South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster is giving even the normally sleazy Attorney General title a bad name. This is an office that has little to do with protecting the public and everything to do with making high profile attacks on targets that will generate a lot of positive press. All that press leads to a run for higher office.
Eliot Spitzer was the alpha male Attorney General, attacking the securities industry, Internet fraud and the mortage industry, among others. He was rewarded with the governorship of New York until his spectacular resignation.
Which brings us back to the subject of hookers, and South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster. Earlier this month McMaster, who is of course eyeing a run for governor, threatened criminal prosecution against Craigslist management if pornography and ads for prostitution were not removed from the site. Craigslist took extraordinary measures to comply.
But quiet compliance isn’t what McMaster is looking for. He wants handcuffs and a trial, the kind of stuff that Spitzer got. He issued the following statement on Saturday “As of 5:00 p.m. this afternoon, the craigslist South Carolina site continues to display advertisements for prostitution and graphic pornographic material. This content was not removed as we requested. We have no alternative but to move forward with criminal investigation and potential prosecution.”
Craigslist fired back in an uncharacteristically emotional post that noted how tame the current Craigslist site was compared to a number of other listing services in South Carolina, including one run by Microsoft.
Seriously? The craigslist adult services section for Greenville, SC has a total of 1 ad for the last 3 days, featuring a photograph of a fully clothed person. The “erotic services” section for Greenville, which we recently closed, has 8 ads total which will expire in two days, and even for these ads the images and text are quite tame.
Meanwhile, the “adult entertainment” section of greenville.backpage.com (careful with link, NSFW), owned by Village Voice Media, has over 60 ads for the last 3 days, and about 250 in total. In sharp contrast with craigslist, many of these ads are quite explicit, quoting prices for specific sex acts, featuring close-ups of bare genitalia, etc.
Of course, no one in mainstream legal circles thinks either company should be subject to civil suit, let alone a criminal investigation. But if for whatever reason you were so motivated, would you target a venue with 9 PG-13 rated ads, or one with 250 XXX rated ones?
And FWIW, telephone yellow pages and other local print media have both companies beat hands down as adult service ad venues for South Carolina.
Any interest in targeting them for criminal prosecution? Didn’t think so.
As we wrote previously, Craigslist is the hot site right now that triggers an immediate response from the press (it used to be MySpace, then Facebook). There is no public saftey issue in targeting Craigslist. The only issue is politics, and McMaster sees an easy target. I think he made a serious mistake, though, in targeting Craigslist. Not only are the allegations absurd, but he’s failed to realize the huge community of rabid Craigslist supporters. Spitzer always went after deeply unpopular targets. He would never have touched Craigslist.
I say to founder Craig Newmark and CEO Jim Buckmaster: Stand firm. Don’t back down. In fact, just turn off the South Carolina site entirely and ban IPs from that state. Forever. And if they press criminal charges, fight it with everything you have.
The community will support you, and that’s one hell of a community, with 46 million U.S. unique visitors a month (Comscore, April 2009). Get 5 million of them (less than 1 in 9) to sign a petition calling for McMaster’s resignation (that’s more than the population of South Carolina). It won’t get him to resign, but it may get enough voters to remember how irresponsible he is when the election for governor comes around. And I’m pretty sure that petition will be the top search result for his name for a long, long time.
And if you do end up in jail, don’t worry. I promise to visit at least once a month, even though it will be in South Carolina.
More on the story at TechMeme.
Update: Buckmaster demands an apology. Well played.
Update 2: Take the poll.
I don’t support either party, but here’s the bigger issue – why do we have to sink to debauchery and call it “good” in the name of freedom?
All mistake is with american people who banned prostitution in whole. Unlike other places in the world, where selling sex is one’s civil liberty.
Well, I love America. But…
Anyone with half a brain would know that although America advocates freedom of religion, America is in fact a Christian nation. As long as the bible is here, you simply will not escape the people trying to make a name for themselves pretending to be more Christian than others. (Bush comes to mind)
In terms of prostitution, I would rate prostitutes having higher moral ground than Octomom.
At least they try to be self-supporting. Unless women in this country are given the same educational background as men, and given the same career opportunity as men, you cannot stop the existence of prostitution simply because it is the only mode of SURVIVAL for those less priviledged women, whom I feel sympathetic for.
There are always two sides to the same story. When choosing a word to describe the reality that “sometimes women trade sex for survival.” A Christian calls it “marriage”. A realist calls it “prostitution”. A smarter person calls it “a problem with the current educational system”.
wow awesome post… interesting perspective.. sad thing is I have seen it over and over again.. calling it marriage.. just look at some eastern cultures…
Interesting post. Just needs one correction. Not all women go for prostitution (or trade sex for material gains) because they didn’t get sufficient educational opportunities.
There will always be some women who will choose the easier path of prostitution even if they could get education for free. Just like there will always be men who will choose the easier path of crime even if they could get free education. Cost or access to education is just one factor. One still needs to work hard to complete his/her education and be driven enough to use that education for his/her career.
You are a perfect representation of the results liberal education inAmerica. You do yourself a disservice when you suscribe to false beliefs base on fabricated facts. None of what you believe in is true. Pathetic.
Want one more civil war with the South (where those extra-religious republicans live and breed)?
Wait a minute… who said prostitution was an easier path?? It’s a business, just like any other. Unfortunately, yes, there are people who jump into the business without any understanding of it – isn’t that true of any business? — but those of us who’ve stayed in it a life time (…I’m coming up on 40 years soon) can tell you that it’s every bit as much a business as any other. And who’s to say making a living “with one’s body” is wrong? Do we criticize boxers or football players for this? Or cardiac surgeons who saw through people’s breastplates for being obscene?? Sorry, but the whole notion that prostitution is wrong derives from the notion that women don’t own themselves — and therefore cannot sell themselves.
oh, sorry — I may have replied under the wrong post.
I agree – let’s tar and feather Henry McMaster for trying to get into all of our pants.
However, craigs list does get a lot of traffic. As a national brand it gets a lot of traffic, perhaps not so much locally. Anyone on CL has easy access to these services, but for alternative weeklies, most viewers and users don’t accidentally wind up looking for that stuff. I look at CL as more of the USA Today of online classifieds. But if it really wants to compare itself to alternative weeklies, then thats okay by me, but as I said before, there traffic and brand doesn’t classify them as such.
The whole issue was completely unethical and they seems to be doing this only to get some attention!
Not to mention that politicians and hookers go hand in hand
like peanutbutter and chocolate.
Ha ha you sure the S.C. Pol doesn’t have a blog?
Seems awfully ironic to me.
It continues to amaze that the public allow politicians to pursue these frivolous and unimportant attacks to promote their agenda at the tax payers’ expense. Sadly, Henry McMaster is just one man in a long line of self-serving jerks who bastardize the purpose of office, fail to address real issues/concerns, and who do so without being held accountable.
Thank the wiccan’s that we have SUE to decide what is frivolous and unimportant. I mean, polar bears and dart fish are way more important than women submitting themselves to prostitution and the rampant human sex trade trafficking in the world. But I for one feel entirely safe that SUE is the benevolent dictator who decides these things, not some duly elected state officer. Who cares for democracy when we have SUE around to tell us what the right answers are.
Your reply to Sue’s post made absolutely no sense.
1.) What dose Wiccan have to do with anything?
2.) Polar bears & dart fish? WTF?
3.) Personally I care more about this Republic that this nonexistent democracy people always speak of.
To everyone else, I apologize for giving in to the flame bait.
Esah,
I’m not surprised you missed the point. I did write assuming some level of intelligence. To simplify it for those with a lower level of education:
We elect officials to represent us. Right or wrong, they are elected by US to make these decisions. We do not ascribe to a dictatorship in this country.
Sue’s personal opinion on what is relevant or not is how a dictatorship operates. One person’s rules — one person’s beliefs — control the society.
I have no apology writing a post stressing how inherently dangerous it is to rely on ONE person’s religion (say, wiccan) or ONE person’s personal priorities (say protecting a endangered species or say human sex trafficking) as a reliable substitute for the collective democratic principles we follow of electing a representative (the attorney general is elected) to make those decisions for the electors.
no. if mcmaster cared about ending prostitution he’d use craigslist as a tool – to set up sting operations on every ad to arrest prostitutes, and posting false ads to get clients. and he’d do it on all the other sites too. But he doesn’t care about ending prostitution. he cares about becoming governor.
And for you to equate “rampant human sex trade trafficking in the world” to craigslist isn’t an intellectual argument. It’s just being emotional.
Gee I don’t know Mike — you run the board so you must be right. Sex ads on Craigslist must NOT be promoting human sex trafficking.
Now that I think of it, why don’t we dissolve federal law that lets PayPal accept payments and payouts for betting? After all, PayPal has nothing to do with the bets or the payouts. I like your logic — it excuses every participant in every transaction!
Just remember, those girls (mostly girls) in the craigslist ads are someone’s sister, daughter — or god-forbid — mother.
But, hey, they are performing a very important public service right? Nothing about rampant human sex trafficking in those ads — they are all just plying massages for really stressed out business men.
But you miss the bigger issue: Do they or do they not violate the law? If they do, an AG has the duty and the responsibility to to prosecute the law for the maximum benefit of society.
If he goes after a high-visibility target, in his view he is using the high visibility to maximize the benefit of society. Of course, by nature, that would lead to a political strength for him.
You all tend to forget, we elect politicians based on what they do and say. We also can choose not to elect them for the same reasons.
If the SC AG is doing this because he intends to get elected — and the good people of SC CHOOSE to elect him as govenor based on his choices and decisions — then what has he done fulfills the choice of the people he represents. If they don’t then the people have also spoken.
I don’t like that Kerry wants a newspaper bail-out, but I don’t elect him. The good people of MA do. If they are smart enough (or dumb enough) to re-elect him based on what he does — more power to them.
This is a society that has free elections. Elections matter. Dicatorships are dangerous.
To value elections we must support BOTH the right for a candidate to run as he chooses using the messages that he/she wishes to run on AND for the right of individuals to vote as they choose.
You cannot have one with out the other. To wish otherwise is — as you would say mike — is not an intellectual but an emotional argument.
You assume that people have some sort of allegiance to Craigslist. They have an allegiance to “free,” and they’ll go anywhere that “free” exists. If Craigslist ceases to exist in South Carolina, does the quality of life go down in South Carolina, or does something else that’s free take its place?
Sadly, I doubt his voters are the ones that would be affected by an internet backlash. The criminal case he filed against CL is enough for him to make equally ridiculous references to himself as the cleanser of online prostitution from South Carolina. He will probably still get elected.
There’s another point here — it doesn’t matter what other publications are doing, because Craigslist’s erotic section is undoubtedly promoting illegal services. So what if others are doing it? As long as Craigslist is promoting illegal behavior, it’s a fair target, and the South Carolina AG’s allowed to choose the order in which he prosecutes illegal behavior. There is no defense such as “others are doing it, so I can, too.”
1. It’s not acceptable for the government to selectively prosecute violators of a law. In fact, if CL’s lawyers can demonstrate that the law isn’t being applied uniformly, the case would be dismissed.
2. There’s a distinction between “promoting” illegal activities (which implies profiting from that promotion… this applies to the yellow pages but not to CL) and not censoring what people say on a public open forum like CL. Federal law protects public forums from criminal or civil liability for the content posted on those forums by independent users… all liability passes to the users not to the forum.
What do you mean selective? Its not selective, ok? You have to start somewhere, and CL is somewhere, ok? Go for the big elephant and the dodo’s will run away, ok? Such is the word of Sanjay.
OK
Wisdom from sanjay. Liberals seem to confuse the concept of personal philosophies with personal rights.
I don’t see that anyone’s claiming that Craigslist should be given a free pass, just because others are doing it.
You ask “So what if others are doing it?”, and posit that the SC AG allowed to choose the order in which he prosecutes illegal behavior.
Actually as the state AG, he is beholden to his oath of office to prosecute equally and without bias. HE is the one who has to explain (not Craigslist) why he has chosen to prosecute the least egregious violator of SC’s laws, and willfully ignore prosecuting the worst of the lot.
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That is so HOT.
Sweet….
Wow… no other words other than wow. What else are they suppossed to do? and who would end up in handcuffs? The staff? The CEO’s?
Yeah, those horrible attorneys general! Here in NY, we had Spitzer, who had the gall to pursue “…cases against companies involved in computer chip price fixing, investment bank stock price inflation, predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders, fraud at American International Group (AIG), and the 2003 mutual fund scandal,” as cited in the Wikipedia link you posted.
Now in NY, we have Andrew Cuomo. This “sleazy” AG has led a high-profile investigation into lending practices and anti-competitive relationships between student lenders and universities; he investigated & prosecuted high-profile individuals who fraudulently claimed pension benefits in NY state; he has won a court decision against Dell and Dell Financial Services, for deceptive and negligent business practices; and recently, he pursued the Carlyle Group, one of the nation’s largest and most politically connected private equity firms (they’ve employed George Bush senior & junior, James Baker, John Major, and dozens of others), and forced them to pay a multi-million dollar fine, and make significant changes in their business practices world-wide (the Carlyle Group made payments to intermediaries in exchange for investments from New York’s state pension fund).
I’m with Arrington. The above-mentioned cases should never have been pursued, let alone prosecuted, because they got a lot of press. Sure, those crimes raped the pension funds held by millions of workers in NY state, and yes, the criminals stole from and deceived consumers, students, investors, and home buyers, but if stopping those crimes means the AG gets positive press, then it’s not worth it.
Those greedy, power-hungry bastards should never seek to advance their careers! And if they shouldn’t, neither should any of us. If you’re a police officer, only pursue misdemeanors, because the bigger the crime, the bigger the headline. If you’re a US Senator, don’t make any brilliant speeches that resonate around the world, because it’s an obvious attempt to gain recognition in pursuit of the Presidency. And if you’re a blogger, just write some inane puff pieces, and steer clear of “exclusives” or anything important, because we know you’re only doing it for the hits and ad revenue. Those are all actions of sleazy, power-hungry, self-centered, egotistical, greedy, arrogant, pigs. Right, Mike?
@Scott: I’m not really sure which side I fall on, but that was so well written I just had to say well done.
Mike should FIRE MG and give you a job Scott… We could use well written stuff
totally.
@Arrington: I read TC because you are entertaining, clever, and make sharp observations. But the idealogical rants wear like a jcpenny suit. not good at all.
Yeah! Wait…. No!…. I’m confused.
You’ve got a point Scott, but I look at the spirit of the action. And imo, advancing your career should never include falsely accusing another (or accusing them for reasons other than the premise of the accusation – ie. Craigslist might be guilty as sin, but on the surface, it appears that the AG is pursuing this for other reasons).
imo, the this uproar has to do with their (politicians) past bad behavior, and track record. Maybe if we were able to trust them, we’d be able to refrain from judging.
Granted we don’t know the full story (obviously Craigslist isn’t going to admit anything either), but based on the numbers (if they are correct) it does seem like a media run.
Who’s to say that the SC AG is “falsely accusing” Craigslist of anything? He’s launching a criminal investigation. That doesn’t mean charges will be brought. Let the evidence guide the case, not inflammatory rhetoric.
Michael,
What is the legal term for promising legal action but never following through?
Seems to me if no legal action is taken Craiglsist has a case against this type of un-professionalism by an AG.
Join the Fred Grott fan club, The J2ME kids for Fred:
ThruDispatch!
I believe it’s “douche,” which is latin for “douche.”
Arrington is Latin for self righteous. Can’t you find something meaningful to crusade about?
Your attack on the AG is more vacant than his actions towards CL. Boring!
If Henry McMaster files any charges, or takes any legal action, he will become a felon, and will deserve serous jail time.
Its a federal crime to violate a citizen’s constitutional rights under color of law.
The first amendment has not been repealed.
Therefore, any prosecution of craigslist for their speech (And advertising is certainly speech) is a felony.
Not that these assholes in government ever think the law applies to them.
No, to them the law is just an instrument to bash little people for their own profit.
McMaster is well within his right to investigate Craigslist. The Surpreme Court has long recognized and acknowledged that the First Amendment is not an absolute right; particularly, when it is being used for criminal purposes (eg. selling prostitution, yelling “fire” in a crowded theater, etc).
Of course CL is making money from prostitutes publishing their ads, who would argue. So what?
It would be great to trace how the money from prostitutes gets into the pocket of this AG (there must be MANY intermediaries), but that would require a real investigation.
actually no they don’t or didn’t…
The postings are free, and their site has ZERO ads on it… CL makes money for a select few areas chargning for JOB postings….
The S. Carolina AG’s attack on Craigslist is another test of whether swiftboating works in the age of the real time web.
It’s funny how people use the term “Swiftboating” as if it were somehow unethical to point out character flaws. John Kerry spent a few months in Vietnam. He blatantly exaggerated the extent of his service in order to make a name for himself, and then he used that name to promote his so-called leadership. Sure, maybe the SC AG is trying to ride cases like this one into the governor’s office. But, so what! That’s what the SC people pay him to do. His oath obligates him to uphold the law. Those of you who think that Craigslist hasn’t done anything wrong will get to see the results of a criminal investigation. If it turns out that no charges are pressed, no harm no foul.
BTW, a piece of advice for Newmark: hire a private investigator and find which VIP brothel this guy is attending. It worked great with this Spitzer devil, must work this time too.
it probably is a good idea to nail that down.
he may not be visiting a private brothel, just public restrooms and tapping is feet there for some man love.
Also worth noting that McMaster recently announced that he’s running for governor.
http://www.thes...ory/787412.html
Ooooooh, he’s running for governor? My God, the nerve of that man… attacking liberal causes AND running for governor?!? Doesn’t he realize that only Democrats get a free pass to attack Republicans and run for office?
Maybe we could get this McMaster to also sue Facebook for supporting Holacaust deniers.
I doubt that would be a popular move in south carolina.
huh…where to begin
*legalize and regulate prostitution
some very safe places in the world have legalized or, tolerated prostitution – Switzerland comes to mind
*end constituent apathy
will people ever stand up to idiotic, self-serving politicians – correction, will people ever NOTICE idiotic, self-serving politicians.
*in an economic crisis
is this really the best use of public funds?
*craigslist should wise up
since they are the hot topic because a serial killer used faults in their site to stalk and murder people, they should have an air tight site
*more
and another thing…
One vote for McMaster to resignation!
Hat’s off to Craigslist for taking a step in the right direction by removing the “erotic services” section off of their site. I, along with the legal authorities, parents and other online classified site owners, appreciate them doing, well, something.
Upon their announcement of eliminating the “erotic services” section that has been linked to a variety of illegal activities, ranging from prostitution and smuggling, to theft and murder, Craigslist began doing everything they could think of to re-invent this criminal category. Immediately, “erotic services” became “adult services”, though I have yet to discern the difference. At this point a defiant teenager’s words are more sincere than those spouted by the Craigslist crew.
Craigslist also stated that they would now be monitoring such “adult services” posts. Apparently they have devised a way to do so since their earlier complaint of this impossibility. I’d love to hear how. While Geebo manually monitors every post, in every category, every day, we know such a practice is feasible. However, we do not believe that even our detailed monitoring system can adequately protect the users of an “erotic” or “adult” category. For a company that has never been hands-on or concerned with the safety of their users, I cringe at what their interpretation of monitoring such a category may mean.
I would like to believe that Craigslist’s decision to monitor and remove, cough-transform, their “erotic services” section came as an internal, company-wide epiphany of the need to protect the privacy and well-being of their users. For Geebo, such practice is common sense. With the pressures of police departments nationwide and court systems threatening to shut them down, I doubt this was Craigslist’s personal decision.
The only change I can see from a quick glance at Craigslist’s disguised “erotic services” section is that it now costs more to post. What irony.
Craigslist’s supposed fix-it actions are in direct conflict with what is found in the “adult services” section at this very moment. A new name does not equal a new result. Craigslist must be held accountable for their reckless conduct, irresponsible behavior and empty promises.
Geebo willingly provides our users with safety, security and privacy when searching and responding to posts on our website. We don’t believe that a degree of protection is an unreasonable request of those entrusting us with their personal information and life. In fact, we gladly refuse to allow an “erotic” or “adult” services category to ensure user safety and comfort.
Geebo is one of a kind, but in a situation such as this we wish our practice was everyone’s practice.
Wow, If anyone needs a definition/example of a douchebag just look at this guy’s post. I feel sorry for you pal.
geebo, go back to church you bible thumper.
ohh and your classifieds suck, but I guess you spent to much time on your knees worshiping GOD or your pasters nuts, to be bothered with developing…
wow! are you always this angry or is it simply a monday thing?
Were you molested by a priest or minister? You have a lot of pent-up anger toward organized religion.
@gregcollier it was simply a monday morning… Followed by some one that believes in censorship… move to china.
@tom no not molested, but many bible thumper are molested by a priest, and I believe orginized religion is for SHEEP.
Greg said…
“In fact, we gladly refuse to allow an “erotic” or “adult” services category to ensure user safety and comfort.”
What a joke… you may not have that category, but you certainly have that content. If you go to his site and search the personals with the keyword “sex” you will get approximately 21,522 results of “men seeking men”, “men seeking women”, and all sorts of other seeking. I clicked on a few and it didn’t take me very long to find people searching for sex partners and you cannot tell me that out of all those horny men seeking something that money doesn’t change hands.
Greg needs to say something of substance rather than just take a cheap opportunity to plug his own very average site at the expense of CL… otherwise I suggest Greg needs to get to work and start removing all that “offensive” content.
Leave it to the Bible thumper to promote his equally “offensive” service at the expense of a better service by painting it as evil. People need to stop worrying about what other consenting adults choose to do inside the privacy of their own homes (or hotel rooms or whatever). Lead by example and shut up!
If you want people to stop worrying about what other consenting adults choose to do inside the privacy of their own rooms, then work to legalize prostitution. Short of that, Craigslist is essentially acting as a pimp, and McMaster is well within his rights to take them down.
I refer you to my later post:
“The content you see on CraigList (all of it) is simply a current reflection of society… you can’t blame CraigList for the type of content that users upload. What’s next? Do you go after telephone companies because people have telephone sex and illegal activities are planned over the phone? Or why stop there? Let’s go after the real criminal… Al Gore! He invented the Internet didn’t he?”
Do car manufacturers act as pimps if people pick up a prostitute in their car? CL is simply a vehicle for people to communicate… how can you expect them to be the police? How are they meant to regulate how people use their site? It’s a slippery slope that you’re heading down. Would an open discussion on a blog about better methods of j-walking constitute criminal activity? Let’s find real issues that need addressing…
“In the year 2000 South Carolina had an estimated population of 4,012,012 which ranked the state as having the 26th in population. For that year the State of South Carolina had a total Crime Index of 5,221.4 reported incidents per 100,000 people. This ranked the state as having the 5th highest total Crime Index. For Violent Crime South Carolina had a reported incident rate of 804.9 per 100,000 people. This ranked the state as having the 2nd highest occurrence for Violent Crime among the states.” – from the disastercenter.com crime report
McMaster is obviously sensationalizing this issue in order to gain exposure. Why doesn’t he focus on real crime.
I think what Mr. McMaster is doing is a good thing. I have seen how he wants to clean up the nasty ads that are on craigslist. He is an Attorney General who believes in what he is doing is actually right. It has nothing to do with him running for governor. He does not pander to anyone. He stands up for what he believes in and tries to do the very best, to protect people and enforce his role as the Attorney General of South Carolina. Maybe if people like Michael “Left Nut” Arrington would actually come down to South Carolina and speak to Mr. McMaster himself he good get his side of the story and some one way street of reporting most liberal nuts do for the washington post. Maybe we could “love” all those people out of the prostitution like the democrats and left wing zealots want to do. Also, have figured the impact prostitution has on women and how it constantly exploits most of them. You could argue that it is a victimless crime and people do it willingly, but if look down deep, it’s not all glamorous.
And you get all whiny over Facebook not censoring anti-semitism, Michael. It’s either all OK, or none of it is. A libertarian like you can’t pick and choose like this.
Hear hear. But don’t you realize … Arrington et al don’t mind censorship, as long as they get to choose what issues get censored.
Jim / Craig, put a link on your site to raise a legal defense fund for CL. Ask users to donate $1 or whatever they want. You’ll be able to raise a truckload of cash to defend yourself from the vultures.
ummm … no, they wouldn’t….
it’s been shown time and again that while some peope may bitch about something, far fewer wil actually put their hard earned cash behind something.
and in this case, CL (Jim/Craig) are each worth way more than the users who’d be contributing) i’m pretty sure the users would say ‘..screw CL, they have more than enough to fight the issue..’
as i recal, craig’s networth has been estimated to be north of 100 million…
and beside, CL the company would be sued, so CL could more than afford the suit…
peace
I’ll donate, and match the first $10,000 in donations personally.
Check out today’s new post by Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster at http://blog.craigslist.org/
I’m put off by Mike’s overly cynical view of the role of a state attorney general. Certainly, these are political positions and many AG’s look to springboard into higher office (governor, senator, etc), but many legitimate and beneficial prosecutions and changes to public policy have come from AG’s work, including the investigation of corruption by politicians, catching child predators online, pursuing environmental crimes, protecting the elderly from consumer fraud, and pursuing civil rights violations.
I understand your anger with respect to the Craigslist case, but I hope it doesn’t color your perception of the many roles and progress the office has achieved throughout many states.
We all knew this would happen. What has to be done, his legal team has to pull up South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster history of using Craigslist or any website to advertise. Legally if he has used this service or a similar service he has no case. It does not matter if he used classified’s with another company or if he has someone wearing a button promoting himself. As long as Craigslist has complied then the problem has been entertained legally.
LOLz. That’s ridiculous. If McMaster sold (for example) a set of golf clubs on Craigslist, that wouldn’t invalidate a criminal prosecution for promoting prostitution.
As a matter of fact – it would. Ask a lawyer.
I have theweeklyjackass.com registered if anyone whats to build a quick site for him, I’ll redirect it there lol
Maybe if they build a gold statue of Dig’em everyone will forget about this in South Carolina?
Fabulous article! well done!!
This is the kind of post that brings me back to Techcrunch time and again. Web zero politician vs. Web 2.0 world.
For fun, I created a Facebook group to see how many people are, like me, against McMaster’s tactics. The Craigslist blog post you reference says it all — this is just ridiculous. Hopefully this Facebook group will help in some way to drive it home. http://www.face...gid=82193692538
the second to third paragraph transition is great.
thank you. i try.
Attorney General Henry McMaster is an asshole that doesnt know shit about the internet. go jack off to jerry springer or whatever you corrupt bureaucrats do.
Neither do you, pal. All of this Web 2.0 crap doesn’t amount to anything. A criminal prosecution will get peoples’ attention.
Sent an email to McMaster. Hopefully he enjoys it!
Michael, did you know that it is unlawful for a minor under the age of eighteen to play a pinball machine in South Carolina?
http://tjshome..../South_Carolina
ROFL
This was a good one.
From what I’ve seen, Craigslist is filled with its fair share of filth, cheapskates and cretins. Just because the people who run it are popular in the Valley and San Francisco doesn’t make everything they do respectable, admirable or justifiable.
Regardless of all the vile stuff that exists outside of Craigslist, the fact that Buckmaster and Newmark are well-aware that *their* “erotic services” section has been used to traffic women and children leaves little doubt as to the moral character these men have (read: none at all).
When Buckmaster highlights how others are breaking the rules too and tries to argue that Craigslist-related crimes and violence occur at a lower rate that newspaper-related crimes and violence, he’s pretending he has no responsibility for anything that takes place on his service so long as he can find another venue that is more atrocious. Is that the mark of a decent human being?
Nobody is asking Craigslist to save the world; Craigslist should, however, be taking reasonable steps to do what every reasonable person knows should be done, which is remove ads that promote blatantly illegal activities and that are commonly used to perpetuate the most horrendous act possible: the forced enslavement and sexual violation of another human being.
Even if you believe that Craigslist isn’t liable for these ads, this isn’t about what’s legal or illegal. It’s about what’s decent. Far too many people today are more concerned with what they can get away with rather than with what’s right. You see the results all around us, from Wall Street’s greed to Washington DC’s corruption.
The most disturbing thing about this situation is that people like Arrington will defend cyberpimps like Buckmaster and Newmark.
I think it’s saying something that Arrington is defending two men who have tried to intellectually justify their service’s unnecessary contribution to the crimes against and the exploitation of women and children yet he recently called for Facebook to censor ignorant individuals who want to waste their time arguing that the Holocaust didn’t exist.
It takes a morally bankrupt human being to support those who facilitate the exploitation of other human beings while at the same time calling for the censoring of those who are exercising their First Amendment right to speak their mind and prove their ignorance.
The only jerk here is you, Mr. Arrington.
The content you see on CraigList (all of it) is simply a current reflection of society… you can’t blame CraigList for the type of content that users upload. What’s next? Do you go after telephone companies because people have telephone sex and illegal activities are planned over the phone? Or why stop there? Let’s go after the real criminal… Al Gore! He invented the Internet didn’t he?
Yes, we can and should blame Craigslist when it is knowingly being used to promote illegal activities that hurt people.
Your telephone analogy is bogus. There is no presumption of privacy on Craigslist. Craiglist is an open public forum. A private telephone conversation isn’t.
Democrats want abortion and pornography and prostitution to be legal. Because it’s part of their lifestyle. It doesn’t matter how depraved and hurtful it is to other human beings. It’s all about getting your rocks off at others’ expense.
so the DEMOCRAT and the HOOKER both want it, then who is the “others expense?”
you are a tool, if you don’t like freedom and freedom of speach go to china, or tibet, I think those areas would be more to your liking.
They would rob and kill this creature without a spine there in a second. Don’t send him there, it’s inhumane.
I don’t see how “abortion” has anything to do with getting your rocks off… but maybe you do?
And please don’t generalize all Democrats as wanting abortion, pornography or prostitution. How’s this for a generalization… if all Republicans started caring more about the middle or lower class then there would be fewer women willing to sell themselves.
If the prostitute and the client both want to conduct business, then at who’s expense are we talking about? Would it be the IRS?
I think we should just send all the republicans to fight the war somewhere… they like waging wars, you know. Antarctica is probably the best place. Russians will be happy to send their idiots to this war too… We just need to invent how to enlist them all at the same time, then spit on russians somehow across the ocean.
Everybody would be happy, people, just think about it.
No, let’s not send the Republicans there… we have to consider the Elephant Seal. I couldn’t do that to them.
Tom,
You do not speak for Republican males. We spoke for ourselves when we refused to vote for the party in 2006 and 2008 because women had taken over thanks to pussy whipped little “Christian” guys who aren’t attracted to their wives anymore but don’t have the guts to say boo about that.
Republican men wantl sex just like Democrat males. Using a prostitute is NOT recommended but those men who would arrest a fellow male for being a john deserve to be put before a legal firing squad. It is NOT cool to arrest men for being men.
You need to learn what the men’s rights movement is all about (it is about stopping misandry in many aspects of American life) and stop kowtowing to Queen Victoria.
You probably don’t mind that Sara Palin accepted an endorsement from the LA chapter of the National Organization for Women – because feminism is no problem for your church going wife.
We real Republican males reject eunuchs like you who foolishly let Hillary supporters take over “Conservative Politics” during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
South Carolina actually has a bigger sex industry than any European country I know. This is because of all the repression going on down there.
Get over it. It is no longer part of the Republican agenda to be against heterosexuality.
And stop thinking you know what it means to be conservative when you clearly don’t have a clue. Only fools saw the Ron Paul and Bob Barr crowd take NC and IN away from McCain and came away thinking the old law and order anti-sex attitude could still be part of the platform.
Mike – Don’t set up a legal fund for Craigslist. Set up a PAC for McMaster’s opponent for Governor.
The courts will throw this one out pretty quickly based on pre-existing cases. (Reno v. ACLU, the injunctions on COPA, CIPA doesn’t really apply here, section 230 of CDA, the legal strategy goes on into privacy and media law and god knows what weird case law one could dig up from the state for defense).
I don’t think McMaster really wants to go to trial because the discovery process will get pretty murky if craigslist starts releasing information about local and state law enforcement who posted ads to the erotic services section of the site. This could very easily turn into McMaster, the anti-police AG with the right spin (which shouldn’t be too hard to rile newspaper editorial boards behind a First Amendment cause).
Buckmaster was smart to point out the same types of ads on media and major business sites, as well. Obviously any case law that arises from this will end up greatly affecting these businesses, too.
McMaster is playing with a double edge here. If he fails to follow through (which is very likely), he’ll be seen as ineffectual by the moral base he’s trying to rally. If he does follow through, he’ll lose endorsements and campaign contributions from major businesses.
What total crap.
Craigslist has been advertising prostitution for years. there are ads all the time looking for “Tina” and “420.” They have to warn people about all the scams people pull there from Nigerian cons to Russian brides. God knows how much stolen merchandise has been fenced there.
They got called on it like any other public media would and now they cry like big babies.
Grow up. This is Earth.
Let’s be clear that McMaster doesn’t represent Republican males so much as feminist-Christian women over 40 who temporarily took over the Republican Party causing the ubiquitous libertarian Republican male to revolt in 2006 and 2008.
Women took over the Republican Party in reaction to the Monica Lewinsky nonsense. They were augmented by disgruntled Hillary supporters and you can smoke them out simply by asking feminists like Sarah Palin what they think of Hillary.
I don’t know if Arrington has ever voted Republican or not but he sure won’t be any longer with sanctimonious jerks using feminist terms like “human trafficking” to grandstand and further bring their party into disrepute with men.
If he wants to combat “trafficking” he should ask the owners of the Doll House in Myrtle Beach why the Russian women there on student visas aren’t allowed to exchange contact information with men who come into the club (hint: it is not to protect the women from strangers but to keep them from leaving their stripper careers).
Idiots like this alleged Republican AG also supported left wing feminist groups like the NOW and Tahirih Justice Center in getting a law passed called IMBRA that forces US males to be background checked just for being allowed to say hello to a Russian woman who otherwise broadcasts her contact information to any male who isn’t American.
We American males are allowing the Christian feminists and the lefty feminists to control both parties and we allow jackasses like McMaster to grandstand supposedly on our behalf.
Misguided chivalry enables all this.
If you want to use a craigslist alternative that is family friendly you could always use http://www.Christools.com