Craigslist Censored: Adult Section Comes Down
samsung1
Ohio
I've reached out to Craigslist for comment and await their reply. But the choice of words is significant – the section wasn't simply removed, the censored word was used.
The site has been embattled as old press and state attorneys general use any excuse to blame sex crimes on the site. From South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster's failed crusade against them to a variety of press stories about sex and other crimes. If it's just a sex crime it isn't a story. But if a listing on Craigslist was involved, it's a big story.
Craigslist has fought back using little more than their blog and logic. And they're right. Having prostitution up front and regulated, as Craigslist does, means less crime is associated with it. It's not like prostitution, sometimes called the world's oldest profession, was invented on the site.
The fact that eBay and others do exactly the same thing, but without human review and moderation, doesn't seem to matter. Craigslist Sex is what scares the general population, and it's what the press and the politicians will continue to use to get their hits and votes.
So the Craigslist Adult Section was removed. Is the world now a safer place?
Update: This only appears to affect U.S. sites, so if you're looking for a happy ending in Saskatoon or the West Bank, have at it.
http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/03/craigsl…
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Wait, you can get an escort on eBay? Do you have to bid on her?
With that said, earlier this year, the ad placers were so brazen that they were posting a picture of a hotel (across the steet from one of my buildings) and writing "See me in room 203". Then, several months ago, the hotel started air tight security. You couldn't drive onto the parking lot without being a registered guest. Last week, I noticed that they slacked up on security.
However, two streets over, I've seen prostitutes working the street, some of them looking 12-13 years old. I also see cops working that street, so I can imagine that if you troll the area, your license plate is being recorded.
don't expect it to happen, but it'd be nice.
i checked, erotic ads are still up in canadian cities and i suppose they are everywhere else except here in the good ol u.s.a.
the funny thing is that the ads, both legit and spam will just show up elsewhere. the politicians haven't accomplished anything except some self promoting headlines and that's probably all that they wanted anyway.
The RCMP is working with Craigslist to try to stop erotic ads that many fear are a cover for prostitution from being posted on the company's website in Canada.
Craigslist shut down its adult services section in the United States on Saturday and replaced it with a black bar that simply says "censored." The move came after a group of state attorneys general said there weren't enough protections against blocking potentially illegal ads promoting prostitution.
But as of Wednesday morning, the Canadian site still had an "erotic" link listed under services. Mounties want that to change.
"The RCMP Human Trafficking National Co-ordination Centre has partnered with Craigslist and has met [with Craigslist officials] on several occasions trying to implement some measures in Canada," Sgt. Marie-Claude Arsenault said at a news conference in Winnipeg.