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.'"

Comments

Re:Unemployment Rates It most ASSuredly would

[davidsyes]

be a HARD thing to do...

Maybe CL should sell RealDolls with strategically-located, UDD-filled cavities.... That stuff could moderate down the neutrons in ANY hard dick forging ahead.

Re:Not like it's going to make a difference

[Eil]

By forcing Craigslist to shut down their ads, it's really sent all of those providers off to other means of advertising, which means law enforcement will have to go hunting again. It was a stupid logistics idea. Law enforcement will never stop prostitution, but it looks good to the public to have a decent number of busts. Why kill your easy method of facilitating busts. It's a freakin' list of "we can arrest these people tonight", rather than really hunting them down.

You've hit on a point that's rarely brought up in discussions like this: law enforcement could almost completely wipe out drugs and prostitution in their jurisdictions if they really wanted to. But the unspoken objective is to always keep the "threat" looming, so that the politicians continue to look like they're doing an important job in the eyes of the public, the money keeps flowing in, government employees get to keep their jobs.

Instead of eradicating those behaviors that are prohibited by law, they strive to strike a balance: make enough busts to get your name in the paper every once in awhile. But don't make so many that your "market" for busts dries up completely, or that you start arresting well-connected members of society.

Re:Not like it's going to make a difference

[RazorSharp]

This type of idealism sounds good but is completely impractical for the most pragmatic of reasons. First: the drug analogy is stupid. You should have said pot because anyone who would argue for the legalization of cocaine is either ignorant or stupid. I'm going to explain because I'm assuming you're ignorant. If cocaine were ever cheap enough so that its users no longer needed to commit crimes to get their fix, then they would do so much of it they would physically and mentally deteriorate to the point of being a burden on society. Paternalistic drug laws are necessary (but, yeah, weed should be legal).

Now prostitution is a different issue but we'll stick with the analogy. Cocaine addiction is something developed through cocaine use. Once one becomes addicted they will always be addicted even if they stop usage. We cannot allow cocaine to be legal because if this large-scale public addiction were not kept in check then society would be worse for wear. Compare this to sexual desire, an addiction all are born with and which motivates, torments, and tempts us all at some point. Like cocaine this addiction may be the root of many evil acts (rape, deceit, malice toward sexual competitors) but unlike cocaine it also motivates many to do fundamental good (achieve something which will impress another, concern for personal hygiene/desirability, a general altruism derived from relationships). Keep in mind that many engage in social relations only because of their libido. What I'm saying is that there is virtue in sexual monogamy and a grave immorality about prostitution. You see anti-prostitution laws as unnecessary regulation but I see them as vital to maintaining society in its current form and preventing the rest of America from degrading into Nevada, where neither education nor morality are respected.

Re:Not like it's going to make a difference

[sesshomaru]

Compare this to sexual desire, an addiction all are born with and which motivates, torments, and tempts us all at some point.

One of the sickest things I've read these many years on Slashdot, and that's saying something.

Gentlemen, I give you the neurosis caused by careful training into the Puritan mindset that afflicts many Americans.

Quarantine your cultures against it, I say!

That says it all, "Sexual Desire == Addiction."

Oh, by the way, if you are a woman, stay the Hell away from this guy! He is "motivated, tormented and tempted" by his "sexual desire addiction."

He probably keeps duct tape in his van as well...

I would pity him, but I never pitied Claude Frollo or Lord Angelo, so why start now...

Re:Not like it's going to make a difference

[Nevyn]

Does society collapse when a hooker gets beaten up by a weirdo?

prostitution != GBH/ABH

Does society collapse when a bunch of Chinese girls get brought over in a shipping crate to work in a brothel?

prostitution != human trafficking

Does society collapse when a college girl's boyfriend tells her that if she wants to keep the coke coming she needs to turn a few tricks, and it will only be just once or twice?

Does society collapse when a college girl's boyfriend tells her that if she wants to keep the coke coming she needs to go work at Wall Mart for 60 hours a week?