SC AG McMaster
We look forward to speaking directly with Attorney General McMaster about his concerns, and finding ways to address them without compromising the utility of craigslist for South Carolinians, or anyone’s Constitutional rights. However, we see no legal basis whatsoever for filing a lawsuit against craigslist or its principals and hope that the Attorney General will realize this upon further reflection.
craigslist has been working closely with law enforcement on these very issues, and by all objective measures has decreased misuse dramatically (approximately 90%) since craigslist and 43 attorneys general entered into a joint statement less than 6 months ago. Given the progress that has been made dealing with these tremendously complex issues in a very short time, and the ongoing collaboration between craigslist and law enforcement to make further improvements, we urge Attorney General McMaster to look closely at the facts before proceeding with his threat.
May 5th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
I love CL and hope the christian right does not pervail and take away free speech! Screw them.
May 5th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Awesome response. Way to go craigslist.
May 5th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Once again, a publicity hungry political hack is trying to blame the world’s newest technology for the world’s oldest profession. Perhaps, insread of asking McMasters to ‘look closely at the fact before proceeding with his threat’ you should be asking the voters that elected this illiterate to look closely at the facts before proceeding to the polls.
May 5th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING ON CL.
it is just fine the way it is, FREE and full of FREE SPEECH.
May 5th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
How long before this guy starts a run for SC governor? I’ll bet my next paycheck that it will be in one of the next 2 elections.
May 5th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Well, he just made my job easier come election time. I don’t care who runs against him.. they’ve got my vote.
May 5th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Fuck censorship.
Legalize prostitution.
Thank you, Craigslist.
May 5th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Psychos will always find some way or other to kill women, so I see no reason they shouldn’t be able to use craigslist.
Bloody misogynist murderers.
May 5th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
I happen to live in Massachusetts, where that poor young girl made the mistake of being a “casual enounter.” Whether it’s the “world’s newest technology” or not, no media outlet should provide a forum for the advertisement of prostitution. And then profit from it. For example, this young lady:
http://boston.craigslist.org/nwb/cas/1156536066.html
I’m sure she’s just looking to sit and read Chaucer. Which must have Craigslist management puzzled as to why the she is advertising: “www.lets f- 2night.info” on their website. Except this “casual encounter” actually drops the f-bomb, in case there is any question about the nature of her services.
While I’m sure Craigslist management believes there is absolutely no chance she could end up another victim of foul play, apparently law enforcement authorities in SC do not share your optimism. I suggest that Craigslist legal counsel re-read the AG’s letter, and see that he is not threatening litigation, but prosecution.
So you may want to scratch Hilton Head Island off your vacation list, and stick with West LA.
May 5th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
McMaster is just trying to get his face in front of Americans in an effort to make himself appear to be more relevant than he is. This politics driven blow hard is full of himself and is making himself and the SC law enforcement professionals look like a bunch of jack asses. He IS a jack ass but the law enforcement men and women in SC do not deserve to have an ass like him become their face to the world.
His idiotic comments clearly demonstrate his inability to fathom the legal concepts of which he claims to master and his
May 5th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
McMaster is just trying to get his face in front of Americans in an effort to make himself appear to be more relevant than he is. This politics driven blow hard is full of himself and is making himself and the SC law enforcement professionals look like a bunch of jack asses. He IS a jack ass but the law enforcement men and women in SC do not deserve to have an ass like him become their face to the world.
His idiotic comments clearly demonstrate his inability to fathom the legal concepts of which he claims to master and his threats are without both merit and common sense. McMaster deserves the embarrassment that he is bringing upon himself just as the AG in the Duke “rape” case brought to his neighbors to his north.
This arrogant jackass would best call off his minions before this blows up in his face.
May 5th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
With all the horrific things that go on in this world we have to have a power hungry illiterate worry about this.
It reminds me of another issue that was over dramatized from law enforcement out east.
Michael Phelps doing a bong in a picture.
Get these freaks out of office. Vote them all out.
May 5th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
To Jeff:
I have not seen any evidence that the so called Christian Right has anything to do with this any more than the Liberal Left does. If you have proof please share it. Otherwise keep such remarks to yourself.
May 5th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
he’s running for Gov. What do you expect. This has nothing to do with the Christian Right. It’s McMaster wanting publicity while igoring other issues.
May 5th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Just another distraction for the media to saturate the airwaves with while they spend more of our money with the other hand….Its BS and they know it, you know it, we all know it.
So do us Americans ALL a favor and help us put the point across to them, since we dont have the backing to do it ourselves as individuals, that we are sick of their meddling in our Constitutional Freedoms. After all, the only people we can complain to about things, are the very ones that aren’t listening to us…
File suite against the state for anything you can. Start with harassment and work your way up from there. From my estimation you have plenty of legal ground from Civil, Criminal and all the way up to Constitutional.
You could have a field day regaining ground for Constitutional Freedom on our behalf… And donate any proceeds (From our tax dollars supporting the government defense against our will) to Charity.
May 5th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
NO Surrender!
May 5th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Even though I buy and sell regularly on CL, I for one am very pleased to see the SC AG take a firm stand against the smut that is so prevalent on this website.
And to Jeff #1: don’t drag the Christian faith into this. It doesn’t take a religious person to realize that CL is helping to make pornography and prostitution easier for everyone to access — kids included.
May 5th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
it is not craigs list’s fault for this problem if they get off there asses an call these girls an lock them up they will stop personally i fell it’s there choice and their body and it’s been going on forever
May 5th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Excellent work, Craigslist! We, the benefiting consumer support and appreciate all the work you do, and all the benefits we’ve reaped. Keep it up and thank you!
May 5th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Once again, the media jumps upon a story and twists the facts.
Craigslist doesn’t - and shouldn’t have to - regulate the actions of anyone based upon the moral objections of someone else.
These AGs are public officials and should be at our whim, not the other way around. Contact your congressmen, contact your AG, contact your governor! Tell these people to STOP imposing their supposedly good intentioned BS on you!
May 5th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
I am glad to see that Craigslist is fighting thing that would negitivly impact it. We use “the list” ALL the time and don’t want to see it go.
May 5th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Do not change anything. Let these anti-free speech comrades prosecute you. You will win, and you will get a great PR.
May 5th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
[…] responded on their blog without saying […]
May 5th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
I love CL, and everything it stands for, including the flagging by the community of inappropriate/illegal/prohibited postings.
Thank you, CL, for existing.
Please continue to persevere.
May 6th, 2009 at 1:06 am
I think this is an inside job. I have seen the amount of real or fake prostitution ads increase dramatically over the last couple of weeks. Notice how many others who are not part of the establishment also being attacked these days besides CL. This is part of the fascism being ushered in. It has nothing to do with left or right. This is an elite power grab. Any tool that allows people to deal directly with each other and bypass the corporate middlemen is a threat to the establishment. This CL attack has Fascism and Inside Job written all over it.
We need to support you CL. How can we act as your PR team? Use your users to help you! Issue the orders and we will respond! We will be your political street team if you ask us to be!
May 6th, 2009 at 1:38 am
It is individual’s liberty to sell sex.
So called “free country” does not allow it, while supporting other trivial liberty issues of personal choice.
May 6th, 2009 at 3:45 am
[…] Craigslist and 43 attorneys general entered a joint statement six months ago as Buckmaster has repeatedly noted. Most of Craigslist is comprised of folks just trying to sell run-of-the-mill items, rent […]
May 6th, 2009 at 4:04 am
@Dan: about that SC Governor thing -
http://greenvillecountyscusa.com/blog/sc-ag-stop-craigslist-erotic-ads-now/
May 6th, 2009 at 4:46 am
Hmm,
It’s a sad state of affairs if that’s the only commodity a girl feels she has left to peddle. But no one wants to look at tha issue; not Craigslist, not the AG, nor the members of the community who partake in such services.
As far as CL making porn available to kids? Well, if you have kids try to actually be an involved parent. It’s not the internet’s responsibility to parent your child for you!
May 6th, 2009 at 7:11 am
Hey, McMaster - why don’t you investigate how many of your fellow politicians use the services of, shall we say, craigslist advertisers?
May 6th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Freedom of the press protects Craigs List. Period.
May 6th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Interesting.
Jim’s preaching to the choir on this blog. All but two commentors are craigslist junkies. The fact is, craigslist IS the problem. And if they shut it down, no big loss…
ttp://tinyurl.com/does-jim-think-were-stupid
May 6th, 2009 at 9:36 am
You’ve never seen the newspaper being blamed for a murder or rape or whatever even though people are able to post their “services” in these papers as well. Don’t tell me it’s never happened either. There’s just no record of it.
It’s a lot easier to catch determined criminals with an easily accessible online record as opposed to previous methods. I am excited for SC to finally step out of the stone age and move onto more important things.
Stay strong Craigslist defending people’s rights to post and freedom of speach! thanks again for your awesome site!
May 6th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Do people really want law enforcement to stop enforcing laws? If the law in your state says “you can’t do this” and you don’t agree, get the law changed!
CL is doing exactly what it should to stay in business. The www allows businesses to extend everywhere; literally! So websites must work to comply with laws from different states in the US, as well as countries around the world.
YOU’RE not putting anything on the line by demanding a third party defy the law. CL has skin in the game (pun intended) and something to lose. If you don’t like what happens in your state, change the laws!
May 6th, 2009 at 9:50 am
I don’t think my last post was posted so I’ll make this one short.
CL is not held responsible for the actions or content written by others on their site. If there is any illegal content in question it should be CL responsibility to review and remove the content if found illegal. CL should not have to remove anything from their site, it just should not be abused.
There is prostitutes that use AT&T phones to call customers should AT&T be forced to remove pay phones or not allow customers to have cell phones because they use them to conduct illegal business? NO. Storefronts sometimes have prostitutes in front of their stores after hours not knowing or wanting this. Should the stores be forced to shut down and move because of this? NO. And neither should CL.
There is other sites Fling, AdultFriendFinder, LocalSex and others (Google it) that offer a medium for online prostitution that are not being held accountable for what CL is being held for and their SOUL reason for theses other sites is for finding sex free no paid for.
May 6th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Selling sex is illegal.Cl allows those that sell sex to advertise on CL. Porn mags allow the same to be done in the back of the mags. The difference is you must pay to see the ads in Playboy, playgirl, hustler. Where on CL you see them for free. The soft porn is protected under free speech. Should CL have the same protection. Or better yet a small fee to paid by the viewer so if they want to peruse the listing they can, and it will be password protected.
May 6th, 2009 at 11:04 am
I wish CL would grow some balls and stand up to these NAZIs. This is clearly a first amendment issue and by folding, CL does great harm to civil liberties.
May 6th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Hold the line! Don’t give into these power hungry SOBs who just create the latest witch hunt whenever it suits them and scare the idiots into surrender more freedoms. This is a slippery slope that once you cave into will ultimately be the end of CL. DON’T LET THAT HAPPEN!
May 6th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
I hope Craig’s List is able to maintain it’s position as it currently is.
May 6th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Don’t change a damn thing just because a few politicians trying to get re-elected want to send a sternly written letter. Chances are these people don’t even know what CL does. Stand up to these guys and give them an Internet 101: People post things on websites. That doesn’t mean the website is responsible for what people post. End of story.
May 6th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
@jammer - People posting in erotic services do pay a fee. Try visiting to the site sometime.
May 6th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
I am very happy to hear that CL is so far not caving to the demands of big brother.
It is a very sad day when the very people who are elected by we the people to protect our rights, fight so hard and waste so many of our hard earned tax dollars to take away our rights extended to us by the constitution.
It amazes me who very little these politicians know of or care about our constitution, how on earth did they ever make it through school?!
I post in the erotic services section, and I will continue to do so. I will also use my right to vote to remove the people who would like me to give up my rights REMOVED from the offices they currently hold.
As in…. they are FIRED.
May 6th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Mcmaster is an idiot. What law school did he go to? Havana’s? What a moron.
May 6th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
If they remove the Erotic Services section the people who post there will just post in another section. This was a user-requested addition to clean up the other categories for people who didn’t want to see these type of ads.
If the AG wants to shut down prostitution, prosecute the hookers and johns and quit grandstanding.
May 6th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
This is all about money.
CL sees that sites such as backpage as making a lot of cash for charging adult service providers to list, like backpage.com so the jump on the bandwagon
if you run a mainstream site such as CL you should not post adult media on it, you are stuffing porn done poeple mounths as such
whould it not be sensiable for cl to remove these sections altogther, let porn site peddle porn, cl should just be a simple classifieds site, WITH NO ADULT RELEATED MEDIA CHANNELS
May 6th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
I am fully backing Craig’s List. Law enforcement should do what they are paid to do, and stop trying to push responsibility to others. Craig’s List is not a law enforcement agency, nor should it be. I see no reason that Craig’s List should have to foot the bill for enforcing prostitution laws. The worlds oldest profession has been around before Craig’s List, and no doubt will continue longer after. Perhaps we should just legalize it; it’s a victimless crime anyways.
May 6th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
TO Jammer53:
Guy as we already know CL won as of today. But you need to notice there is no difference in how you advertise prostitution when it comes to paid advertising or free advertising, its still illegal. And CL is not advertising it as a Magazine does they are just providing a medium for someone to advertise it.
If i go post ads on the police station for prostitution maybe they will force themselves to take down their own walls.
May 6th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Had a comment up earlier, guess it got deleted. Nice work folks, whoever is responsible for that. So much for hearing comments and opinions.
I agree prosecuting CL is wrong. I do believe in Free Speech, but I also think CL could do a LOT more to keep spammers, scammers and prostitutes of the site. Designating folks to delete scam messages, somany of which are OBVIOUS scams and prostitutes would go a long way towards cleaning up a lot of sections that are becoming overrun with this kind of stuff.
What would be wrong with having better flagging and policing BY THE COMMUNITY of the sites?
May 7th, 2009 at 9:05 am
I hear Liberals screaming “Freedom of speech, Freedom of….whatever we WANT!”. Well, if YOUR desires and FREEDOMS Step on MY Constitutional rights or violate LAW - you have a BIG problem…If you violate me, then you have ME to contend with. If you voilate the law then you have the authorities to contend with. Society is FULL of RULES, REGULATIONS, LAWS. Thats just the way it is folks. We found out Millenia ago that some people will take life to extremes and trample all over other people up to and including taking their LIFE.. like that dirtbag did in Boston. I dont care if that girl was a prostitute, makes NO DIFFERENCE whatsoever. Craigslist is RIFE with this crap. I think we would all be shocked if we could wave a magic wand and see how many people have actually been “Harmed” because of the EROTIC section of this list. I have absolutely nothing against Craigslist - I use it quite often to find things, look for pets etc. But the majority of Law Abiding citizens are NOT going to turn a blind eye to this. ALL the states that are talking about “Prosecution” are asking is “Safeguards” to STOP this abuse. Its ONE LESS Avenue that can be used. Law Enforcement has enough on its hands without having to add CyberCrime Investigations and experts in their departments or reading the daily craigslist to see what stupid young girl is trying to find a John - who could very easily kill her….just like the Dirtbag in Boston not long ago…and God knows what else. For the record, I am NOT a Liberal nor someone who wishes to see Government more into our lives. But I support taking away a TOOL used by criminals and people who will use it for illegal purposes. I’m also sick of idiots saying its a victimless crime - you have NO IDEA what the H*** you are saying by making that statement. Clowns and DumbA*****… thats it. There is no possible way to explain to a DIMWIT what kind of victimization prostitution creates. Fools…we are surrounded by fools.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
there are some activities that humans in every society, everywhere, for all recorded history engage in.
one of them is sex for sale.
all efforts to stop this activity are fruitless.
those that believe that they have any hope of stopping prostitution are truly the fools we are surrounded by.
May 7th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
I don’t understand why the AG is going after craigslist. Newspapers all over the country publish questionable ads all the time. Be consistant — ig you go after cragslist, Myspace, Facebook etc then go after all the questionable ads….
May 8th, 2009 at 7:15 am
It’s a whack-a-mole problem and squishing one mole doesn’t do a damned thing. The demand side will rule, and the ads will pop up under other categories. I’m thinking jobs/skill’d trade
Stick to your guns, Craig, you’re a lightening rod right now, but we’ve finally got an administration with a balanced head on it’s shoulder and the constitution needs to be defended. TOFTT
May 10th, 2009 at 5:36 am
I am totally perplexed by South Carolina’s actions. They found this great way to track down and crack down on prostitutes and they are throwing legal threats around. I don’t get it. Shouldn’t they be thankful? Threatening craigslist isn’t going to solve their problem.
May 14th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Jim, whenever you are harrassed by a state official you should take down the state listings and post this in its place:
===============
To our users in [insert name of state here]
Recently, one of your officials, [insert name of officer, official, judge here], has decided to take legal action against us.
We here at Craigslist run our services for the most part freely. While a few sections do charge for ads - such as job listings in Manhattan - most of our sections are free, and operate as a public service.
We get nowhere near the money we could if we were to run Craigslist for as much money as others would run it.
We do not have the time, nor the money to fight a legal battle with every official who wants a headline. There are too many of them.
And it is not just over Erotic Services. We have had to fight in court because a few boneheads posted rental ads which discriminated, in violation of our terms of services.
We do not have the money to hire people to read every ad.
We do not have the money to fight in court.
So, since the state of [insert name of state here] has a problem with Craigslist, we will shut down Craigslist for [insert name of state here]. Please return to buying newspapers and paying for ads in the [insert name of state here] .
This policy will continue until the state of [insert name of state here] comes to its sense and passes indemnifying legislation protecting Craigslist from legal harrassment.
You can contact [insert name of the officer, offical, or judge] and thank him for his stalwart defense of the public interest.
[insert official’s name, address, phone, and email here]
And you can contact your legislature to let them know of your approval.
[insert name, emails, and phone numbers of legislators]
Until then, please resume what you were formerly doing.
Craigslist is now closed in the state of [insert name of state].
And again, be sure to thank [insert name of the officer, offical, or judge] for protecting you.
Regards.
Jim Buckmaster.
May 18th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Swabbie:Duh we can tell your not a liberal, you don’t have to tell us like we are your dumb friends. Once again a person who is confused and says the tool is the criminal.
Don’t give me that crap of “get the law changed”, Thats BS. With the criminals who are running this country into the ground- Like they would help. Makes me sick that my family has defended this country since its beginning. (including myself)
I’m sick of the people who call themselves liberal or conservatives
I”M AN AMERICAN NOT A PARTY OR SINGLE IDEA! People who are sick and twisted will find a way to do their sick and twisted things. You are a fool if you think any changes to CL will stop them.
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:27 am
This is supposed to be a free country. We all are supposed to have constitutional rights. That is a fact that not enough people are putting enough emphasis on. If some slutty whore wants to have sex for money that’s her business and it is not the laws business to get involved. The truth is that the US government (OUR government) is too big and powerful and we the people need to SHUT them down. They can make up any law at any given time and enforce that law at their discretion and it is we the people that are allowing this great injustice to continue. A perfect example is prohibition, our government decided one day: oh….let’s just make alcohol illegal because it is bad for you. Really it is none of their F@#$%ng business and back in the day the people stood up and fought the law. Yea some people died but now we can enjoy alcohol, because we fought. We need to fight now!!! This is our land and if we want alcohol we should have it. If we want drugs then we should have them and if we want to get paid for our sexual labors then we have to have that right. THAT’S LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. And that doesn’t mean that the government should be taxing. And personally I could give a rats a$$ if you disagree. Be very care full about sticking your nose into people’s personnel business because one of these days “HOPEFULLY SOON” it just might get busted. We the people need to make a stand and now. Before OUR government gets so big and powerful that nothing or no one can stop them from doing whatever they want, we owe that to our children!
April 28th, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Good article! Go CL!