Some who are at a loose end will find it odd to wake up to a Labor Day weekend and discover that the Adult Section on Craigslist has been removed and that the link to it on the site's home page has been replaced with a black bar reading "censored."
Craigslist has long been the whipping boy for attorneys general seeking to control prostitution within their purview and perhaps also seeking to win the favor of certain members of their constituencies.
However, why the section should suddenly have been removed in such a dramatic way (the censorship is only active in the U.S.) is unclear.
The section was originally entitled Erotic Services. Its name was changed to reflect a new discipline, as, under pressure from attorneys general, Craigslist declared it would manually screen every ad in its newly named Adult Services section.
It is arguable whether the content of this new section truly changed. Some would say it was adult business as usual.
(Credit: Screenshot: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)
Recently, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark gave a troubling if spontaneous interview to CNN, in which he seemed unable to answer questions about whether the site was facilitating child prostitution. Then, instead of answering the specific charges, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster took to the company's blog to assail the CNN reporter's methods.
Perhaps it was Newmark's interview that led to 17 attorneys general getting together last week to demand the removal of the Adult Services section.
In a joint letter to Craigslist, the attorneys general said, "No amount of money...can justify the scourge of illegal prostitution and the suffering of the women and children who will continue to be victimized in the market and trafficking provided by Craigslist."
It is surely, though, splendidly naive to think Craigslist would somehow be alone in providing a forum for prostitution ads. Whether they be local free newspapers or other sites, like eBay, there are plenty of outlets for services that some deem should be legalized.
However, Craigslist is in the unfortunate position of being high-profile and successful and has become a very easy target in what is a far more complex and nuanced issue than the attorneys general are making out.
I have reached out to Craigslist for comment and will update.
Link here:
http://www.in.com/news/entertain ... 76c8526999-rhp.html

[ Last edited by  atomic3d at 5-9-2010 06:00 ]

I place the over/under line at 14 of the 17 facing re-election or running for another office, hence the letter to CL.

Whole thing is a politically motivated joke anyway. As for CL, it is completely unreliable in most burgs...and much of the stuff for sale is usually hot anyway...but funny how the AGs don't give a shit about that.

It also doesn't help that Craig himself is one of those awkward geek types.
He refuses to update or change anything about the company despite advances in technology and techniques in programming. He likes it the way it is to the point of obsession like it was his child.

Basically he doesn't "kotow" to anybody to the point where you could say he is obsessive compulsive about it.

Funny, I thought this had already happened in the States.

Regardless, I have heard the LE has flooded CL with fake ads and stings. There are several other similar sites that have already been mentioned in other posts that do not seem to have attracted the political/police attention that Craig has. I'd be using them instead of CL.

I think previous to this there were threats made against craiglist, but the censoring didn't come into effect till now.

Personally I can't help but feel a little sorry for the U.S., why do their politicians concentrate on such issues when there are so many more important problems plaguing them at the moment. I see many parallels with the U.S. and the Catholic church.

[ Last edited by  atomic3d at 5-9-2010 13:56 ]

that is also what i had heard before. the discussion has been going on already for some months but unzil now they refused to back down. seems like tge pressure grewtoo big now

Well at least on the International sites of Craigslist, the adult section remains.  

In Australia craigslist is pretty lame. I don't know of anyone who uses it to hook up wether freebie or P4P.

Should be temporary until their web traffic takes abit of a hit, loss in revenue, bailout potential, bailout rejected, followed by the resolution where they will require registration view their forums, which should then bring back the adult sections.

I've thought the same - certainly in Melbourne there are not too many chicks posting, and the Erotic section is mostly M4W - guys posting ads for girls...

I recently read a post on another forum from a guy that suggested this was a great option and that there are great quality gals to be had. Needless to say, I'll take that with a grain of salt , but perhaps it is an option...

Maybe I should post an ad in the name of research for 141...

From what I have seen, the ads in the adult section have gone down in numbers (maybe just the ones I have been checking). And they have migrated to Backpage. However, some have posted their ads in a more "discreet" way under the personals section, like W4m or casual encounters.

I am curious why Backpage hasn't got any publicity yet. It seems like they have only targeted CL. There are tons of escorts sites and why don't those get any pressure?

CL could easily just remove the adult section out of the page. Instead, it put "censored" in place of it. I would think that's CL's way to protest about the censorship.

No doubt they'll target sites like backpage next.

Long term the best thing craiglist could do is locate all the hardware and personnel overseas, not a lot the righteous puritans could do then.

Short term they need to start donating to the relevant attorney general's re-election fund. At the bottom of all this I suspect the politicians and cops haven't been getting their cut.

odd how they did this just for the US, other parts of the world seems to have the CENSORED not there

Most will just put it under a different category, the ads will still be there, just disguised a little better, Try the therapeutic section

good call arbdesk

do many of you use craigslist to find girls in the first place?

Not at all odd in the slightest.  

Prostitution is illegal in US, and there's a lot of political capital to be won from persecuting Johns ... so much for the "land of the free"!! ... other places it's not illegal, so no censorship.

I think CL was the place to look for providers unless there is an established local board. Since CL has charged for posting AND required phone verification to post ad, the ads in the adult section have decreased dramatically. I think many of them have gone to Backpage instead.

The land of the free still has a serious racial tension and issue. The land of the free doesn't allow a mosque to be built by the ground zero due to ignorance. The land of the free has waged war in Iraq due to personal agenda from the "elites". The land of the free isn't so free.

dart you hit the nail right on the head. america land of the free is all propaganda

i always thought craigs list was lame and in hk 141 is the best game

most of the ads are fake and even worse set up by cops and law enforcement who want to be on tv

so they can look as cool as eric estrada from CHIPS

it was funny i was watching CNN and some reporter was talking to the owner of craigs list

he's a short dude who likes he does some insane things in his home and when the questioning was too

much for him he just walked away from the camera and the reporter

The nice thing about this, is that eventually somebody needs to invent an Internet system that nobody can block or regulate.  The internet right now is easy to regulate.  A truely free internet would allow for adult listing without removal.

[ Last edited by  chewie10 at 8-9-2010 18:04 ]