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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...
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.
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 ?
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,
Someone needs some bail-out money reaal fast. Too bad the hookers and pimps didn't pay their protection money and now you've got to sue the interwebz for ruining your business.
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:)
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.
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.
Its as if Ebay had a specific areas for weed, cocaine, and heroin.
Ahh, I found my new Happy Thought ;)
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.
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!
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...
Indeed. The Sheriff is correct that craigslist is carrying ads that any reasonable person would conclude are for prostitution. For sure.
The question is, what are the Sheriff's real motivations? Law-enforcement crackdowns on prostitution are spotty at best, so why this, why now?
The primary motivation against prostitution comes from females, who loathe it like all businesspeople loathe competition. These days success in business comes easiest to those who seize the law to ban their competition, and women-in-general have done exactly this.
To put it another way: the presence of legal prostitutes will increase what your female partner is willing to do in bed.
Given this, all male attacks on prostitution must be some attempt to curry favor with females. Or they've got a bad case of the Jesus.
FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
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......
Craigslist isn't just a truck you can dump a bunch of hookers on.
I am SO sorry, clearly you've not been there (Chicago & its Metro area) in the last 2 decades.
1) Wheaton, a burb, is a college town. An evangelical college town. It is one of the scariest places I've ever seen.
2) Naperville, a burb, is the largest city in Illinois, physically gigantic, but obviously diffuse. It is almost universally conservative.
You are correct about the mayor, but the distribution of conservative vs. liberal is sadly quite strong the wrong way. The election outcomes tend to depend on who gets out the vote, which depends on so much more than machines, fraud or money. Trust me, the random guy you meet on the street? Don't bet he's a liberal anything, much less a Democrat.
I do not necessarily defend the GP's position, I think the sheriff's motivations are more simplistic, probably self-aggrandizement. But counting on Chicago, Cook County, or the entire metropolitan area as "liberal" is a huge mistake, and one made by liberal politicians at their peril.
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.
"Craigslist is 'the single largest source of prostitution in the nation,
'Old school: Go undercover/hit the streets to round up prostitutes.
Yeah, you'd think they wouldn't bother going after Craigslist after the failure of their earlier lawsuit against street corners.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
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.
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
Yea. That's called marriage.