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Sheriff Sues Craiglist For Prostitution Ads
Amerika writes "Craigslist is 'the single largest source of prostitution in the nation,' according to Cook County, Illinois Sheriff Thomas Dart. He has announced that he's filing a lawsuit against the popular classifieds site. Craigslist says it's determined to prevent criminal activity." NewYorkCountryLawyer adds a link to the 28-page complaint (PDF), which "alleges that Craigslist maintains 21 classifications of sex-for-hire, coded as 'w4m,' 'm4m,' 'm4w,' etc." and that it has facilitated child prostitution and kidnapping and human trafficking.
This is Illinois again I see we are talking about, after all. Maybe the sheriff in question is just upset because he can't get a cut of the local "action" if it's all happens online...
All consentual sexual relationships are a form of prostitution when you get to the basics of it...be it money, food, protection...
What about the wife that won't have sex with her husband until he does some chore?
Isn't that prostitution?
I think they should probably go after the Streets Department first. Prostitutes have been using the streets to solicit prostitution for centuries. And I'm almost certain that there are more prostitutes using streets than using Craigslist.
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
Prostitutes exist with or without Craigslist; it is not a "source" and it does not create prostitutes. They'd be out walking the street if Craigslist didn't give them somewhere safe to advertise. I'd much rather keep them on the web than on my sidewalk.
If he's doing this in his official capacity, then he's way out of line. This is for the states' attorney to handle, not the sheriff's office.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Yet people flock to strip clubs to watch women dance and take off their clothes. Erotic Services with no sex are quite common.
I see the glass as full with a FoS of 2.
I wish more of the authors of these smug, dismissive comments would read the complaint.
It makes a compelling case that the primary use of the "erotic services" section of Craigslist is prostitution, both the "consenting adults" variety and the quite non-consenting child sex slavery variety. It also cites specific cases where Craigslist was used to facilitate the abuse of child sex slaves. Is anyone here concerned with that, and that Craigslist is profiting from that traffic?
Note that the sheriff isn't trying to shut down Craigslist; his office sent 5 letters to Craigslist asking them to better police the "erotic services" section or shut it down. According to the complaint, Craigslist refused. It would seem that the owners of Craigslist value their profits more than the lives of the children whose exploitation they benefit from.
How often has the phrase "Think of the children" been bandied about on Slashdot with a wink and a sneer? Well, here's a case where there are actual, real, hurting children to think about. How many of you are brave enough to challenge the groupthink around here and do that? Where is the outrage that Craigslist is profiting from human traffic? Some of you need to turn in your liberal credentials at the door.
The person that does the asking out to dinner pays.
After all, the other party was gracious enough to accept.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Little aftertought, after reading the ars technica update I believe this is about money.
The Cook County Sheriff's Department is asking a federal judge to close the Erotic Services section of Craigslist, as well as reimburse the department $100,000 it has cost to pursue Craigslist-related prostitution investigations over the past year,
Umm...Shouldn't the police force be paying craigslist? Craigslist didn't create the prostitution. They stuck it all in one spot. The only way they could have helped the cops more is if they placed a big red arrow that says "hooker" over the prostitute's heads.
Remind me what the branches of government are again?
Since when does he have the right to pick and choose which laws he enforces? Nice lie by omission, but just because the tenant is paying rent on time doesn't mean the owner/landlord is paying the mortgage.
Those are two entirely separate legal contracts.
Not that I'm unsympathetic to the tenants, they should get some form of protection (even if it's just a delay until they find somewhere else) or maybe just garnish the rent direct to the bank.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
They stuck it all in one spot. The only way they could have helped the cops more is if they placed a big red arrow that says "hooker" over the prostitute's heads.
Mod parent up.
Old school: Go undercover/hit the streets to round up prostitutes.
New school: Login in to www.craiglisst.com from the comfort of the squad room, set up a date, make arrest. Rinse, repeat.
That douchebag Sheriff should be thanking them for making it much easier for him.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
source. Not that the con talking heads bothered to mention any of these trifling little legal issues back when they proclaimed that this was some kind of activism and socialism and satanism and whatever else they could throw at it.
The bank must follow the law, and the law states the residents of a non-owner occupied property must be notified in advance, which the poor, poor banks just couldn't be bothered to do.
They were apparently too busy licking the boots of the fed chairman for cash to think "Hmm... renter in good standing making monthly payments, owner in bad standing not making monthly payments. Maybe we should offer them the house in exchange for them continuing to pay. The worst that could happen is they say no and move out." But that would require working for their money and if there's anything we've learned in this crash, its that the leadership of our institutions are deathly afraid of work and deserve money to fall upon them from the federal government.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
... adults with imaginary friends are given free psychiatric help.
In the US, we give them political power.
OK, I'll bite.
What are you talking about? This is a story about a lawsuit. A strange lawsuit that seems to be trying to enforce criminal statutes on a tort-like theory of public nuisance. It likely won't go anywhere, since it's hard from the complaint to even make out who the aggrieved party is supposed to be. (Is the Sheriff himself harmed in some way by Craigslist's practices? I think he'll have to show that if he wants an injunction. Otherwise, if he thinks something cognizably criminal is going on he could maybe investigate and prosecute. Which he can't, so this whole thing is largely symbolic.)
Now you come in babbling about political power for imaginary friends. I guess it's OK, though, as there seem to be enough like-minded schizophrenics to get you modded insightful. Perhaps you could move overseas, and avail yourself of some of those marvelous free services...
One of the checks and balances lies in the fact that "executives" (this effectively includes sheriffs) can decline to execute. This is unusual, as there will often be political consequences, in the form of lost elections, recall efforts, or in some circumstances, impeachment, but civil or criminal consequences are exceedingly rare and apply only in certain extraordinary cases.
And even if there are non-political consequences in a given case, you're still relying on executives to enforce those consequences.
In the end, governments (and for that matter, business, military, or any other large organization) function because most of the time, in most of the cases, the people involved will carry out "lawful orders" even if they disagree with them. Sometimes you reach a breaking point where someone isn't willing to do that. What happens then depends on many factors, but public opinion is a often a big one.
He's stupid.
Most people in an investigative field would BEG for lists like this.
The posting gives probable cause. They can wire tap the numbers, and get the phone history. The secondary numbers that call common numbers give even more escorts, or escort services/pimps. Third level cross reference would then likely give him a good number of the working girls in the area, and regular clients. All of this would be legal.
Many law enforcement agencies are using these ads to DO the busts. They'll set up a wired hotel room, and have the girls meet them there. They'll also have officers pose as the escorts, and do the same to the Johns.
They're being spoon fed fairly reliable information. The exception would be postings by angry ex-boyfriends/husbands, who post their ex-SO picture and phone numbers. Those would be easily filtered once the phone records were given a good look over.
I don't know what idiot thought about filing a complaint against Craigslist. They should be THANKING them. Spend a couple months gathering intelligence, and then spend a weekend on widespread busts. They'd get a significant number in the process, and the rest would be scared out of business. Any remaining ones that decided to continue marketing this way would be continued easy fish to catch.
Do your job, and you've solved the problem. Cutting out an advertising source just pushes that element that you want to arrest into other fringe areas that you probably don't know about yet. Doing it right would get the vice squad brownie points from all over the place, and an increased budget. Just bitching about the advertising medium gets you nothing but a budget wasted on court costs.
Stupid people.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
... where I live. So the Cook County Sheriff can lump it if he doesn't like it.
And this has exactly what to do with him going after crime in his jurisdiction?
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
I have always found it highly questionable that something one can give away for free should be illegal to sell.. (free is relative; everyone pays for it somehow) If they regulated it (and taxed the hell out of it) it would do away with some thugs who want to be big time pimps, and through health regulations it could help reduce the spread of STD's. Just to go ahead and answer the inevitable, no it will not fix everything and there will always be those that operate outside of an established/legal system.
Since when does he have the right to pick and choose which laws he enforces?
Are you kidding me? He is just following the example set by the rest of the law enforcement agencies in the US.
The US (especially over the last 8 years) loves to make things illegal that a huge % of the population does and then they use selective enforcement to exercise their prejudiced, corrupt agendas.
Need some examples:
Picking on LGBTs
Selective enforcement of marijuana laws (over other drugs)
Selective enforcement of drug laws in black/latino communities
The DMCA
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