ sites. And those AGs aren’t going to just sit by and do nothing as mainstream press paints a horrifying picture of sexual debauchery and murder. There’s easy press out there for the taking, people, and these AGs aren’t going to let this opportunity pass them by.
Earlier today Henry McMaster, the Attorney General of South Carolina, wrote to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster. The letter, copied below, starts with “I hope you will take immediate steps to end craigslist from being used to facilitate harmful activities in South Carolina.” It ends with a threat of “criminal investigation and prosecution” if ads for prostitution aren’t removed from the South Carolina parts of craigslist by this Friday.
McMaster also expressed concern that pornographic images were displayed on Craigslist and were accessible by minors.
Craigslist responded on their blog without saying much.
We’ll put the pornography issue aside as purely ridiculous (see Google image search and all the rest of the smut filled Internet). But the recent “Craigslist Murder” of a prostitute (or massage therapist, whatever) is going to be too much for Craigslist to overcome. The AGs will salivate over a lawsuit, which equates to press and votes and has no downside.
The erotic services category on Craigslist is likely history sometime soon. And, alarmingly, anonymity on the site in general may follow not too long afterwards.
Here’s the letter:
HENRY McMASTER
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Mr. Jim Buckmaster
CEO, craigslist
1381 9th Avenue
San Francisco, California 94122
I hope you will take immediate steps to end craigslist from being used to facilitate harmful activities in
South Carolina.
As you are aware, in November 2008 you entered into an agreement with forty state attorneys general and
the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to install safeguards to combat unlawful activity and
improve public safety on the craigslist internet classified service. This occurred after law enforcement officers
across the country called attention to the misuse of the craigslist site to facilitate unlawful activity.
Recent national events, along with ongoing law enforcement efforts in South Carolina, indicate that
craigslist has not installed sufficient safeguards since November to prohibit the Internet site from being used as a vehicle to advertise or solicit prostitution.
Also of concern is the unrestricted manner in which graphic pornographic pictures are posted and displayed
by users on the craigslist site and their accessibility to minors.
Many of the classified and communication services on the craigslist site provide the public with a valuable
service. However, it appears that the management of craigslist has knowingly allowed the site to be used for illegal and unlawful activity after warnings from law enforcement officials and after an agreement with forty state attorneys general.
Therefore, please be advised that the craigslist management may be subj ect to criminal investigation and
prosecution by this office if the portions of the Internet site dedicated to South Carolina and its municipal regions and which contain categories for and functions allowing for the solicitation of prostitution and the dissemination and posting of graphic pornographic material are not permanently removed on or before 5:00pm EST, the close of business Friday May 15,2009.
Yours very truly,
Henry McMaster
Hey Michael,
That’s just your opinion and only that. A huge case can be made for Craigslist being a shithole of deviancy. Some restraint is long overdue. Too bad the “management” of Craigslist has no respect for either the law or decency. I can find almost nothing good about Craigslist unless you want to investigate car scams and gray market junk sales or freak shows. I’d rather visit the wax museum on Fisherman’s Wharf then hand around Craigslist.
Agree with you! Craig’s List needs complete cleaning up. There’s every other rubbish in it. The management can definitely not be nonchalant about things happening in the site. Earlier it was bad, now its worse. Good that AG’s put a check on it before getting worst!
So, you agree that internet has to be “cleaned” by law? Too bad you did not grow up in the Soviet Union under Stalin, you are really unlucky…
Exactly. Hopefully the global nature of the internet keeps anonymity alive. Either way though, for every craigslist section that shuts down, crapholes like http://www.f2bbs.com will pop right up.
It is individual’s liberty to sell sex.
So called “free country” does not allow it, while supporting other trivial liberty issues of personal choice.
civil liberty – You can only sell sex in Nevada, not in your prison cell.
It seems like government might be going to town on the internet. It’s a scary idea that the internet might be cleaned “by law”, they would even have the power to shut it down then. That means I would have to go to the mainstream media for all my news and we all know who controls that. Just today Youtube proved who their with and (cancels the Alex Jones show), now war is waged with a know liberal company like Craigslist. Could socialism be right around the corner, I think so. Wake up people before it’s too late.
There is nothing anonymous about the Internet.
Ever heard of TOR?
Craigslist is free but there is a problem with free in that there is no accountability. With newspapers, most ads are vetted by a human and contact information and payment information is exchanged, but with CL no one vets the ads unless it is flagged and it may be too late by then. There is a lot of fake ads and harassment on CL. Sure it is free and attracts a lot of people for the jobs, apts, roomates, and used stuff. But there is no accountability for the sickos who want to use it for illegal purposes or to even commit murder. The murder of the babysitter in Minnesota was only done because the guy wanted to see if he could use CL to carry out his sick fantasy. Every job ad should come with a fee, as well as every apt and roomate ad. There are just way too many idiots and sickos out there who will take advantage of everything. In this case, Craiglist is an example of the cost of Free, and that cost is murder and death.
Since when was there a law against free speech? By this logic, every alternative newspaper like SF Bay Guardian or Boston Phoenix has to be closed, since they all have escort ads. And Yellow Pages too, they should be forbidden. And Google- just search it for “escort service”. And internet for that matter- a prostitute can purchase a domain and set up her website.
The difference is that Craigslist protects anonymity while the sources in your other examples can be traced.
CL requires a valid phone number and a credit card to post Erotic ads- do your homework first.
I might have guessed that you would know how it works.
And we might have guessed that you don’t.
McMaster for Governor 2010
AdvertisingLocator.com – sell yourself
“A huge case can be made for Craigslist being a shithole of deviancy.”
no, no, no.
humanity is the shithole of deviancy. Craigslist is just a mirror.
Fine. But Craigslist is not a mirror. It is a magnet.
you must spend all your time in the red light parts of craigslist. There’s a wonderful community there, full of awesomeness. At least the smut is siloed. Unlike the rest of the web.
Yes. I spend most waking hours patrolling either Techcrunch or the randy parts of Craigslist. Sometimes I can’t even distinguish between the two, especially when the Techcrunch conversation turns to the VC whores.
@MA, So clean out the red light, leave the “wonderful community”.
As stewards of CL, the “management” has done almost nothing to protect it. FAIL.
@Rotten Opiner: You generally fail at the internets. You should read the manual.
Okay. Right after I kiss this cow.
then what will happen with http://www.clasilistados.org ?
Persian Proverb : “If you do not like the image in the mirror do not break the mirror, break your face”
Prostitutes advertise on Craigslist. Prostitution is illegal. This isn’t a discussion about whether prostitution is moral — it’s about whether Craigslist is encouraging illegal activity.
“Illegality” is in your mind. Craig’s List is an open platform on the internet. You are free to do with anything through Craig’s List. If you want to use it to do “illegal” things, you are too be blamed not Craig’s List! Definitely, “Humanity is the shithole of deviancy. Craigslist is just a mirror.”
there’s nothing wrong with finding COMPANIONSHIP on CL. What 2 mutually consenting ADULTS do with each other is THEIR BUSINESS, not the MORALITY POLICE and their cronnies in the DA/AG. These POLITICALLY APPOINTED IDIOTS will do whatever to “appear” like they’re out protecting the community, when all they care about is elevation of their own agenda. KEEP THE POSTS ALIVE….SEX IS NORMAL…you puritans need to get a grip on reality.
MA why do you have to blame this on someone trying to get re-elected?? Craigslist is turning into an online brothel. It’s creeping into other parts of the website too.
So how exactly are you affected by this? Don’t visit craigslist. Heck, stay away from the internets itself… it has porn.
Allowing poloiticians to spend our time and money on this debate is CRIMINAL. Nobody forces anyone to either buy or sell sex, anywhere, not on Craigslist, the internet, or a street corner, etc. . It’s a personal choice and as a personal choice the person’s engaging are responsible for whatever the results of the exchange may be. Last checked, Craigslist wasn’t a division of law enforcement, certainly not the `sex for sale’ police. FYI creepos sell puppies and furniture on Craigslist too. How are you going to keep the creepos out, personality profiling and back ground checks. C’mon, take individual responsibility for the choices you make and stay out of my decision making. PLEASE
Just because no one has ever forced you to sell sex, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening to thousands of innocent victims every day. Sex slavery and human trafficking are real problems.
UN Office of Drugs and Crime – Human Trafficking:
http://www.unod....org/blueheart/
Or maybe online pimp would be more accurate. Still, we all know that part of it should be shut down.
Jim is going to have a tough time. Craig’s List features any other service under the sun for a very long time. It is but strange that the AG’s have noticed it just now. With regard to this issue, will it not be curtailing Craig’s List’s users if Jim succumbs to AG’s notice? Then, every other State will come up with the same issue on Craig’s List and the site would end up being purely victorian – cleansed of so called “crime-inducing” ads.
Wondering how Jim would deal this.
Craigslist is globally powered by the nauseating stench emitted through the sewers drains of San Francisco.
Absolutely true. There is nothing but stench there. Right word, dude.
and free sofas.
Thanks. And I ain’t no dude !
Oops. Dude or no dude, you said the right thing! Yeah, free sofas
Yes. Free sofas. You get one with every hooker.
Craig Newmark destroyed one pathetic organization, the San Francisco Chronicle, and replaced it with another pathetic organization, his namesake.
Craigslist personals. Now _that’s_ “customer service” Craig.
Two thoughts:
1. What happened to free speech, folks?
2. Anyone remember the tobacco lawsuits several years ago, also brought on by our beloved AGs?
America is screwed. We are witnessing “the fall from within” in our lifetimes,, as Abe Lincoln said.
Sigh. Despair.
I agree. Very soon, China will be more liberal.
@BDC. Yup. Free speech dude. That’s what we’re doing here. Are you a bolshevik or something?
The idea of a liberal, free society is you permit ALL sorts of things – even things you don’t like. That’s what freedom and free choice are all about.
Do you honestly think attacking craigslist is going to somehow make this stuff harder to find?
Do you even know what a Bolshevik is?!? If so, tell me how being pro free speech and pro free choice (as my comment clearly was) could be construed as such.
You probably throw the word “facist” around like an educated prick as well. Douche.
Momma says…
And learn to spell, dummy.
There is a big difference between free speech and soliciting a crime. If you don’t like the law, then change the law.
or threaten to sue craigslist, run for governor, and then fuck a lot of hookers.
Or save time: Just put an ad on Craigslist and then fuck a lot of hookers.
woosh.
“There’s easy press out there for the taking, people”
It sure appears that way.
Will China be more liberal?We just wait and see from here
The word of Sanjay, the born and bred true American.
yeah that comment was deleted.
Why? I find the irony funny given the subject.
In a few days it will be discovered that the AG actually has first hand knowledge of the prostitution on craigslist then he’ll spend the rest of his tenure sweeping this under the rug.. Politicians… Attacking some other entity is their defense strategy
In other news… South Carolina has internet!
Way to go Brennan. You can now take the travelling “most jaded” trophy from Michael.
South Carolina has beer and golf courses too !
“d” in Brendan, turkey.
You and BDC should go have a good cry together.
lol. i tried to fit in something like “my first thought – South Carolina now has the Internet?” into the post but then I thought, this is the South, these people have guns and the Bible to support any action they take in the name of God. And it’s only a four day drive from SC to California in a pickup truck.
The Arrington SAT:
a) hookers: good
b) bibles: bad
c) all of above
you Rotten still think bible good?
hookers have killed a lot less people than religion has.
But they have saved zero, my son.
lol… thats funny s@#t….
This is bull, the media election whores should go after the whores placing ads, not craigslist, craigslist is merly displaying the speach…
Following the logic they should go after google for every porn posting, escort listing, or hacking tip, or links to illegal torrents…
I agree with some of the posters craigslist is a s#&t site filled with allot of smut, but thats an opinion, and my opinion should not hamper free speech
McMaster probably benefits from Craiglists. He’s a well known slumlord in town.
it would probably be a 5 day drive because they have to stop at the creationist museum in tennessee and see how human’s actually rode dinosaurs because the earth couldn’t possibly be older than what the bible records…
I’m from South Carolina, and I’m going to kick your ass.
doubt it
Preposterous, they would never have the balls to try this shit against a print paper the first the first amendment issue to go glaring. You can walk down the street in SF and see tons of little print papers with tons of soft porn advertising and writing about sex trade shit. This just people going after a net company in the same fashion everyone is perfectly willing to try and drag their load of BS to googles door step for no other reason then they had the gal to to not dumb enough to fail. The DMCA clearly protects craiglists with it’s safe harbor laws anyway this is just the worse kind fascist legal bullying. I would not shed a tear if the erotic service section went away , but not like this, not with this kind of BS legal manipulation, it is fucking affront to how law is supposed to work.
To put this in context, you need to understand the law regarding community standards. If you are in San Francisco, San Francisco community standards apply to porn. If you are in South Carolina, they have different community standards. So, if you took one of the San Francisco street papers and put in South Carolina, and you may very well see a problem from law enforcement in South Carolina.
Why’s that, not enough hogs?
No. There are plenty of hogs in San Francisco. Right outside the leather bars on Friday night.
If South Carolinians are posting and responding to the ads, then their community standards are defined. If they are viewing the San Francisco ads and then driving to use the ’services’ in San Francisco, then I think you might have an argument.
I think it’s better to sandbox the items rather than have them take over another section or be sprinkled throughout all the other sections.
I think there is a Craigslist local in South Carolina, Tubby.
Instead of bullying craigslist, i don’t get why law enforcement doesn’t just do its job. Why don’t they just RESPOND to the ads and go arrest the prostitutes. Then, put up fake ads offering services, and arrest the johns who show up.
If you know that 1 in 10 ads is going to get you arrested, and you have no way to tell which is which, you’ll stop soliciting ads for illegal activity. The market will correct itself, and it will clean itself up. Of course, that would take effort and wouldn’t get a pol national attention, so the less effective — and more costly to taxpayers — alternative will be attempted: legislate the problem!
Prostitution should be legal. Why do you want to devise means to stop it? What is wrong with consensual sex?
not surprising, SC is a joke.
Not to nitpick but actually it’s next Friday (the 15th), not this Friday (the 8th).
Craig Newmark could avoid all of this politically motivated legal harassment by moving his servers outside the USA.
And that is a really sad commentary on “the land of the Free.”
I think one better would be that Craigslist should
stop their service of all ad sections for South Carolina and blame it on the Attorney General and wait to see how many angry phone calls he gets.
Dum Spiro Spero
Craig,
Tell South Carolina to stick it up their ass. Call Larry Flynt and get some advice…I’m serious. Larry had to fight the good fight back in the 70’s protecting our civil liberties. It is not the easy speech that people need to fight to protect. I’m in for $1G and I’m sure people all across the country would contribute. You fight, you will build good will. Don’t play it like Yahoo! and Google and News Corp and MSFT, always conceding ground to censors so that they can access markets. You can bigger.
billbanker. If you could only remove your hand from your dick for five seconds, I’m sure you could give Larry Flynt a nice, big hug.
billbanker,
I’m not sure a) Craig reads this blog or, b) he is omnipresent. You better use snailmail if you want to tell Craig your Larry Flynt story.
First thing, if you don’t like it, don’t look at it. Thats what makes this a free country, but everyone has to be in everyone esle’s business. It is the parents responsibility to make sure their children don’t look at unsuitable material, not webmasters. Most of you people make me sick. Get a life.
just me: You have any kids? Or is it …
just you
Yes I do. By the way good word play did you think that up all by yourself. Good job!
This is funny. Now what are they going to do with all of the porn sites on the internet? They like to go after the big guys. It’s not about Craigslist; it’s about abusing their power.
Now a lot of prostitutes hand out in one the streets here looking for guys. In that case, I think I think the city should shutdown that street because they fail to stop these prostitutes from showing up there. Shouldn’t they be out there fighting real crimes anyways? I guess they have too much time in their hands.
This is one of the few blog posts that has some great comments. Personally I really like to agree with the Persian Proverb : “If you do not like the image in the mirror do not break the mirror, break your face”. Good one Gabe.
I live in SC, and let me assure you that the AG is a grandstanding opportunist playing to his base.
Either this country is free, or it is not.
As to the comment that China will soon have more liberty than the US, I travelled there recently. I had a culture shock while walking in a park, to see teenagers skateboarding. Try that here!
Thank your for your unbiased, local, and surely professional assurance. We are duly convinced that your anonymous comment carries substantial weight with the electorate.
I personally would remove the adult section and replace it with a billboard listing the DA’s name and office telephone number in HUGE text advising residents of the state of south carolina to call the DA personally and tell them how much they like them taking away thier freedom of speech and maybe show it at the polls as well. turn this into a net loss rather then a net win for him.
kinda reminds me of when COPA was passed and alot the adult sites turned there pages black with a note that the US government was attempting to take away your freedom of speech. needless to say the ACLU stepped in and kicked that laws ass…
It amazes me how many people on here think every little thing should be regulated and controlled. thats not freedom folks… someone uses a phonebook to pick out victims at random.. do we now ban phone books?
i don’t understand doesn’t CL make it easier to catch jons, prostitutes etc… well jons might be entrapment, unless they catch some investigating an escort service.
there is some really interesting things on cl, for instance had i not been happily married, i could have got a free beach week pretending to be some divorcees young boyfriend for her daughter’s beach wedding in which her ex and his new young girlfriend would also be attending.
Craigslist drives me crazy. From a business perspective, there is zero upside from having an Erotic Services section. Then again nothing that Craigslist does makes sense. They are sitting on one of the biggest untapped goldmines on the Internet.
If you have money to invest, we can talk
Um, maybe people want to hire a stripper, massage ”therapist”, for example. There is nothing wrong except bible thumpers with nothing to do.
I don’t have any problem with anyone advertising/searching for such services; more power to them. My point is that Craigslist is the de facto classifieds for the Internet, and they should start acting like it.
I view this more as the straw that broke the camels back. People are passionate about C-List but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a pattern here.
I commented on a Webpronews article a couple of years ago with a cursory list of headlines that I share below. headlines like these over time will negatively impact even the best intending.
Bad news for Craigslist: Woman answers ad, found dead (October 29, 2007) Craigslist posters robbed at gunpoint in Walnut Creek, CA (July 17, 2006); Sex on Craiglist.Org (October 5, 2007); Craigslist ad lures posse of unwitting vandals — House ransacked after bogus invitation to ‘help yourself to anything” — free (April 5, 2007); Social sites open door to phishers (October 02, 2007); Police Blotter: Craigslist toddler giveaway ad sparks suit (October 26, 2007); Caught on Craigslist, Getting robbed instead of sex, man tells Aurora police (October 26, 2007); Man won’t be charged in pimp’s death (October 18, 2007); Police: Woman on hooker scam called her victims ‘losers’ (October 10, 2007); USPS Starts Campaign Against Mail Scammers (October 3, 2007) Newspaper prostitution arrests (October 22, 2007); Women accused of pimping girls on Craigslist Police: Chicago residents offered sex with underage females for ‘donations’ (January 12, 2007); A politician finally notices craigslist, Mayor rips Craigslist over child prostitution (August 23rd, 2007); Craigslist car deal gone bad, Man shot after car deal sours (December 28th, 2006); NEW NIGERIAN ONLINE SCAM USING CRAIGSLIST (July 25, 2006); Craigslist becomes a place for pot peddlers (August 3, 2006); ‘Craigslist Robber’ Is Armed, Targeting San Jose, Suspect Robs Victims At Gunpoint, Police Say (June 30, 2006).
There have always been want ad killers. Nothing new here. Hermann Mudgett of Murder Castle in Chicago during the time of the Columbian Exposition fame used want ads.
http://en.wikip..._Hearts_Killers
A lonely hearts killer, also known as a want ad killer, or a matrimonial bureau murderer, is journalistic term of art that refers to a person who commits the crime of murder by contacting a victim who has either posted advertisements to, or answered advertisements via newspaper classified ads and personal or lonely hearts club ads.
I think you mean in their sights, rather than in their sites.
CL is a technical failure. The architecture is abyssmal. Re features and functions are ridiculously outdated.
Craig can no longer hide behind his community bullshit line. He realized there was more money to be made thru facilitating murder and protituion and thievery than advertising. If accepted ads he’d have to clean the site up. This way CL underwrites organized crime from an arms distance and craig is well rewarded. This is why the staff is kept small and the books are closed.
CL is a sham org and has put One over on America for long enough. It’s time to shut it down and prosecute craig newmark for being an accomplice to murder.
Craig is a piece of garbage. Mike’s comment about there being a “community” is utter nonsense. CL is an attractive nuisance at best and a criminal syndicate at worst.
Right on Mafia Don! Let’s shut down all these sources of filth and clean up this country! I personally volunteer to buy pitchforks and torches for anyone who wants to join a raging mob to take care of these evildoers. Let’s start with Craigslist headquarters – got to be somewhere in San Francisco…aw hell…let’s just take out all of San Francisco while we’re at it!
3 points:
1. The last 3 places I have lived in, I found through craigslist
2. If you shut down craigslist I’m ready to bet my hard earned money that you wont see a significant drop in crime rate
3. The internet facilitates communication and thus crime among other things. You should divert your energy to try and shut down the internet
You’re not an out-of-work newspaper reporter, are you?
Craig Newmark deserves a Man of the Year award for sending those agenda-pimping pricks to the unemployment line.
Yeah. Craig should just buy South Carolina and be through with it.
@Craig newmark is a Mafia don – Are you joking? You think that CL makes MORE money by NOT selling ads on the site? Instead, he gets paid by organized crime? Do the pimps and hoes send him a cut?
Oh noes! Censorships on the internets! What will they think of next?
Sheesh! That does it, I’m only gonna pimp my ho’s on eBay.
/sarcasm
Guess S Carolina can block the site if it’s so worried about what’s happening in other states.
Servers are in California.
Turn out the lights, the party’s just about over!
Newmark has pissed off way too many people. They won’t stop with erotics, I promise you!
Arrington, tell Craig GC said hey!
CL is helping a lot of good people in this country get out of debt and back on their feet. I have sold cars, RV’s, furniture etc very fast and efficiently with out being gouged by my local paper for the price of want ads.
If you don’t like the erotic services section then don’t go to it. I have a feeling most people do not practice what they preach otherwise we wouldn’t be having this discussion.
I see this country breaking up in many years because out west their is a different mindset when it comes to drugs and prostitution. We ain’t so puritan!
True that! This is the biggest pile of hypocracy I’ve ever heard of. Leave CL the f*ck alone. It should be simple…if you don’t like it, don’t look at it.
Honestly. Why doesn’t craigslist just kill the ads instead of pretending that they care about society by “working with law enforcement”…They offer adult ads on a site where children sell comic books. That’s just questionable – not a good idea. The adult ads belong on ADULT sites like Naughty Reviews, sites that specialize in adult entertainment and only adult entertainment.
Those who recoil the MOST over issues of online immorality are bizarrely educated on many aspects of it.
Which leads me to formulate that these fools hate themselves so much for their immersion in what they view is immorality that to shake off the oppressive guilt daily coursing through their miserable bodies they resort to authoritarian-styled assaults on personal liberties.
Those who are godly or morally superior really should have no clue what goes down in CL (or the vast internets in general) because they would avoid this smutfest like the plague.
They play as anyone else does, yet with a guilt that drives them to the edges of insanity.
I favor churches banning their members from the internet. Kicking off all the religious nutwads would probably destroy the online escort business, but so be it, we wouldn’t have to deal with their cognitive dissonance issues in every thread referencing censorship or erotic ads.
It works like this:
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
The fact is that Craigslist could do a number of things that they just do not do that have gotten them in this mess. They could use age verification for the restricting of the posting of ads or access to the Erotic Services area. Second they could check for Registered Sex Offenders and not let them on the ES section. They just choose not to do anything. Bad idea.
This is bad. This is the ‘give an inch, and they’ll take a mile’ syndrome, and CL is the inch. Then they’ll go after adult friend finder, then all porn, and the next thing you know, after any other content they find offensive. There’s several legal issues here, primarily free speech, where if the authorities win any part of this, it applies to ALL media, not just online. Aside from all that, don’t these f’ing idiots have more important things to do?
Why doesn’t Craig start a section for “420 Services”???
I hope craigslust sticks by their users on this one. Seems like a First Amendment issue to me. Maybe the ACLU or EFF can help.
If they get rid of the erotic services section, the ads will probably just end up in the dating section. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the erotic services section was created sometime after the dating section for that very reason.
All the people that think CL is nothing but scams, porn, and prostitutes must never use the site. Go browse any section other than the personals section and see how much objectionable content you can find.
I think if they get rid of the erotic services section, everyone will just go over to Craig’s house.
Craigslist is not profiting from these ads. Users post them but Craigslist makes no money whatsoever from those postings. In this sense, Craigslist is merely facilitating speech… it is a public forum and not responsible for what people say on it.
This is the same reason Google should not be forced to not display websites that involve escorts. If the AGs have a problem with escort services, they should pursue the services. Craigslist will and does comply with subpoenas for information on its users.
The Charlotte, SC yellow pages prominently feature escort services. In this case, the escorts pay money to be featured. This has been around for as long as I can remember. Unless the AGs criminally prosecute all the major telephone directory CEOs, they can not go after CL.
There is not unlimited free speech for products and services. Tobacco and alcohol are just two examples. They cannot be advertised just anywhere or any way they want.
Until a few years ago, prescription drugs could not be advertised. Now we hear about viagra or some useless bullshit every other clip. I can’t wait till the escort services start telemarketing.
McMaster needs to get on CL for allowing this guy to sell his 85 vanagon for $12k.
sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/1156021434.html
Now that is criminal.
And besides, everyone in the south knows that Jesus f***ing hates CL.
the issue of advertising these services is not so much about mature adults making their own decisions, but rather about providing an avenue to support the trafficking and selling of people. one of the largest forms of domestic sex trafficking in the U.S. involves traffickers who coerce women and children to enter the commercial sex industry through the use of a variety of recruitment and control mechanisms like escort services. we need to better regulate both the existence of and marketing of these services.
Those who recoil the MOST over issues of online immorality are bizarrely educated on many aspects of it.
Which leads me to formulate that these fools hate themselves so much for their immersion in what they view is immorality that to shake off the oppressive guilt daily coursing through their miserable bodies they resort to authoritarian-styled assaults on personal liberties.
Those who are godly or morally superior really should have no clue what goes down in CL (or the vast internets in general) because they would avoid this smutfest like the plague.
They play as anyone else does, yet with a guilt that drives them to the edges of insanity.
I favor churches banning their members from the internet. Kicking off all the religious nutwads would probably destroy the online escort business, but so be it.
Agile Cyborg: All anyone has to do is enter a Google search for “Agile Cyborg” and it will be obvious what a self-righteous son-of-a-bitch you are. So go ahead and toss your stones, asswipe.
The baboon can use Google and type ‘asswipe’. Clap everyone.
Marvelous K1 to K8 humor Cyborg. But I think you must have Techcrunch confused with Gaia Online:
http://gaiaonline.com/
Why don’t you play around in a sandbox that suits you better.
This rank, immoral world chock full o’ evil and smut has just been blessed with little Billy True sharing his favorite sandbox.
Look, he’s even provided a link! Jesus will be proud of you, little Billy True. Clap, everyone, little Billy True is goin’ ta heaven.
With that comment, we now see conformation that you have absolutely no original material, douchebag.
You’re a standup comic with neither the standup nor the comedy.
Billy, be the plague you are and infest something else. You lost the day you were born so you can be certain nothing you post will resemble anything worth reading.
Let’s sell that backward state South Carolina to Mexico. I’m sure we’ll get at least 3-4 churros for that sale.
Witness this post. By the logic of this AG, Tech Crunch could be prosecuted by the following comment I’m about to make. Instead techcrunch will probably be alerted of it and eventually delete the post. Consider it the safeharbor provisions of the DMCA in action…
FOR SALE – My beautiful vagina. Message me and we can work out a deal. You will be pleased. My vagina is beautiful and smells really roses.
For those of you not interested in a capital purchase, please note I will also for a limited time, be renting my vagina by the hour… and for you tech guys, even by the 2 minute increments (let’s be honest boys…)
VAGINA – RENT, PURCHASE, LEASE
Call me.
Kim
Kim,
Thanks but as you can see from the comments above, there are already plenty of pussies on Techcrunch.
Whats your number Kim? Crap, I just got busted by cops for solicitation/
I thought only cops trolled craigslist now anyway!?!?
It’s all a crock anyway, South Carolina is a worthless wasteland to begin with. Just a bunch of redneck, toothless Jesus freaks with a 3rd grade education
CL is nothing more than a means of communication, a forum for speech. It may be true that CL does not censor their ads, nor vet the posters, but so what? Why should they?
I’m sure no other means of communication has ever been used by criminals to facilitate crime. Criminals would never use telephones, cell phones, email, print ads, graffiti, messengers. I bet a crime or two has even been conceived in a church…maybe even in South Carolina.
Shut it all down! Back to the stone ages because some guy got a hummer from a internet hooker! Roll up the sidewalks and lock your kids in their rooms (no TV, of course…it’s indecent!) Better burn the bibles too, that’s got to be the most scandalous book I’ve ever cracked.
While the DA’s and AG’s use the excellent public distraction of going after craigslist, the banks continue to cut limits and increase fees on even their best of customers.
Go ahead, complain about craigslist and ignore the real prostitutes that are killing our country. No wonder why Americans are viewed as morons around the globe….I live within the borders and amazed at our lack of priority.
AGs and DAs don’t shut down escort agencies because the licensed “adult entertainer” pays taxes on the full transaction (well, it’s on the books at least). Conversely, they harass freelance adult entertainers (street hookers).
http://en.wikip...i/Escort_agency
If CL acted as an escort agency aggregator and processed the full transaction (i.e., generate tax income for all these states) – would they be left alone?
guys- you think Craigslist needs to be controlled-
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT DOES WORSE STUFF THAN THIS EVERYDAY-
IF THIS AINT THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK, I DON’T KNOW WHAT ELSE IT WOULD BE.
Craigs list, is simply another outlet for wrongdoing-
If they don’t do it on craigs list, they will find another way-
and most of you people speaking so harshly against craigs list, wouldn’t have said shit if some butthead hadn’t brought it to your attention.
I for one think they need to leave the site alone. People are going to do what they want and they will always find a way………..