yes, I believe RB is next.Craigslist, one of the world's biggest providers of Internet classified advertising, abruptly shut down the "adult services" section of its websites in the United States this weekend, apparently in response to criticism from prosecutors that it had become a tool for prostitution.
But it was unclear whether Craigslist -- an icon of the new media transformation of American society -- had closed the site to placate those critics, or to hit back at them, casting itself as the victim of censorship. On its famously bare-bones websites, the blue-lettered link for adult services was gone. It was replaced with a black box, containing one word: "Censored."
Craigslist's usually outspoken leaders gave no explanation for their move and no signal as to whether it would be permanent. Last year, the site increased the screening of these ads after authorities in New England said a man had killed one woman and attacked two others he'd contacted through Craigslist.
On Craigslist sites in other nations, the "erotic" sections remained open.
The site's critics greeted the change with praise and wariness, saying they wanted to be sure it was closed for good.
"They lack either the will or the wherewithal to effectively screen for prostitution ads. Which is why we (said) to them, 'Shut down the site,'" said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, one of 18 attorneys general who made that demand in a letter to Craigslist last month. He added,
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"We hope that their example in doing the right thing will lead others to follow them."
The long-running battle about Craigslist's "adult" or "erotic" ads -- which can be thinly veiled as advertisements for a massage or can contain explicit photos and text -- illustrates the complexity of policing the Internet. On one side is an iconoclastic company defending what it sees as a major virtue of the Web: The ability to create a self-regulating virtual commons. On the other are prosecutors and anti-prostitution activists who say that the anonymity of the online world can be a great vice, making it easier for people to exploit women and children in the real world.
By choosing the word "censored," Craigslist seemed to signal that the battle will continue, said Jason Schultz, a law professor at UC Berkeley.
"Maybe what (Craigslist is) trying to do is raise the other side of the issue, which is that there's serious First Amendment, freedom-of-information issues" on their side, Schultz said. "This seems to me completely adversarial, still."
Katrina Hernandez, administrator for the Family Life Christian Center in San Jose, said she and her fellow church members were thrilled by the news.
"We have many people in our church who have recovered from child molestation and pornography,'' she said, "and to see these avenues for predators shut down is awesome. Is it a violation of Craigslist's First Amendment rights? I'm looking at it more from a moral standpoint, and to me, the protection of children supersedes everything else. I'm happy Craigslist is doing the right thing.''
Silicon Valley tech pundit and Mercury News columnist Larry Magid said that, assuming the shut-down wasn't the job of a hacker, the move by Craigslist shows just how much pressure the site was under to clean up its act. He said political pressure from attorneys general, as well as from some media outlets and other organizations, has been "pretty enormous, and perhaps it finally got to them.''
Still, as Magid points out, even "respectable newspapers carry ads for massage parlors, so just because someone goes into one and is involved in an illegal act, does that mean you blame the newspaper?''
Craigslist is widely loved by its users, said Magid, many of whom "have found jobs, or housing or tenants or sold their cars through the site. So maybe Craigslist figures that it wasn't worth it to spoil all that goodwill because of some cases where people were abusing the service.
"On the other hand, a lot of people out there felt that Craigslist wasn't doing enough to protect children by blocking exploitative advertising,'' said Magid, who is a board member of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and a member of the Obama administration's Online Safety & Technology Working Group.
E-mails sent Saturday afternoon to Craigslist were not answered. However, on August 24, site spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best issued a statement that read:
"We strongly support the Attorneys General desire to end trafficking in children and women, through the Internet or by any other means. We hope to work closely with them, as we are with experts at nonprofits and in law enforcement, to prevent misuse of our site in facilitation of trafficking, and to combat such crimes wherever they appear, online or offline.''
It's unclear how much Craigslist's decision will help police. One Silicon Valley law-enforcement officer familiar with vice-squad work said Saturday that an even bigger headache for cops trying to stop online prostitution and child exploitation is myredbook.com and even some local alternative newspapers, which prominently feature numerous ads for places such as massage parlors in the back pages.
"My Red Book is a huge vehicle for online prostitution,'' said the officer, "so our guys work that one and even the back of newspapers. I'm sure they'll be happy Craigslist is getting rid of these ads, but I'm not sure how much difference it'll make. If they block the local alternative newspapers and My Red Book from running these ads, then we'd be in business.''
Craigslist began as an e-mail newsletter in San Francisco in 1995, and grew into a hub for free classified ads that has more than 700 local sites around the world. The company says it has more than 50 million users in the U.S., competing with newspapers for classified ads in their circulation areas.
Most of the site's ads can be placed for free. But "adult" ads cost $10 apiece, and there are enough of them to bring in about $36 million in revenue estimated early this year -- about a third of the company's total -- according to a recent analysis by the Advanced Interactive Media Group.
But both prosecutors and anti-prostitution groups say these ads have become a bazaar for prostitutes and pimps. Instead of taking the risk of meeting customers on the street, the activists say, they can arrange visits in hotel rooms.
Last month, groups took out an ad in The Washington Post in which two women said they had been forced to have sex with men who had answered Craigslist ads. "Craigslist is like the Wal-Mart of online sexual exploitation of minors," said Andrea Powell of FAIR Fund, one of the groups.
Authorities also say that women have been attacked by men who arranged their visits via Craigslist. The New England case was the most famous: The man accused in that case, medical student Philip Markoff, killed himself in jail in Boston last month. Last year in the Washington area, authorities said another man used Craigslist to lure women to isolated apartment buildings and rape them. He committed suicide as police closed in.
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