Broadband News
News, views and analysis
Craigslist axes "erotic services" ads
14 May 2009 | 12.06 Europe/London
The best known classified ads website in the United States is closing down its "erotic services" section following pressure from state authorities after a woman who advertised on the site was murdered. Craigslist will replace it with an "adult services" section - and manually check every ad posted within it. American law officials say the website has been promoting and facilitating prostitution.
Phillip Markoff, 23, has been become known as the "Craigslist Killer" in the American media. He's been charged with killing 26-year-old Julissa Brisman, who was found shot dead in a Boston hotel room last month; she'd been advertising on the classified website as a masseuse. Markoff, a medical student, is also charged with attacking two other women on the site.
"Contrary to some of the sensationalistic journalism we've seen these past few weeks, the record is clear that use of Craigslist classified 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," says the site's chief executive, Jim Buckmaster.
Craigslist is acting voluntarily and not legally required to make the change to the site, according to Matt Zimmerman, a lawyer from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. However, South Carolina's attorney general had threatened the site that it would face legal action if it didn't take down its "erotic services" adverts - and that was a week ago. Meanwhile, his Illinois equivalent Lisa Madigan has referred to Craigslist "nothing more than an internet brothel" but has welcomed the changes.
It's not the first time Craigslist's altered its policies in the face of legal pressure. In November last year, the website had forty state attorneys on its back (that's more than the number of staff it employs). Subseqently it made people wanting to post erotic ads submit their credit card details and a working telephone number, in an attempt to make them easier to trace. Referring to "erotic services" being taken down, Roger Blumenthal, who headed up that multi-state attorney general task force, says "Craigslist is heeding our clear call for conscience and common sense, sending a strong signal that Internet sites must police themselves to protect others."
Craigslist was started in 1995 and is now partly owned by eBay; it takes forty million new adverts each month. While devotees are worried that this could be the start of wider regulation measures being implemented on the site, Mr. Buckmaster, says he's "optimistic the new balance struck will be an acceptable compromise." However, New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo wants Craiglists to go further, including by tracking IP addresses belonging to suspected prostituion rings. "Rather than work with this office to prevent further abuses, Craigslist took unilateral action which we suspect will prove to be half-baked," he says. Either way, "erotic services" will be gone in a week.
[ BBC | Reuters ]
Phillip Markoff, 23, has been become known as the "Craigslist Killer" in the American media. He's been charged with killing 26-year-old Julissa Brisman, who was found shot dead in a Boston hotel room last month; she'd been advertising on the classified website as a masseuse. Markoff, a medical student, is also charged with attacking two other women on the site.
"Contrary to some of the sensationalistic journalism we've seen these past few weeks, the record is clear that use of Craigslist classified 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," says the site's chief executive, Jim Buckmaster.
Craigslist is acting voluntarily and not legally required to make the change to the site, according to Matt Zimmerman, a lawyer from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. However, South Carolina's attorney general had threatened the site that it would face legal action if it didn't take down its "erotic services" adverts - and that was a week ago. Meanwhile, his Illinois equivalent Lisa Madigan has referred to Craigslist "nothing more than an internet brothel" but has welcomed the changes.
It's not the first time Craigslist's altered its policies in the face of legal pressure. In November last year, the website had forty state attorneys on its back (that's more than the number of staff it employs). Subseqently it made people wanting to post erotic ads submit their credit card details and a working telephone number, in an attempt to make them easier to trace. Referring to "erotic services" being taken down, Roger Blumenthal, who headed up that multi-state attorney general task force, says "Craigslist is heeding our clear call for conscience and common sense, sending a strong signal that Internet sites must police themselves to protect others."
Craigslist was started in 1995 and is now partly owned by eBay; it takes forty million new adverts each month. While devotees are worried that this could be the start of wider regulation measures being implemented on the site, Mr. Buckmaster, says he's "optimistic the new balance struck will be an acceptable compromise." However, New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo wants Craiglists to go further, including by tracking IP addresses belonging to suspected prostituion rings. "Rather than work with this office to prevent further abuses, Craigslist took unilateral action which we suspect will prove to be half-baked," he says. Either way, "erotic services" will be gone in a week.
[ BBC | Reuters ]