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Craigslist Kills Erotic Services Ads, Will Launch Adult Section
CWmike writes "Submitting to mounting legal pressure, Craigslist has announced that it will remove the Erotic Services category from its classified advertising Web site within seven days. The move comes just two and a half weeks after Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist, told Computerworld that the company had no intention of removing the category. While it's taking down the category, it will be launching a new category called Adult Services, for which each posting will be manually reviewed before it appears. '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,' said Buckmaster in a blog post today. 'We are optimistic that the new balance struck today will be an acceptable compromise from the perspective of the constituencies, and for the diverse US communities that value and rely upon Craigslist.'"
The police in various districts have done CL stings repeatedly. Seems like here in Portland it's in the news every 3 months or so...cops rent a hotel room and answer ads, girls are busted. Or vice versa. It apparently hasn't shut this down. Police have been busting streetwalkers for years and yet you still see them on the corners of major cities...
CL switched to requiring phone verification for this category of ads. Then they started charging $5 to list. And now they're dropping it altogether.
I would think this was all business-driven - an evaluation that the hassle costs more than the revenue - but CL has no revenue. In fact, I don't think CL has any actual business model....it's just free ads for whoever wants them. You're probably right that it's the lawsuit threats that are driving them out of this.
Advice: on VPS providers
I'll back that up. I grew up in fairly conservative protestant church, and went to school at a fairly conservative protestant bible college. I don't think that you can say "Protestants generally..." but a large number of the more conservative protestants differentiate between "Catholic" and "Christian". In some of those circles, Catholicism is viewed as a cult. Enough so that if you search for the words "catholic" and "cult" you'll get a large number of pages debating the subject.
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Sure, feel free to speculate. But have you ever been to San Francisco? It's commonplace here. Most of the Chinese-operated massage parlors are semi-tolerated brothels. Law enforcement has ongoing concerns about human trafficking, but it's hard to prove when the proprietors and the sex workers all deny it. (And why wouldn't they?)
Of course nobody is going to post an ad on Craigslist that says, "Truckload of Chinese virgins! Bulk pricing! Serious buyers only!"
The fact that so many "enlightened, sex-positive people" are so willing to wish this kind of stuff into the cornfield is precisely what makes the sex trade so insidious. But if you come to my city -- or any city -- walk its streets and really get to know it, you'll understand that the realities of prostitution for most of the participants are not nearly as pretty as the "independent sex worker entrepreneur" crowd will tell you.
I'm willing to bet that the ability to post ads on Craigslist really does cut down on some of the danger and crime associated with prostitution for some women. That still doesn't make me comfortable with it.
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As long as they tax it like any other business or income then there isn't an issue.
This is already a set precedent as the brothels in Nevada are taxed federally. The girls working there have the federal withholding.
Now just imagine, prostitution and pandering is made legal. There will be a potentially more open plying of the trade. This increases accessibility and potentially utilization, thereby potentially increasing the underlying workforce.
So, if you have legalized prostitution and pandering, some of the existing practitioners will license, thereby submitting to taxation, whereas now there is no taxation. If the workforce increases, it is likely due to demand and thereby drawing in the fence-sitters that had contemplated it, but shied away for legal and/or safety reasons. They too will be taxed.
While it is true that our screwed up tax system often taxes the customers with "luxury tax", this is a service and not a consumable good.
But, all that being said, I do not think it will ever happen and if it does, Uncle Sam and/or the State of transaction will find a way to screw us for screwing.
The practical effect of this will be nil; anyone who wants to advertise prostitution will just find another web site, probably one located outside the USA.
Don't underestimate the ability for current CL users to 'create' their own language when posting ads.
My guess; not much changes in the 'services', just what they are called.