When rich people sue rich people, it often seems that the only possible winners can be rich people.
Which perhaps doesn't engage the emotions of spectators quite as much as, say, when rich people are caught with their plus fours around their ankles.
Still, the current lawsuit between eBay and Craigslist does offer a small window into our own daily lives. You know, the one through which we decide whether we believe what someone is telling us.
This legal spatula is being flipped in Delaware Chancery Court, its essence revolving around how much of Craigslist eBay really owns. Is it 28.4 percent, on which they initially agreed in 2004? Or is it the 24 percent that appears to have emerged after what eBay believes was a "self-dealing" and underhand scheme by Craigslist to dilute the value of its stock?
eBay's executives have already protested both their innocence and niceness. On Thursday and Friday, it was the turn of Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster of Craigslist. (Oh, if you're in need of human fascination, it continues Monday and is being streamed live by the Courtroom View Network.)
So here we are having to decide who is, well, the nicest person, the one who isn't telling the odd fib or two.
Perhaps the most moving remark of the first couple of days came from former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who told the court that the moment she became concerned about the dealings between the two companies was when eBay founder Pierre Omidyar allegedly became frustrated with Craigslist.
"To be honest," she told the court, "I was starting to get concerned because really, nobody doesn't like Pierre."
And so we had eBay claiming the niceness higher ground. "We are sweet. We are lovely. We are kind to animals," seemed to be her refrain. The folks at Craigslist, though they might seem pleasantly libertarian at times, are not immune from a little folksiness of their own.
So when Newmark and Buckmaster took the stand, it was surely hard not to see them as the smaller, more idealistic Merry Men trying to avoid being slammed into the stocks by the big, bad Sheriff of Nottingham.
Newmark, he of the dour-colored suits and the slightly Elvis Costello-ish mien, sounded like Elvis at his lowest when he described how he felt betrayed by eBay.
He came to believe that his lady suitor's aim was not true. "eBay, specifically Meg Whitman, made commitments, and broke them," he told the court.
The Craigslist team, you see, became very concerned when eBay began to create its own classified site, with the slightly uncomfortable name Kijiji. Whitman, claimed Newmark, had promised exclusivity, but she was clearly playing around with Craig's confidential data and his feelings.
Buckmaster, Newmark's blessedly calm Friar Tuck, no doubt tugged at some heartstrings on Friday, when he described a correspondence between himself and Whitman.
On July 12, 2007, he allegedly wrote to the then-eBay CEO: "It is my sad duty to report that we are no longer comfortable having eBay as a shareholder." He went on to explain that Craigslist rather wanted to "explore options for our repurchase, or for otherwise finding a new home for these shares."
This all seemed like Whitman and her less than merry people were being dumped. Which is why you might be rendered somewhat insensate by her alleged reply: "We are so happy with our relationship with Craigslist that we could neither imagine doing anything to disturb our personal rapport with you or [Craigslist founder] Craig [Newmark], nor parting with our shareholding in Craigslist Inc. under any foreseeable circumstances."
She allegedly continued: "Quite to the contrary, we would welcome the opportunity to acquire the remainder of Craigslist Inc. we do not already own whenever you and Craig feel it would be appropriate."
Buckmaster told the court he found the cheery tone of this note to be "threatening."
So there you have it. Buckmaster continues with his possibly painful story on Monday. You, meanwhile, have all weekend to discern who might have slipped a little Rohypnol into their facts and who might be appealing to more fundamental human frailties.
You might also wonder what on earth these two sides were doing trying to have a relationship with each other. Somehow, it all seems a little like Angelina Jolie trying to get it on with Ross Perot.
Tuesday's post on using Craigslist to buy secondhand concert tickets drew a response from a company called FanSnap, which uses live feeds to aggregate ticket listings from online marketplaces and broker sites (such as StubHub and TicketNetwork) and eBay auctions.
FanSnap would argue Craigslist is fine for price-sensitive fans who don't need to go to a particular show and who are willing to meet and negotiate with other individuals, pay cash where necessary, and run the risk of buying a fake ticket. (Although the only time I've ever seen a fake concert ticket was in 1989 on the streets of Manhattan, when I bought a very realistic counterfeit to a Jane's Addiction show at the Ritz.)
Fans who want a slightly more convenient buying experience might go with eBay, where they can use PayPal and rely on seller ratings, while fans who absolutely need a guaranteed ticket can go with a marketplace like StubHub, which offers a toll-free customer service line, money-back guarantee, and other benefits. FanSnap operates on an affiliate-oriented revenue model, so it gets a commission from sites on which sales are made.
FanSnap shows you where tickets are located in a seating chart of the venue.
I ran a search on FanSnap for Pixies tickets, and it found more than 70 listings for the sold-out show this Friday, compared with about 30 listings on Craigslist. (The Craigslist screenshot in Tuesday's post showed only listings that had been added on that day.) Prices were similar to Craigslist--lower in a few cases--and the site has some great design touches, like a seating chart of the venue that maps tickets to particular locations. Craigslist, of course, is purposely and resolutely lo-fi. I still think there's something refreshing about dealing with a real fan, face to face, but I can see reasons why others wouldn't want to.
Correction at 8:00 a.m. PDT, Nov. 12: This post mischaracterized how FanSnap aggregates ticket listings. The site uses live feeds from its sources, which allows ticket listings to be updated immediately as prices change.
File this under the practice what you preach department.
Remember Henry McMaster, South Carolina's state attorney general, the man who was shocked, shocked, shocked to find illicit sex on Craigslist and earlier this year threatened to file charges against the Web's No. 1 classifieds site? Perhaps McMaster would do well to police his own office before going after anyone else.
Roland Corning, a nine-year employee of the state's attorney general's office, was stopped by police after being found in a Columbia, S.C., cemetery while in the company of an 18-year-old female stripper and in possession of assorted sex toys, according to a report about the incident in the blog Fitsnews.com. The online unit of The State, South Carolina's largest newspaper, verified the report.
Apparently, the cemetery is a hot spot for sexual encounters, both publications reported. Corning, 66, was not arrested after identifying himself to police as a prosecutor, but The Associated Press reported he was later fired by his boss, McMaster.
McMaster threatened to launch a criminal investigation against the operators of Craigslist while the site was trying to negotiate with several state attorneys general about limiting the ads posted by prostitutes. Critics accused McMaster of using Craigslist's situation to grab headlines.
Craigslist filed a lawsuit against McMaster's office and a judge slapped it with a restraining order that prevented the attorney general from filing the charges. McMaster's office never made good on the criminal charges.
The situation with Corning, who told police he always carried Viagra and sex toys "just in case," will be fodder for those who argue that prostitution or sexual misconduct are not the fault of Craigslist.
Craigslist has been victorious in every court case on the issue of whether the site can be held responsible for the actions of its users.
Grady Judd, the sheriff for Polk County in Florida, has followed in the anti-Craigslist footsteps of Cook County, Illinois, counterpart, Tom Dart.
In a sweep imaginatively titled "Operation Hot Date," the sheriff's forces arrested 28 women for allegedly advertising prostitution services on Craigslist.
The Smoking Gun quoted the sheriff as declaring that the site is still a "one-stop shop for all your prostitution needs."
I was not aware that there are other shops that require several stops to achieve similar ends, as it seems that local newspapers and other Web sites seem to offer ads of a rather similar nature to those on Craigslist.
(Credit:
CC Acloudman/Flickr)
However, the sheriff accused the site of "facilitating prostitution" and suggested he is extremely gung-ho to take legal action against Craigslist.
The Smoking Gun, while mentioning that some alleged pimps were also rounded up in "Operation Hot Date," also focused on the suggestions that two of the women who allegedly arrived for assignations with undercover policemen were pregnant and that a third had fur-lined handcuffs.
However, some might find it more interesting that six of these women are smiling in their mugshots.
Could they perhaps have felt that there is a certain sense of futility in such police action?
I know many people have strong feelings about euthanasia. And who am I to suggest that old people have few uses?
However, who is Michael Amatrudo to put his parents up for sale on Craigslist?
According to NBC New York, Amatrudo's wife is used to his sense of humor. You might conclude, though, that she has suffered enough. For her loving husband decided, just for a little fun, to put his parents up for sale on America's most useful human exchange.
Amatrudo's ad was a poem to filial love: "I got lots of use out of these guys over the past 50 years, but it's time to move on," he wrote. "Will consider trade for newer model, hot blonde under age 40 or an Erector Set in good condition. MUST SEE! Please email or call Michael for additional details and pics. $155.00 OBO."
This being America, the most tasteful of Madison, Conn.'s, residents claims he received many replies to his kind offer.
This picture was taken in Madison, Ct. But I do not believe these are the parents in question.
(Credit: CC Faeryboots/Flickr)Well, he was wise enough to list Ed and Arlene Amatrudo as being in "excellent overall condition and still plenty of life left in them."
While he claims he was touched by those who wrote to him suggesting that really good parents are, indeed, a very rare commodity, one has to wonder about Amatrudo's psyche.
You see, according to the Associated Press, Amatrudo is a 51-year-old insurance executive.
And he told NBC New York that his motivation for the ad was that he was bored. So I ventured to LinkedIn to see if I could discover more about this man.
Well, I could only find the one Michael Amatrudo, who appears to have spent 23 years with the same insurance company, Aon Re.
Should this be the gentleman concerned, everything is surely explained. How else can a man who has spent so much of his life with one insurance company make himself laugh other than to try selling his parents on Craigslist? Watching old Monty Python sketches just has no effect any more.
One can only wonder whether his parents cut him out of their will. You know, just for fun.
How could he put them up for sale for $155? They had to be worth at least $200. Typical insurance company undervaluation.
Is posting a phony, sexually suggestive ad online about another person free speech, an inappropriate prank, or a felony? That's what the Missouri court system will decide.
A cyberbullying case in Saint Charles County, Missouri, will test a year-old state law on electronic harassment. The law makes it a felony for someone 21 years or older to communicate with someone 17 years or younger by phone or electronic means in order to recklessly frighten, intimidate, or cause emotional distress to that person.
Elizabeth Thrasher, 40, allegedly posted a photo and personal contact details of a teenage girl in the Casual Encounters section of Craigslist during the spring. The teen reportedly received phone calls, e-mails, and text messages from strange men, prompting her to call the police.
Thrasher was then charged with the crime of cyberbullying under the statute 565-090, passed in Missouri in August 2008. Unofficially known as Megan's law, the statute is named after 13-year-old Megan Meier who committed suicide in 2006 after being the victim of an Internet hoax set up by a schoolmate's mother.
In the new case, CNET News recently spoke by phone with defense attorney Michael Kielty and Saint Charles County prosecutor Jack Banas.
The defense speaks
Hired to defend Thrasher, Michael Kielty finds fault with the law itself, pegging it as too vague. "It's a terribly crafted statute," he told CNET News. "I think ultimately it's going to be found unconstitutionally overly broad and vague."
Kielty's problems with the law rest partly on free speech issues. He said the statute states that if you cause somebody under 17 emotional duress via electronic communication, then you're a felon. "Can you imagine the application of that in everyday life?" he asked. "With your children? With teachers and students? It is a slippery slope."
The attorney also believes the case targets Internet speech specifically and that it wouldn't be a felony had it not occurred in cyberspace. "She was arrested and had to post bond for words. No actions, no threats. For words. There's something wrong with that. If it was a newspaper ad, it would not have been criminal. It certainly wouldn't have been a felony. If it was on a street corner or a bathroom wall, it wouldn't have been a felony."
Kielty also discussed the complicated back-story between the defendant and alleged victim. One of the client's daughters was dating the alleged victim's younger brother, he said. That led to a meeting between the ex-husband of the defendant and the alleged victim's mother, who apparently hit it off and moved in together soon after.
Conflict then started to surface between various family members, according to Kielty. The alleged victim's mother started making derogatory comments about the defendant's daughter, he said. Kielty claims there was harassment by the alleged victim and and her mother directed at the defendant.
"This didn't just happen in an isolated incident," he said. "There is context to the transaction. But my client never initiated contact with the victim. Your typical harassment statute would be a series of threatening or harassing statements, maybe some stalking, maybe threats of abuse or something of that nature. This is nothing of the sort."
This isn't Kielty's first encounter with Megan's law. In December, he defended a 21-year-old woman accused of sending harassing and threatening text messages to a 17-year-old girl in a dispute over a male.
The 21-year-old was charged under the same statute, but in this case it was a misdemeanor, not a felony. Kielty said she pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor and received probation. "But she was never arrested, and she never had to post bond," he said. "And I would argue that case was more egregious than (the Thrasher case) because as the facts came out at the plea, there were actual threats made."
Kielty acknowledges that Thrasher's action was improper and a mistake. "It wasn't thought out and it was not the appropriate thing to do. However, I don't think it raises to the level of a felony, much less a misdemeanor."
Kielty sees the law as a knee-jerk reaction on the part of local politicians to the Megan Meier case. All the media attention and public outcry over Meier's suicide led to the new statute, he believes. And now the prosecutor is in a position to enforce that statute.
An arraignment is set for Monday, in which Kielty will enter a plea of not guilty on behalf of his client. He expects the case will be set for either a disposition or preliminary hearing. The hearing would require the state to show probable cause that a crime was committed and that Thrasher was the person who committed it.
After that, the case would then travel to the circuit court, requiring another arraignment where Kielty would again enter a plea of not guilty. The case would then be set for trial, which the attorney believes could happen mid- to late spring of 2010.
If convicted, Thrasher might receive a penalty of up to four years in prison. "Up to four years in prison for a practical joke gone awry," said Kielty. "For words spoken through an Internet medium that would not be criminal if spoken on the corner of the street. I'm going to fight them every step of the way because I don't think it's a properly crafted statute. I believe that ultimately the statute will be overturned and should be."
The prosecution speaks
Saint Charles County prosecutor Jack Banas is charged with enforcing Megan's law. As opposed to Kielty, he said he believes the statute will stand up in court. "I think it's drawn narrowly enough to punish people only when they've done something intentional for the purpose of intimidating or frightening or causing someone emotional distress. I can only say that as it's written right now, we're enforcing it and will enforce it."
Banas doesn't believe the law singles out the Internet specifically other than that it's the vehicle used to commit the crime. He pointed out that Missouri harassment statutes are not just for electronic communications. "They're written for any type of communications done to frighten or intimidate or cause emotional distress," he explained, "whether the purpose is to harass somebody through the Internet, over the phone, or face to face."
This isn't a free speech issue according to Banas, but pure harassment. "Free speech does not involve speech directed at someone to intimidate, frighten, or otherwise harass them," he said. "That's not what free speech is about. This is directing something at a specific individual for the purpose of intimidating or frightening or causing emotional harm. It takes it out of the realm of some type of public speech."
Megan's law was passed to update Missouri's prior harassment statute, which Banas said was archaic because it only covered intimidation by writing or by phone. A large committee of prosecutors, defense attorneys, and a victim in another case worked with legislators to upgrade the statute for the modern world to cover electronic communications.
Banas explained that much time and effort have been spent educating people about the new law and the issue of harassment. Local newspapers and news stations have done stories on cybercrimes and the problems they've created.
Megan Meier's mother has also focused on public awareness. "Mrs. Meier had organized a nonprofit agency in which she went to schools to make parents and everyone else aware of this," said Banas. "There are bullying and cyberbullying classes. My wife is a teacher, and that's part of their curriculum."
"Whether or not the law was common knowledge, I think it was common knowledge that what she did was wrong," said Banas. "You're presumed to know what the crimes are in the state of Missouri."
The attorney explained that it's in an appeals process where the statute's constitutionality would be tested.
"If it goes to trial, and there's a verdict of guilty, then the defendant would have a right to appeal it. But I think this statute is very much within the constitutional boundaries. I think it should withstand the scrutiny of the appellate court."
Connect. Inspire. Act. These three words were engraved on my invitation to Craigslist Foundation Boot Camp.
It was Saturday, and I was a little tired. So I was barely in the mood to connect with the daylight, never mind offering it inspiration.
However, I arrived just at the moment when inspiration was being served. In a large outdoor tent in Berkeley, Calif., about 1,500 people who had come together to make communities matter listened as a nice lady from the Craigslist Foundation said that everyone was about to network with the person immediately to their right.
She then asked those persons immediately to their right to score them out of 10--although she insisted that if you only got a 2 it didn't mean your pitch was terrible.
The secret of the networking pitch is, apparently, enthusiasm. So in order to demonstrate, a Berkeley student named Olga was invited to the stage to pitch to Facebook marketing director Randi Zuckerberg.
Olga had her one business card at the ready, when the nice lady announced she would be pitching to Randi's husband too. He works in venture capital, she said. So he's a good judge of pitches.
Olga didn't buckle under the binary pressure. Afterward, everyone stood up and began to pitch to the right.
At the back of the tent, it seemed as if there were a lot of short men pitching to tall women. Even volunteers were pitching to one another. At least I think they were pitching, although the hubbub bubbled so loudly that they might have been wondering about where to get a fine glass of cider.
This mixing of doing good with hard-nosed business was a curious sight. There was passion. There was belief. But at some moments, it almost felt sad that caring was now a business and that business principles needed to be enacted in order to get us pathetic, jaded humans to care and share.
Then Zuckerberg made a well-received speech about, well, how wonderful Facebook is.
She spoke of how the Obama administration had demonstrated "open government" through its embrace of the site. She spoke of how Lenny Kravitz uploads pictures of all his audiences onto his Facebook page. She spoke of how Roger Federer on Facebook really is Roger Federer. In order to emphasize this, she said, he uploaded a video of himself.
She also spoke at some length about events in Iran.
For one weak, fleeting, terrible moment, a slightly cynical drip of sweat ran down my back as I pondered whether Twitter had rather co-opted Iran (in the public eye, at least) and now Facebook was trying to get on level terms.
I let it pass--until, that is, an extremely passionate woman called Pamela Mays McDonald took the microphone to ask what the Twitter tag was for the Boot Camp, as she would like to Twitter with attendees and tell them about her new Facebook group, Hope Against Hate, that was fighting against hate-based violence and speech.
With a swift reflex reaction, Zuckerberg intoned that an alternative to Twittering might be to update your Facebook status.
For all Zuckerberg's extremely well-intentioned passion about social technology being able to bring people together in order to do good, I just wondered whether an additional advert for Facebook was really needed right there.
Especially as Mays McDonald was describing a group against hateful speech, something of a slippery area for Facebook.
This all left me with a peculiar sense that perhaps Facebook feels it needs to compete with Twitter for hearts and minds because they will, in some future way, lead to pockets.
The truth, though, as the enthusiasm and passion for so many different causes at this extraordinary day made very clear, is that we still need pockets to help us convert those hearts and minds.
Federal judge orders South Carolina to halt criminal investigation of Craigslist.
A judge has ordered Henry McMaster, attorney general of South Carolina, not to file any criminal charges against Craigslist until the related matter is settled in court.
A judge for the U.S. district court in South Carolina on Friday issued a temporary restraining order in the case. Craigslist sought the order after McMaster threatened the service as well as its managers with criminal prosecution.
McMaster has demanded that Craigslist do more to halt prostitution ads from appearing on its site. He said he would instruct his staff to launch a criminal investigation unless the ads were removed. He continued issuing threats even after Craigslist agreed to shut down its "erotic" section and replace it with a new "adult" area.
Craigslist has filed suit against McMaster, whose motivations were questioned in a story by The Associated Press. On Thursday, the AP reported that McMaster has never prosecuted a prostitution case in six years. Critics have said that if McMaster were serious about combating prostitution, he could start trying cases or at least go after newspapers and other classified publications that also offer the same kind of questionable content as Craigslist.
Craiglist representatives declined to comment and McMaster's office did not reply to an interview request.
One thing is for sure, if a story reported yesterday is accurate, Henry McMaster, the attorney general for South Carolina is no expert at fighting prostitution.
Earlier this month, McMaster threatened Craigslist with criminal prosecution if the online classifieds site, did not do more to remove prostitution ads on its site. But according to a report by The Associated Press, McMaster said Thursday he has "never handled a single such case in more than six years as the state's top prosecutor."
"I don't think this office has handled any prostitution prosecutions ever," McMaster was quoted by the AP. "This is something different. This is against the biggest want ads Web site in the world."
McMaster and a number of other state attorneys general demanded in the past several weeks for Craigslist to close down the publication's "erotic" section. They claim the area was rife with solicitations for sex that often involved minors and people who forced into prostitution against their will.
Craigslist agreed to replace the erotic section with a new adult section and also began reviewing every ad to ensure it met with the site's terms of service before it appeared online. While Craigslist was trying to implement these new measures, McMaster once again issued a threat of prosecution against Craigslist and its managers.
The AP spoke to Ann Bartow, a professor of Internet law at the University of South Carolina's School of Law. She said: "McMaster's decision to take on Craigslist and not local newspapers that advertise escort services suggests political motivations."
Craigslist has always said that the site was far more tame compared with many newspaper and competing online classified publications. McMaster, however argued that the volume of the prostitution ads made Craigslist a bigger threat.
"It is the vehicle of choice for prostitution in this country," McMaster told the AP. "They had been notified emphatically that those were prostitution ads."
It's tough to compete with free.
The use of online classifieds sites, such as Craigslist, has more than doubled in the past four years, according to a study published Friday by the Pew Research Center. At the same time that Web classifies are on the rise, the classifieds business that newspapers once depended on has collapsed, the Pew Internet & America Life Project found.
"Nearly half (49 percent) of Internet users say they have ever used online classified sites," the Pew Center said in the report. In 2005, the percentage was 22 percent.
One out of 10 Internet users visits an online classifieds service each day, up from four percent in 2005.
Not that this is big news but the Pew Center helps to illustrate just how devastating online classifieds has been on newspapers. A graph of newspaper classified ad revenue since 1980 to last year (at bottom) shows that the industry saw a high in 2000 with about $19.6 billion. Last year, newspapers recorded $9.9 billion.
That's a plunge in revenue of about 49 percent.
There's no question either that Craigslist dominates Web classifieds.
"In the world of online classified advertising, Craigslist is by far the most used Web site in the United States," Pew said in the report. "In March 2009, classified sites averaged 53.8 million unique visitors, up 7 percent from February. Craigslist had 42.2 million unique visitors in the month of March."
(Credit:
Pew Research Center)
