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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.
I like this game
Last week I ordered a hit out on a professor through craigslist. Sure the interface was ugly but service was delivered on time so I really shouldn't be complaining.
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...
uh oh, this is definitely going to hurt my dating game...
Sheriff Dart has taken a stance against mortgage companies that are evicting renter's from homes that property owners are allowing to go into eviction. Sheriff Dart says, "Too many renters are being evicted for landlords' problems".
FreeBSD bounties
... where I live. So the Cook County Sheriff can lump it if he doesn't like it.
I piss off bigots.
So you mean to say all those fine women I took out on dates from craigslist were hookers! I guess that would explain the black eye and lack of memory the next morning after I refused to let her "borrow" some money.
Another dipshit that doesn't know how infrastructure is supposed to work and what the internet is. Child prostitution ... according to American law that would include 20 y/o with 11 months and three weeks on the clock right?
When did this idea emerge that you can sue a infrastructure for what is happening on it? This concept is new to me and doesn't make any sense. Next they'll be suing the newspapers for ads that enable people to engage in casual sex. About time someone did something about this.
Thanks to this sheriff, those of us seeking prostitutes or running brothels know that Craig's list is the place to be.
"Thank you sheriff for helping improve my business. Keeping all the young ladies on staff as busy as they can physically manage is great for business, especially in these tough economic times.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
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?
Just because he found his wife in the w4mmmm section doesn't mean he can get all sue-happy:)
The Sheriff sues computer maker based on that they enable people to search Craiglist for prostitutes.
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.
By his logic we should be able to sue his ass for past abuse of prisoners by his own sheriff department right? Oh BTW Cook county has had in its past the worst corruption record of any county Sheriff in the nation
Fred Grott(aka shareme) http://mobilebytes.wordpress.com
After all, it nicely lists all the sex providers for him to go after.
Of course, that would be a lot of work for him. So I can understand his desire to secure society by making the location of sex providers obscure ;)
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.
when did singles sites become the target of prostitution crack-downs? just because craigslist has a "personals" section means that it is solely for prostitution? does this mean that _everyone_ on there is soliciting or seeking prostitution?
there is clearly a double standard toward craigslist and every other way to meet new members of the opposite (or same) gender. whether this is a double standard or not is irrelevant, this must be stopped; these pathetic knee-jerk "omg protect teh chrilden!1!!" is making me sick, it's everywhere
As this is a civil case, doesn't one need standing to file a suit? As I understand it, that means that the individual bringing the suit has to ask for a remedy the court can provide, which would be redress of damage. Party A can't sue B for what B did to C because A was not harmed, and therefore has no standing. In what way has craigslist damaged the sherrif, and what damages is he asking the court to redress, exactly?
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."
He didn't sue the mortgage banks, he instead refused to execute eviction notices for renters that were paying rent on time.
SirWired
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.
There's a lot of precedent on this. I think the term for a telco in this context is a "clear channel" provider or something like that. Basically, they do not provide any sort of editorial or policing on their traffic. If you pay your bill and there's no legal reason to block a given call, you can make the call.
I don't know how CraigsList is edited, but if there is any staff dedicating any time whatsoever--even seconds per month--to editing community messages, then they move from being "clear channel" providers to "publishers" or some such, and they are responsible for content.
The CB App. What's your 20?
Sheriff Uses Craiglist For Prostitution Ads
If craigslist supplies prostitutes, then the socket in my wall is a power station.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
... 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...
I think the term for a telco in this context is a "clear channel" provider or something like that.
The term you're looking for is Common Carrier
The parent is alluding to the Sheriff in TFO having a deranged mental state by using a common reference, identifying with people who aren't physically present. Indeed, hallucination is a common symptom of many psychological maladies.
User number 970820 also makes a joke using the familiar, and frequently employed motif, whereby individuals in a place of power are ridiculed by making a potentially credible complaint that the opposing party is irreparably stricken with a condition which renders them unfit to hold such power, attempting to display their behavior as evidence beyond reproach.
Happy to help.
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....... Which he can't, so this whole thing is largely symbolic.
I don't know about that.....maybe his wife keeps showing up in the w4m category....
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
My guess, is the AC is referring to religious people when he says "people with imaginary friends", the imaginary friend indicating god.
The AC probably jumped to the conclusion that the sheriff was on a crusade based on religious temperament.
All in all, it was pretty easy to follow to me, if not necessarily well founded. Jumping to bad conclusions isn't really an indicator of schizophrenia, I'd think more along the lines of mania / bipolar disorder.
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.
nah, she keeps showing up in w4mm.
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.
Really your defense for Socialism is "better than Bush"? Wow, I need to be king then because I'm freaking awesome compared to Bush. I hate the economic stuff going on and yes it is a creeping form of Socialism and yes I think that's bad for us unless we want to be a middle of the pack also ran country like the rest of the socialist countries in the west. I also hated the intrusive creeping government surveillance and oppression under Bush and think it was bad unless we want to be a totalitarian moralist police state. Why can't I hate both parties when they do something wackadoo?
Uh, the Yakuza?
Don't underestimate the power of The Source
Or more likely, he has ruined her for men so she shows up in wfw. Er, not that I ever view that section. Uh, I think I will take the fifth now.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
Craigslist is 'the single largest source of prostitution in the nation'
No, whores are the single largest source of prostitution! craigslist.com list is just their most popular advertising medium. Did people stop smoking cigarettes when they stop advertising? Take away online venues for finding customers, and whores will go back to propositioning Johns on the street. Personally, I'd rather they just advertise online, where only the people that are looking for sex-for-hire have to deal with them.
True story: I was in Manhattan on business, walking down the street in broad daylight, when this woman in a business suit approached me and asked "Do you have the time?" I of course immediately looked at my watch, whereupon she remarked "That's not what I meant!" Call me a nerd, but no, I can't tell an office worker from a prostitute... at least not until they ask for money.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
It has been several decades since I lived in Chicago. One of the duties of the Cook County Sheriff back then was to create an "organized crime" diversion whenever things were getting a little too hot for any of the fair-haired boys of the Democratic political machine in that city and state. This looks very similar.
My guess is that this will go away as the hoo-hoo-rah over Senator Burris' lies about his relationship with the ex-Governor Blagojevich fade into obscurity. (Burris was seated in the US Senate after testifying that he had no contacts with Blagojevich's people and had not been involved in raising money for Blagojevich after he sought be appointed Senator, but he has since recanted on both points when confronted with evidence that he had in fact been doing both.) There was a move to have a special election to replace Burris in the Illinois legislature; I understand that died earlier today.
Let me attempt to assist authorities in prosecuting such heinous crime.
I was at a Kinko's store happily surfing when a girl next to me asked for help. I duly assisted her in setting up her Craigslist "erotic services" ad. [She offered me her business too but I pointed out to her her ad: her hourly rate was higher than what I make consulting. That gave me a graceful way to bow out)
Presently, after a few minutes of exposure, her ad generated responses. The entire room was treated to her loudly intoning "Yes! Yes! (Fsck) me! I love it in my (Ascii)..." Half the people in the room came to their feet, red-faced, while the other half...oh, we were stretched back in our seats laughing our heads off.
There you have it. Guilty as charged.
I refer to page 10 in the PDF:
The complete postings, with nude images, are attached as Exhibit E).
Where's "Exhibit E"? I demand that the PDF includes Exhibit E!
The AC probably jumped to the conclusion that the sheriff was on a crusade based on religious temperament.
All in all, it was pretty easy to follow to me, if not necessarily well founded.
It's not really an improper conclusion. Show me one non-theist that believes prostitution is improper, and I'll show you a closet theist.
Only those who believe in some imaginary divine morality have an issue with folks selling sexual services.
Yeah, no one is really being hurt by this.
Heck, if prostitution moves entirely online, it'll be a good thing. The "bad image" caused by streetwalkers and such will go away, since the actual "marketing" of services happens invisibly online, and those involved can meet up in private.
It'll make law enforcement easier. It's far easier to track someone online that in real life, at least in the US it is.
For a nice date: call strftime(3C)