Craigslist's statement about closing erotic services

Craigslist, the online classifieds publication much loved by users for declining to charge a fee for most of its services, issued a statement Wednesday about the closing of its "erotic services" section and the opening of a new "adult services" section:

Striking A Balance

As of today for all US craigslist sites, postings to the "erotic services" category will no longer be accepted, and in 7 days the category will be removed.

Also effective today for all US sites, a new category entitled "adult services" will be opened for postings by legal adult service providers. Each posting to this new category will be manually reviewed before appearing on the site, to ensure compliance with craigslist posting guidelines and terms of use. New postings will cost $10, but once approved, will be eligible for reposting at $5.

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.

The relative safety of craigslist compared to print classifieds is likely due to some combination of:

* Measures such as blocking, screening, and telephone verification
* Community moderation via flagging system
* Electronic trail ensures violent criminals are quickly caught
* Personal safety tips prominently posted
* Unusually high level of cooperation with law enforcement

Community moderation as exemplified by our flagging system is arguably the most successful system ever conceived for eliminating inappropriate activity from a massive internet community. Working in tandem with various other protective technologies, it is an inescapable force to be reckoned with for anyone set on abusing free internet communications across a broad array of posting types.

However, with respect to this new paid category for advertising by legal businesses, we will experiment with some of the methods traditionally employed in paid print classifieds.

We'd like to thank everyone who has provided helpful input over the past few weeks, all of which we've closely considered:

* Our users, whose suggestions have shaped every aspect of craigslist
* Attorneys General, who have provided valuable constructive criticism
* Law Enforcement officers nationwide, who have been hugely supportive
* Legal businesses concerned at their right to advertise being questioned
* EFF and other legal experts defending free speech and Internet law

We are optimistic that the new balance struck today will be an acceptable compromise from the perspective of these constituencies, and for the diverse US communities that value and rely upon craigslist.

Note: Our announced intention to contribute 100% of net revenues for the "erotic services" category to charity has been fulfilled, and will continue to be fulfilled, notwithstanding criticism questioning our good faith in this regard. However, in light of today's changes, and to avoid any future misunderstanding, we are making no representation regarding how revenue from the "adult services" category will be used. Our commitment to philanthropy remains however, and craigslist will continue to develop its charitable initiatives.

[DMAN3k]

Scapegoat for the Republicans.

They have diverted attention from real problems and decided to waste time on setting a moral agenda that makes little difference to society.

[sbwinn]

"Scapegoat for the Republicans"

Care to back that up?

"In response to allegations Boston medical student Philip Markoff used the site to rob and kill women, the attorneys general of Connecticut, Missouri, and Illinois will meet Tuesday with the Craigslist's lawyers to press for a ban on advertising for erotic services."

The three AGs mentioned in the article (quoted above) on CBS's website are Blumenthal, Madigan, and Koster.

The AG for Connecticut Richard Blumenthal was "the highest Democratic vote getter in the state" (from his biography website).

Lisa Madigan, the AG from Illinois, is an "activist" Democrat.

Chris Koster, the AG from Missouri, used to be a Republican but switched parties in 2007.

So. . . two years ago you would have been 33% right. A little fact checking is so easy to do and saves so much embarrassment.

[geebocom]

Only time will tell how successful this really is. I like how the ads
are going to be monitored now even though management said in the past it's
impossible. :-)

[happyendingsdoc]

This is a mistake. It is a shame that the government is allowed to regulate private adult actions. I just finished a documentary in Rhode Island where prostitution is legal, so why can't RI have an erotic section when postings there would not be against the law?

[CNET editor's note: Prohibited content deleted.]

[gerrrg]

So, when CL says "LEGAL", do they mean to say that they will require an EIN? Because I can't see how they'd be able to verify that the poster isn't providing sex for money.

[BK_CP]

I actually applaud this as a good first step. Listen, Craigslist is only moving this way because in the long run, it will be good for business, and they recognize it. My contention is that it has been too easy for minors to access this type of blatant advertising. I don't expect that it will eliminate the ads, but will go a long way toward making the Internet a safer place.

See my recent blog post on this http://blog.cyberpatrol.com/?p=137

[nicmart]

By moderating "adult services," Craigslist will now take on liability that will haunt the company.

[terminalblue]

you can already see hookers posting in other areas(in St louis, casual encounters has become almost unreadable)...that means this will happen...

Craigslist still an online **********, ...registration (phone and financial) will become nessasary through the whole site.

until it is sterilized to the point that it is nothing but the new eBay.

[saul_meshach]

This reminds me of when they tried to stop illegal downloads by shutting down napter. This will only drive erotic services to other sites like backpage or SellitForFree.com. This action will only slow it down temporarily and eventually a site will base there servers offshore so it will not be subject to US AG attacts.

[jmans1212]

I never understand how someone could think a website is responsible for anything a user does. People in the US and this era always want someone else to blame for misfortune. It isn't enough to go after the person that has done the crime but also complain about the tool that was used. If it was a printed newspaper add that the person would go after the newspaper or yellow page ad? Grow up people. Websites, Newspapers, Yellow page ads, are there to list various services for people to provide.
If people were harmed or attacked because they put an ad on the site offering to sell some of their furniture before a move would they ask craigslist to remove the furniture section?

[davex44]

Perhaps that so many care what other people do in private is just a sign of how Victorian, or bored, we are as a society. Having worked on efforts to decriminalize sex work in San Francisco, I've met many articulate, educated, sensitive and compassionate people who have chosen this as their profession. While no doubt there are workers who were forced to do so, it's clear that removing the stigma and legal issues would make it more likely that they would seek and obtain help, and that their peers would be willing to assist law enforcement in that regard.

Sex is a natural and necessary part of our society, and that a paid arrangement is often the most intelligent resource for those who don't have a partner, or where their partner may be sexually disinterested, or may not share their interests or level of desire. One only needs to look at the rates of divorce, depression and other symptoms of today's disconnected world to see just how endemic this is and that many people deserve to have responsible alternatives.

It seems that the sexual-phobias that still exist are keeping politicians and so many others from seeing the benefits of having provider arrangements made on the Internet where electronic trails can be used to trace criminal activity. If we put the same energy into helping law enforcement work with services like Craigslist, perhaps Philp Markoff would have been pulled off the streets after he assaulted the first young woman. I'm sure the family of Julissa Brisman's, the woman he did kill, would agree.

http://twitter.com/dlevinethinks

[chloe3021568]

I am an escort. Im 20, I have being doing it since Nov. and all on craigslist. Yes I have my own website also. The way I see this is,phillip would have used another site providing the same things if craigslist didnt have their erotic services, such as backpage.com or even the more popular erotic review site. Craigslist is not responsible for these attacks Phillip is. Now that craigslist has taken down their erotic services website, they have accepted the blame and taken on the responsibility of this murder. They folded under peer pressure. And I would also like to say., When a guy pays for sex thats his own buisness when a girl accepts money for time and companionship and sex occurs that perfectly legal. When somebody is attacking girls, the police should be able to catch them right away so this murder never happend. And if this was made legal and taxable think how fast we would be out of debt when we tax every 200 dollar transaction between client and escort. If their truely was a seperation of church and state then the state cannot tell me what to do or what not to do with my own body. I mind my own buisnees am a good nieghbor I volunteer for numerous charities and I am in nursing school, just trying to pay bills and still have time to study and a single mother of a two year old. Please everybody just get their nose out, because you have no idea anything about escorting, you think you know but you really dont.

[AngelaQuattrano]

The "erotic services" section was a sham, as was the "community moderation" system that permitted prostitutes like yourself to flag all legal services offered and have them removed, the better to prevent competition from things like websites and phone sex. Don't be such a hypocrite. You know you did. There was nothing in that section but prostitution and spam, both of which supposedly were against tos.

[chloe3021568]

I have no clue what you are talking about that you "know i did". Everybody with a brain knows erotic services was for prostitution i am not saying it wasnt. And I've never taken the time to care enough to flag anything on craigslist.

[VickyGallas]

The Craigslist Dilemma

Jim Buckmaster, the CEO of Craigslist, caved to prosecutors' threats and announced the end of the "Erotic Services" category on the website. The company will open an "Adult Services" category to take its place, only now they will charge for ads and closely monitor this section. The book addresses the Craigslist dilemma and the pursuit of publishers by law enforcement in Chapter Eleven, Publishers and Escort Advertisements. No more hookers gathering in one place as sitting ducks for law enforcement ? now they'll spread out (no pun intended) and post on the lengthy list of other websites where they're not so easily found and tracked by agencies like the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI). The proverbial sitting ducks will soon scatter. Not sure what the state AGs and law enforcement were thinking when they pursued this agenda.

I believe that Buckmaster felt public pressure after the "massage therapist" was found murdered in Boston, but the general public doesn't always know what's best. Prostitution is a trade that will never go away, at least not as long as there are sexual desires and poverty, the major combination necessary for the trade to thrive. History reveals that prostitution, escort services, and the ladies and men that work in the business will find a way to make it work as long as the demand exists. We need only review the story of the Green River Killer to remember that tragic endings did not begin with Craigslist. The War on Adult Business sounds more like the War on Drugs every day.

Whether Buckmaster realizes it or not, the problems for Craigslist have just begun. The way the company did business, by not charging for these ads and by allowing the community to regulate the category by flagging what was not acceptable, the liability was almost nonexistent. Today this has all changed. If Buckmaster doubts this fact, he need only check with AT&T, Sprint Publishing, the Orlando Weekly, Bigdoggie.net, The Erotic Review and any other publisher that has sold advertising to adult businesses in past. Up until today Craigslist was protected by law, the ducks were there for the taking, and the hunters waiting to be tracked.

Vicky Gallas' Amazon

[pjk0]

Vicky Gallis is most likely correct, craigslist is clearly only buckling-under to very widely-publicized pressure from a tiny handful of short-sighted, idiotic law enforcement officials who still think that they are going to "solve" the "problem" of prostitition.

But by chasing these advertisers off of craigslist, they are not "solving" any of these nonexistent problems, they are actually making it worse, as many here have noted. I don't personally consider prostitution, per-se, a problem. What is a problem are certain types of violent criminal activities that often accompany prostitution. The absurdity here is that those sorts of problems will likely get WORSE with these changes.

If a former CL erotic advertiser is instead now driven to street-prostitution, I would say her chances of being the target of violent crime would rise precipitously. And I would think the danger to prostitution customers would also likely increase, as you have absolutely no idea who you are dealing with when you pick someone up off the street.

This whole debacle is one big joke, driven by a few grandstanding, pea-brained law-enforcement officials, pandering to backwards populist superstitions and holier-than-thou hypocrites. Craigslist unfortunately did the only thing they could do, under the circumstances, which was buckle-under to this media-circus-fueled firestorm before it permanently tainted their public reputation.

Now all the users of the rest of the CL personals can look forward to having to weed through all the prostitutes posing as chicks looking for a date, and more grim statistics after a good portion of the rest end up shot-up on the street somewhere. Nice job!

[VickyGallas]

There are many websites that the posters from Craigslist "Erotic Services" can place their ads on, some with servers outside the U.S. and others that require membership, but I know you are correct and most will either go back to the streets or find other categories on CL. In the Orlando area, law enforcement used the category to conduct sting ops as well, so I'm not real sure what these AGs and vice cops were pitching a fit about - it really was as if they actually believed shuttering Erotic Services would stop prostitution. I find that so ignorant that I must laugh.

I mention the Green River Killer case as he murdered somewhere around 70 prostitutes and the case went on for over a decade before they located the whacko. I would be curious to hear the detective's opinion that worked all of those years on that case. Perhaps some investigative reporter will locate him and ask his thoughts.

[ARACUSS]

You are absolutely right. People use guns to kill others everyday, and guns are still around. I think this is a mistake. Look how easy it was to find the killer and also to prove his guilt. If you send these people back on the corner, good luck law enforcement trying to find the killers. What happened to freedom of speech?
Also shame on Craig, for using this situation to make money.

[pjk0]

Neither Craig nor craigslist are making any money on this new "adult services" category. All the revenue from that section are being donated to charity, and this will be documented.

I imagine the reason they created a new section instead of just eliminating any form of adult posting area were 1) to give the impression they were not completely "sanitizing" the site of all forms of adult content and completely buckling-under to pressure, 2) to try to keep sex-for-hire ads out of the regular personals sections and 3) to make a case that CL is actually part of the solution (by generating revenue that presumably will go directly to charities involved in reducing risk to sex-workers and/or potentially-exploited minors), rather than part of the problem.

The only thing is, I think that as many others have mentioned here and elsewhere, the fact that CL has apparently been railroaded into vetting all the "adult" posts puts them in some serious legal jeopardy - which is a damn shame.

[boyboyds]

This is scary.

CL is loosing its constitutional right to free speach. If CL goes to court and defends itself, it would almost certainly win, but at a huge finnacial expense. And this is a scary part - if government can do this to a wealthy company like CL, just imagine what they can do to me and you.

[adam2009m]

What are you people talking about?? I AM GLAD THEY GOT RID OF ESCORT SERVICEs. THEY SHOULD ALSO GET RID OF ADULT SERVICES. What is this world coming to?? ***&K free speech.. WE need to have some moral values.. We dont need hookers to teach us what is right and wrong because THEY ARE WRONG.. get an education and find a job.. LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE.. ahhh.. FEAR GOD PEOPLE.. YES THERE IS GOD, ULL FIND OUT WHEN U WAKEUP IN HELL.. YOU THINK U KNOW URE SAFE OR ULL BE SAVED.. NOBODY IS GOING TO COME TO SAVE FILTH FROM HELL FIRE

[chloe3021568]

Fear god? I thought i was supposed to fear satan? So now im supposed to fear God 2? haha now im very confused. Look if you had a heart you would know that these girls arnt going to stop and by closing craigslist they put them more at risk, which back to the heart thing, you wouldnt want anybody to get hurt. Most "hookers" are college students who cant afford school without it. Why are you so angry?

[pjk0]

We do have moral values - they just differ from the ones you so convincingly demonstrate here.

[screamapillar]

@adam2009m: I assume when you refer to "nobody is going to come to save filth from hell fire" you refer, of course, to yourself? To use your foolish angry caps to emphasize the point: THE DARKNESS, ANGER and HATE YOU PREACH IS A STUMBLING BLOCK to any who might consider God as part of their life.

Romans 8:1 "There is now no condemnation" - in this context, please read the full context, those in 'christ jesus' are not just Christians, but all the world because god loves all of his children. That is clarified several times in the book of Romans.
Luke 6:37 "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven"
Matthew 7:2 "For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."
Luke 17:2 "It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin"

AND (caps again just for you adam) IF YOU WANT A DIRECT COMPARISON TO YOUR HATE WITH HOW JESUS RESPONDED TO A PROSTITUE:
John 8:7 "So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."

So Adam, it is clear your own scripture condemns YOU. Grow up you and learn to live in the real world instead of being so self righteous. Perhaps start by reading your own bible before you spout your hate filled crud because you are dealing with people with an education here, not just the ignorant hate filled folk that normally cheer you on.

[mrthom04]

Well CL has made a move to clean things up , one way or another. I will now use TheEroticSection.com to look at escort ads. its alot like when CL first started the erotic section.. not the wild wild west. I see many of craigslist girls posting there... it seems that they are being more tamed in there ads... see for yourself.

www.theeroticsection.com

[sensualnikki]

I am a female erotic provider that has been posting on craigslist for over 4 years now in Los Angeles. This has been my way of making a living and surviving out here while pursuing my entertainment career in acting and music. I think it's unfortunate that such a great section of cl had to be closed down since it's been so beneficial to me and all my clients. And while I do admit that most of the girls are soliciting prostitution in some way (and I do not judge it at all...I believe everyone should have the freedom to make a living doing what works for them), I am one of the few that actually does not provide sex or sex acts. I've been providing a striptease, lapdance, toy show, massage and/or fetish sessions for mainly married men who are not looking to cheat on their wives by having sex with other women. For those men that are looking for another site to find women such as myself and for those erotic providers that still need to advertise and make a living, here are a list of other sites that I've been using to advertise for free on: www.cityvibe.com , www.backpage.com (not free but very cheap), TER (which provides reviews which are very helpful) and now I can say that the craigslist therapeutic section, adult gigs section and casual encounters section will be used for my advertising. Also, if you type in "Los Angeles escort directory" or "Los Angeles Erotic" you'll find even more resources for advertising (for free or cheap) and finding women for erotic services. When I make my visits I always bring someone who waits in the car for me. Although they are still in the car and not next to me holding my hand there presence is still known by the person I am visiting. In this respect the person I visit is much less motivated to be violent and disrespectful. It's been 4 years and nobody has every tried to hurt me (thankfully).... but women that are doing this should always have someone around for safety. You can even post an add for a security guy and you do not have to pay him that much. I pay about $40-$50 per hour appointment. You can even offer less then that. Safety first but much respect to all the other independent ladies who are making a living providing erotic affection. In this day and age it is a therapy that is needed by so many. Thanks!

[DEBATWEB]

There are usually pros and cons with most of the classifieds, but the one that I have found most interesting, local, and above all family safe is:
http://www.americanlisted.com/