Craigslist Kills Erotic Services Ads, Will Launch Adult Section 390
CWmike writes "Submitting to mounting legal pressure, Craigslist has announced that it will remove the Erotic Services category from its classified advertising Web site within seven days. The move comes just two and a half weeks after Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist, told Computerworld that the company had no intention of removing the category. While it's taking down the category, it will be launching a new category called Adult Services, for which each posting will be manually reviewed before it appears. 'Unsurprisingly, but completely contrary to some of the sensationalistic journalism we've seen these past few weeks, the record is clear that use of Craigslist classifieds is associated with far lower rates of violent crime than print classifieds, let alone rates of violent crime pertaining to American society as a whole,' said Buckmaster in a blog post today. 'We are optimistic that the new balance struck today will be an acceptable compromise from the perspective of the constituencies, and for the diverse US communities that value and rely upon Craigslist.'"
Re:Government Lawsuits (Score:4, Interesting)
The police in various districts have done CL stings repeatedly. Seems like here in Portland it's in the news every 3 months or so...cops rent a hotel room and answer ads, girls are busted. Or vice versa. It apparently hasn't shut this down. Police have been busting streetwalkers for years and yet you still see them on the corners of major cities...
CL switched to requiring phone verification for this category of ads. Then they started charging $5 to list. And now they're dropping it altogether.
I would think this was all business-driven - an evaluation that the hassle costs more than the revenue - but CL has no revenue. In fact, I don't think CL has any actual business model....it's just free ads for whoever wants them. You're probably right that it's the lawsuit threats that are driving them out of this.
Re:Government Lawsuits (Score:3, Interesting)
Traceability is added... No thanks (Score:3, Interesting)
Not that I use this section, but you can guarantee that it will now be tracked, logged, and monitored as well as happily turned over to law enforcement if/when requested. No Thanks.
For me personally Craigslist caving in here has ended my use of the site. I can only hope enough others do as well and make their voice heard.
Fun on Craigslist! (Score:3, Interesting)
Prostitutes and other advertisers have no respect for boundaries or appropriateness. Just let that settle into your mind and stop getting angry and frustrated. You will not un-corrupt humanity.
But fun on Craigslist! Yes! Go to the various "personals" and "casual encounters" areas for your area and just search through the ones with pictures. Okay, you might need a strong stomach for some of them, but you might ALSO find people you know or knew or work with! How awesome is that? Suddenly people WILL lend you money again!
Re:Not like it's going to make a difference (Score:3, Interesting)
I'll back that up. I grew up in fairly conservative protestant church, and went to school at a fairly conservative protestant bible college. I don't think that you can say "Protestants generally..." but a large number of the more conservative protestants differentiate between "Catholic" and "Christian". In some of those circles, Catholicism is viewed as a cult. Enough so that if you search for the words "catholic" and "cult" you'll get a large number of pages debating the subject.
Re:Not like it's going to make a difference (Score:3, Interesting)
"Does society collapse when a hooker gets beaten up by a weirdo?"
I little. But if it's legal, the hooker as reasonable recourse, and the person beating them knows when the cops arrive, the person doing their legal trade has nothing to hide.
"Does society collapse when a bunch of Chinese girls get brought over in a shipping crate to work in a brothel?"
they shouldn't put people in crates for any reason.
If' ti's legal, then there will be people here that can fill the gap legally. If there was as demand for Chinese women, then they could come over like everyone else and not need to be shipped in a crate.
"Does society collapse when a college girl's boyfriend tells her that if she wants to keep the coke coming she needs to turn a few tricks, and it will only be just once or twice?"
This has to do with the legalization of drugs and nothing to do with the legalization or prostitution.
If you knew anything about legalized prostitution you would no the monitor for this kind of activity. In fact no legal brothel I am aware of will hire someone while anyone else is in the room, or hire some one who test positive for drugs, or test positive for any form of VD.
BTWm your examples are pretty limited. Most prostitute do it for the money. At lest the none I have talked to.
My mother use to run a brother in NV. So yeah, I actually do know a thing or three on how they work.
In fact, Craigs list give women a way to play their trade more safe then street walking, and they don't need a pimp.
Re:Not like it's going to make a difference (Score:4, Interesting)
Sure, feel free to speculate. But have you ever been to San Francisco? It's commonplace here. Most of the Chinese-operated massage parlors are semi-tolerated brothels. Law enforcement has ongoing concerns about human trafficking, [sfgate.com] but it's hard to prove when the proprietors and the sex workers all deny it. (And why wouldn't they?)
Of course nobody is going to post an ad on Craigslist that says, "Truckload of Chinese virgins! Bulk pricing! Serious buyers only!"
The fact that so many "enlightened, sex-positive people" are so willing to wish this kind of stuff into the cornfield is precisely what makes the sex trade so insidious. But if you come to my city -- or any city -- walk its streets and really get to know it, you'll understand that the realities of prostitution for most of the participants are not nearly as pretty as the "independent sex worker entrepreneur" crowd will tell you.
I'm willing to bet that the ability to post ads on Craigslist really does cut down on some of the danger and crime associated with prostitution for some women. That still doesn't make me comfortable with it.
Re:Justification (Score:3, Interesting)
Look, I'm fully libertarian on this issue. I honestly think it would be BETTER for society to LEGALIZE prostitution. Then it could be regulated and taxed properly.
But that is not going to happen, because the religious ones don't want to legalize it at all, the sexual workers don't want to pay taxes and business licenses like the rest of us.
But none of that indicates that I want to see it.
AND there is a huge difference between an advertisement to the general public and a discreet flirting on the sly. I don't want to go out to a movie and hear some chick stand up and say "Blowjobs for $40" (or whatever the going rate is).
We use to call it tact. Don't know what we call it now. Damn I'm getting old. Get off my lawn!
Re:Not like it's going to make a difference (Score:3, Interesting)
As long as they tax it like any other business or income then there isn't an issue.
This is already a set precedent as the brothels in Nevada are taxed federally. The girls working there have the federal withholding.
Now just imagine, prostitution and pandering is made legal. There will be a potentially more open plying of the trade. This increases accessibility and potentially utilization, thereby potentially increasing the underlying workforce.
So, if you have legalized prostitution and pandering, some of the existing practitioners will license, thereby submitting to taxation, whereas now there is no taxation. If the workforce increases, it is likely due to demand and thereby drawing in the fence-sitters that had contemplated it, but shied away for legal and/or safety reasons. They too will be taxed.
While it is true that our screwed up tax system often taxes the customers with "luxury tax", this is a service and not a consumable good.
But, all that being said, I do not think it will ever happen and if it does, Uncle Sam and/or the State of transaction will find a way to screw us for screwing.
Re:Justification (Score:3, Interesting)
You can start with the horribly bungled handling of poverty in the U.S., which seems to have been designed to promote bad social values and create a perpetual client class.
Bungled? You haven't been paying attention. Our very public school system is set up to produce a perpetual client class. The system is working as designed. Or perhaps I should say, redesigned. It wasn't always so. There was a time when all we had was a constitution :)
Re:Unemployment Rates (Score:5, Interesting)
The practical effect of this will be nil; anyone who wants to advertise prostitution will just find another web site, probably one located outside the USA.
Don't underestimate the ability for current CL users to 'create' their own language when posting ads.
My guess; not much changes in the 'services', just what they are called.
Re:Justification (Score:3, Interesting)
That's just flat out wrong. There are all sorts of sex worker defense groups. The only people who don't want it are uptight, short-sighted, meddlesome social conservatives.
Re:Not like it's going to make a difference (Score:3, Interesting)
I know it. there is a site where people are telling everyone they are committing a crime, and how to get in touch with them, and they want to shut it down?
What I find odd about this is that Cragislist actually serves jurisdictions (such as Australia) where prostitution is legal. Are they making these changes for all locations? Are the reviewers going to be made aware of what is legal, and thus permissible, in each region?
There are also other (perfectly legal) professional services for which it is illegal to advertise in certain areas. In my state, for instance, it is illegal for lawyers to advertise services related to personal injury claims. Is Craigslist going to police this too?
Craigslist becomes censureship arm of government (Score:2, Interesting)
Being that this is pressure by the government to change their service in order to censure the public, regardless of whether legal or illegal activities are taking place, this puts Craigslist in the position of violating the US Constitution by acting as the arm of the police authority.
This is no different than a civilian such as the property owner being sent in by the police authorities to search a suspects premises. They can't do it without warrant but police have tried. The courts have ruled that those private individuals then become an agent of the police and are bound by the laws governing their actions.
The Attorney General is doing the same thing here by forcing a private entity to search in order to monitor the users and stop activity that may or may not be illegal.
Had Craigslist done this without the influence of the government it would have just been a company covering their ass, but because they are doing it as a direct result of the government coercion they are now acting as an agent of the government.
Re:Not like it's going to make a difference (Score:2, Interesting)
And now I am not going to moderate here... Tell me - how are people who use personal services "pervs"? Prostitution is (mostly) illegal in US, but how does that make someone who's paying for sex with a consenting adult a pervert??
Just a show for the voting public (Score:2, Interesting)