Thomas Dart, the Illinois sheriff who took Craigslist to court over erotic advertisements that appeared on the popular classifieds site, is unhappy with this week’s decision of a federal judge to toss the lawsuit (full ruling embedded below).
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Dart (pictured) said he was disappointed with the verdict and is now considering an appeal.
The legal battle Dart just lost was centered around Craigslist’s erotic services category (now dubbed Adult Services), which the Cook County sheriff alleged facilitated prostitution and constitutes a public nuisance.
Federal District Court Judge John F. Grady threw out the lawsuit, which was filed in July 2009 and got Dart a lot of attention, in its entirety.
The judge said that it was far from clear that Craigslist had actually encouraged its service to be used for advertising prostitutes, which was the core of Dart’s allegations. Grady added that Craiglist may even be able to claim protection under U.S. freedom of speech laws and the Communications Decency Act, which immunizes Internet intermediaries from civil liability for material posted by others.
Dart has now reportedly “vowed not to give up” and seems determined to waste more valuable time and resources on this ridiculous case.
We couldn’t have put it better than the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Matt Zimmerman, who wrote:
Meritless cases brought by law enforcement officers, amounting to little more than publicity stunts with little to no chance of success, do little to address the officers’ underlying concerns.
You might remember how South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster threatened similar legal action against Craigslist but ultimately got served nothing but humiliation when another federal judge blocked him from prosecuting Craigslist management, at least until he’s made a final decision on the case.
(Image via Huffington Post)
Craigslist. The not-so-silent juggernaut.
I am SO sick of the obvious prostitution on CL that this story turns my stomach.
Of course it can be annoying, but that’s not what this case is about.
Apparently, Dart is a former legislator, and he has a law degree. It seems this move is motivated purely by politics.
Given that it’s the same county, he probably would have spent a ton of cash going after Jake and Elwood for trying to raise money for an orphanage
I totally agree.
His attack is strictly politically motivated.
I have never heard of him til today. A no-cost way to get name recognition.
I’m sure he will use this in his next campaign for
??? (senator, governor, attorney general, ??)
test comment
I suppose this is good for everyone …
In my opinion this is such a stupid waste of time for Sheriff Thomas Fart.
Maybe they fear that popularity and ease of CL will make it much more difficult and expensive to enforce prostitution laws. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be putting this much time and effort into it.
I saw Dart on CNN this morning. As he was complaining, he mentioned the numerous arrests his officers have made by simply following up on these Craiglist ads. It seemed to me that, by aggregating several leads in one place, the service has made his job somewhat easier.
Legalize it. Tax it.
Or go ahead and make other “immoral” occupations like strippers illegal too.
Tom Dart is in the The 2009 TIME 100 most influential people: Leaders & Revolutionaries. His significant act was “not evicting people from foreclosed homes”. It was so revolutionary he was one of the top 20 leaders/revolutionaries in the world.
http://www.time...1894203,00.html
dont they have real work to do? like chase down AIG execs?