CL as Whipping Boy
Interesting Boston Herald Article:
The anti-Craigslist tirade isn’t so much about protecting women as it is about protecting mainstream media. According to some experts, Craigslist has contributed to the demise of newspapers across the country because its free services led to a precipitous drop in classified ad dollars.
Using Craigslist as a whipping boy is a nice distraction, but shutting it down will do nothing to stop prostitution. And while it feels good to have someone else to blame for Brisman’s murder, if we really care about women’s lives, we should be focusing on the social conditions that cause women to choose a virtual form of sex slavery as a career.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view.bg?articleid=1169833
May 4th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Perfectly said..
May 5th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Agreed. Did law enforcement ever go after a newspaper or magazine when a criminal used them to find victims to scam or otherwise harm? How about when a criminal cut out letters from them to make a ransom note? Didn’t think so.
May 5th, 2009 at 10:41 am
That’s exactly what it is. Notice how main stream media keeps pounding with the “Craiglist Killer” story; how about the “Pre-med killer” or the “all american killer”. I hope you put up a good fight. We love and support CL.
May 5th, 2009 at 11:37 am
This is an excellent article that pretty much points out what everyone seems to know except for the politicians and news media.
Now here comes Political DB #3 (#2 and 1 being Tom Dart and Richard Blumenthal respectively) South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, who has now given craigslist 10 days to remove “the portions of the Internet site dedicated to South Carolina and its municipal regions which contain categories for and functions allowing for the solicitation of prostitution and the dissemination and posting of graphic pornographic material.”
Aside from the sheer assininity of that request (any South Carolina resident has net access to a billion other websites a thousand times more graphic than craigslist) ……what about the South Carolina residents who like craigslist just fine the way it is??!?
I hope that craigslist survives what seems to be an orchestrated attack. Expect more and more of these grandstand demands and charges especially from politicians looking to add to their resumes.
Nothing more frightening than a politician who fervently believes he knows what is best for you.
May 5th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
I don’t like smut permeating every aspect of life.
I don’t like the XXX Adult Book Store signs along the highway; how do you explain that to a young child?
I don’t like the dozens of pages of ads under “Massage” in the Yellow Pages; most of them are ‘Coed Massage by Buffy and her college roommate’ or ‘Bruce’s Relaxing Outcalls for Gentlemen’.
I don’t like the ads on broadcast TV in some places for ’satisfying 24 hour outcall massage’ or for products promising “A Sack Full of Confidence”.
I don’t like the ads for the other “Male Enhancement Products” either.
Which major city doesn’t have a free left wing weekly newspaper which is filled with escort ads?
And if anyone thinks the ads on broadcast TV with the scantily clad women writhing around in a reclining posture, fondling the phone cord, suggesting you call a phone number, “it’s free to try”… are advertising something other than prostitution, you win the Naivete Award.
Is there any other website accessible in South Carolina which presents any of the content to which the SC AG reasonably objects?
This action by the AG is clearly not well thought out.
May 6th, 2009 at 6:57 am
My first thought when I saw “craigs list killer” Was Newspaper sales are down, lets attack Craigs and other forms of on-line media . The fact that you at Craigslist Help so many and at no cost to the consumer has a lot of them scared. (but, am sure you know that) Just the idea that they would want YOU to do something about what happened is another way of government helping out the BIG guy, and stomping the little ones. Much like a movie star or celebrity media waits for them to fall then punce. Don’t fall! Keep Craigs going! Thank you
May 6th, 2009 at 8:19 am
The AG may succeed in winning the battle against CL, but I believe the war is already over in terms of how folks rely on the web for everything from information on health and wellness, employment, classified ads, etc. Another thought I have had since I started using CL is what impact it has on big box stores. Certainly CL must cut into sales at stores such as Wal Mart, because folks can trade used goods versus buying new. Many times local papers do not have the huge amount and variety of used goods like CL does. I wonder if the retail establishment is also behind this big push to close CL down.
Personally, I would simply get rid of all porn on CL to shut them up. There are plenty of sites available for that sort of thing. CL is a great place to trade used goods. This helps people save money and also saves space in landfills over time because, as I pointed out, before this big forum existed sellers and buyers couldn’t partner as easily.
Additionally, it seems to me this whole issue is a test for this new ‘net-neutrality’ thing being hatched by Rockefeller in Congress. These people are seething because the internet is causing them to lose control over the masses in terms of THEM being the only source for our purchasing dollars. To them, I say this is so UN-American. The internet has been the single biggest act promoting freedom since freeing the slaves, and using examples of a few bad apples to shut it down doesn’t make sense.
May 6th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Crimes existed before CL was around, shutting down a portion or all of CL will not stop someone that’s determined to do another harm. Am I missing something?
May 6th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Keep up the good work CL!
There is nothing more Democratic than the World Wide Web, and there are few finer examples of that democracy in action than CL.
May 7th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I wonder if any cops and prosecutors have ever looked at the sports pages of a big city newspaper.
The Washington Post sports pages are full of small display ads touting massage parlors. And we all know what services they’re likely offering.
May 10th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Keep your eyes open Craiglist security. Try telling our police that we need better protection for our women, in the form of real human equality, and that involves some extra vitamins with calcium, and supervised testosterone use for our girls during their years of growth during puberty. This looks about 20 years overdue. We’ll get some more peach-fuzz growing up (kind of like acne) and we’ll look much like our brothers and fathers, however the time for some simple and moderate treatments has very much arrived. Time to end the serial rapes and killings, the violence and abuses by both sides, and the simple desperation of our human species, permanently deformed and demented by size dymorphia.
May 13th, 2009 at 9:59 am
If those state AGs really wanted to stop prostitution they’d make unemployment illegal and make it illlegal for any workers to be laid off.
Don’t discontinue the erotic services section, keep it going and keep on doing what you’re doing and start discrediting the politicians who want to shut you down.
May 18th, 2009 at 7:39 am
To the person who doesn’t know how to explain sexually provocative ads to her child. Please take some parenting classes and stop depending upon the government to do the parenting for you. There are other countries where children are continually exposed to explicit sexual content on a daily basis and you know what? There are far less instances of violent sex crimes, kiddy porn and the like. The kids actually grow up to become more responsible adults. Know why? They don’t fear sex as if something quite natural is somehow sinister. Oh and don’t get me started on the fact that there are far less teenage pregnancies and what not. AIDS? You got it, much lower instances.
It is time that Americans pull their collective heads out from their behinds and start to rely on something other than what they think is some guy hanging out on a cloud who is somehow going to strike them down. Further, if you do believe in this guy, you would think that he would be much more displeased that you are doing little to keep women from being violently raped and killed by continuing on with your old worn out morals that do not work and not taking responsibility as a parent for your child’s upbringing.
I seriously commend CL for not only sticking up for freedom of speech but for helping to tear down the walls of this ignorance.
P.S. To the person who suggested giving girls testosterone. You are misinformed as to how hormones work. It has been effectively observed by biologists that testosterone levels are raised due to aggressive acts, not the other way around. Further, testosterone is actually created through high levels of estrogen that is sent to the brain in males but not in females. The estrogen is converted to testosterone in the brain. Hormones do not create nor control behavior alone. If you don’t believe me you may want to open some recent biology books.
May 18th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Dear Jim Buckmater and Craig,
First of all, why on Earth would CL actually agree to take down these “services” from your site while you know full well that the other companies you cite are doing it willie nillie? Have you been sniffing glue?
Let me explain: When the attorneys general start using CL as a whipping boy, you make the claim of First Amendment, and rightfully so. But then like a typical Washingon State resident, you cave under the mildest preasure, enter into an agreement that abridges “your” rights and not a thought about your civic duty of all our rights. Then when one of the southen sharks “senses your cowardice” and comes back for another bite at the apple (as sharks do),… you’re surprised?
And now you whine in your blog like a crybaby?
Look at me. I placed the home addresses, phone number, SSN’s and criminal records of 10,000 police officers on my website. Then promptly got sued by 6 attorneys general, 37 municipalities and 4 counties. But you didn’t see me cave under that pressure. I stood my ground, fought and I won. I do not have the money you have or the attorneys that you enjoy.
What is your excuse?
The way I see this: You were dumb enough to sign into an agreement that every legal scollar knows you didn’t have to enter into. Historians will note that once you start down that self sensorship path, there is no end. Marine biologists will tell you that “sharks” NEVER stop at one bite.
May 19th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Sad, very sad that a politician in one state can run a business in another state…..hey Jim, you gonna give him a paycheck to??!