Manual Screening Matters
craigslist is committed to being socially responsible, and when it comes to adult services ads, that includes aggressively combating violent crime and human rights violations, including human trafficking and the exploitation of minors. We are working intensively as I write this with experts and thought leaders at leading non-profits and among law enforcement on further substantive measures we can take. We are profoundly grateful to those offering us their expert assistance in this regard.
One of the many recommendations we hear from experts at NGOs, in law enforcement, and from politicians and regulators, is that craigslist is uniquely positioned to lead by example, and to exert influence over other advertising venues to follow in its footsteps. Indeed, as we intensify our efforts to make further forward progress, we continue to be hopeful that other companies will take an interest in adopting measures we have had in place for years.
craigslist implemented manual screening of adult services ads in May of 2009. Since that time, before being posted each individual ad is reviewed by an attorney licensed to practice law in the US, trained to enforce craigslist’s posting guidelines, which are stricter than those typically used by yellow pages, newspapers, or any other company that we are aware of. More than 700,000 ads were rejected by those attorneys in the year following implementation of manual screening, for falling short of our guidelines. Our uniquely intensive manual screening process has resulted in a mass exodus of those unwilling to abide by craigslist’s standards, manually enforced on an ad-by-ad basis.
Manual screening matters. We are proud of the difference it has made, along with the other measures we have taken. However, there is no shortage of US companies that have not yet implemented manual screening for this ad category, or any other of the steps that craigslist has taken, and that have not yet exhibited any interest in combating human trafficking and the exploitation of minors, and other forms of violence and human rights violations.
One of those companies, interestingly, is eBay — despite their touting their sites as a “family friendly” alternatives to craigslist. In response to criticism about their management of one such site, LOQUO.com, where eBay offers tens of thousands of exceptionally hardcore pornographic ads explicitly offering sex for sale, yesterday eBay blocked access to all US IP addresses, presumably so that eBay investors, journalists, and other interested parties could not see. All the ads are still up, and can be viewed via proxy IPs.
Techcrunch has further coverage on these developments, and notes that eBay plans to eventually take down these types of listings as part of its “process of ensuring all of its sites are in alignment with its family-friendly values.” I’ll make a friendly wager that rather than taking down such listings, which eBay has aggressively marketed over the years to a very high level of profitability, upselling their users to higher and higher fees, eBay will instead soon sell their “non family friendly” sites such as this one to the highest bidder.
Back in the US, another company that does not manually screen adult ads, or take any of the other preventative measures that craigslist takes, is Village Voice Media’s backpage.com. When craigslist implemented manual screening of adult ads in May 2009, adult ads on backpage spiked by a factor of 5-10x, and you can see from the graph below that their page view traffic, which was flat until we implemented manual screening, more than quadrupled in the year following.
In addition to public nudges such as this blog entry, we’d like to offer our help to companies such as eBay and Backpage that may be interested in developing best practices. CEOs of such companies can email me directly, or you can drop us an email at legal@craigslist.org.
August 20th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Jim and Craigslist are to be commended for their efforts. To the extent governmental authorities, hypocrites of all stripes and the rabble wish to crack down on advertising of sexual services, they would be better off focusing their efforts on developing an appetite for responsible advertising practices on Backpage and the eBay site. Even better, they should focus on monitoring and demanding responsibile advertising practices on eros.com (and similar sites, including bigdoggie.net, utopiaguide.com and ozzyssandbox.com) which actually facilitate the majority of commercial sex transactions.
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:12 pm
I am appalled by the nude pictures that r posted in the personal ads. It amazes me that porn sites on the net have an age requirement but CL does not!! Kids get on CL looking for things. There needs to be a way to make the pics unavailable to persons under the age of 18. CL needs to keep a close eye on their personal pages.
August 24th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
The AG’s are doing an end run to censer what we can say and read.
They put presser on Topix to allow Law enforcment access to the IP address of posters and now they are going after Craigslist.
Where will they stop? Once they get websites to allow them to censer the material that is posted are they going to publish an approved list of reading material?
Stop them in their tracks before they gain too much control!
August 24th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
i want to tell you to keep fighting for the freedom of people to engage and interact as they wish.
August 25th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Dear Jim,
Your efforts to eradicate exploitation of minors through Craigslist’s adult services are certainly commendable. It sounds as though your manual screening has made a difference. However, wouldn’t it be in the best interest of the scores of exploited children, if online adult services were to be discontinued altogether? The private nature of online shopping lends itself all to well to the continued supply and demand for this heinous abuse of young people. Discontinuing all adult services would cut into the profits for such companies of yours; but I believe it would be the most socially responsible course to take.
August 25th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
I just saw a report on CNN about your adult section..I hope you don’t bow down again to this nonsense..The report says that women are being abused..Is this CLs fault? If the women are involved in illegal practices,aren’t they the ones who should take responsibility for what they are doing ? I don’t see where CL is responsible for anyone or for anything that anyone does from postings on the site..It’s time for adults to take responsibility for their own actions…
August 26th, 2010 at 4:36 am
I love our constitution and once had a glimmer of hope that the Internet was going to be the place where “Freedom of The Press” was going to take a strong hold. I think we need to fight for that right because this may be our last chance to truly excercise it. After all, those “free” radio waves, and tv waves, newspaper editorials, demonstrations, and phone conversations have all proved that they are not free at all. People have paid dearly at some point just to find out they don’t have the rights they thought they had.
Isn’t time we stop griping about who’s selling what and start to apppreciate the fact that we have the right to do it? If we don’t treasure it and practice our 2nd ammendment rights it we’ll lose them. We are dangerously close right now, especially after the Bush administration.
August 26th, 2010 at 7:27 am
I noticed this morning that Amber Lyon did an attack piece on CNN lamenting all the “victims” of criagslist. They have the video on their site. I find it unfortunate that “the press” is fast becoming one of the biggest advocates for internet censorship which is precisely what this intimidation campaign amounts to. How dare you permit clearly illegal use of words like “young”, “Innocent”, and “fresh”! Such words scream child sex slave and you have an obligation to use your mind-reading skills (I assume you can read minds at least as well as the mainstream press) and god-like power to summarily dismiss such individual expression as being unfit for publication in the “land of the free”. If there is anything that America stands for it’s the ideal that bothersome speech should never see the light of day.
Anti-prostitution groups see craigslist as public enemy number one. As you can see by the coverage of this particular issue, they paint all prostitutes as victims because, otherwise, who would care? Secondly, they make claims that “a lot” of prostitutes are children for precisely the same reason. Inflaming public emotion is the name of the game and everything else is secondary (including your right to facilitate the public’s right to free speech). When it comes to the war on prostitution and other forms of sex work, conservatives and liberals are bedfellows. That pretty much makes sex workers fair game for almost any form of attack. That criagslist isn’t cooperating in that mission makes it a very serious thorn in the side of those who are trying to rid the world of strippers, porn, and prostitution.
I’m not a big advocate of martyrdom and I know craigslist wasn’t established to sacrifice itself to a torch wielding mob of self-serving politicians and self-righteous cable news blowhards, but I am hoping that craigslist changes its position on this issue and refuses to give up any further ground in this witch hunt. Trying to please moral crusaders and petty tyrants just whets their appetite for more.
August 28th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Craigslist adult, I don’t get the hoopla especially from Anderson Cooper group. In may medium size town there is the weekly paper, here in Wilmington De. it is called Sparks. I am willing to bet in the back of the paper is ads for dating by the hour. The folks out there who are targeting Craigs list should play fair and go after theses weekly papers not to mention the yellow pages for escort services. I doubt that all theses girls are being forced into prostitution, being underage and giving there money to their pimps. It seems that those who complain the loudest are the ones that are probaly using the adult services. Next it will be Craigs responsibilty to ensure that all sales for mercahdise placed on Craigs list has to be verified as legitament and not stolen.
I just think it is unfair to target Craigs list.
William
August 28th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Nothing bothers me more than to see someone post comments about being “appalled” by the nude pictures posted on facebook personals. Has that person ever heard of good parenting, instead of pushing that responsiblity on someone else? It’s all a matter of choices. Although I may not like the nude pictures myself, it’s a matter of choice when it comes to me. I can choose not look or the other, but I am an adult. I put filters on my childs computer so she cannot see things like this. These parents need to be a little more responsible and start exercising more censorship and restrictions in the home before passing judgement on other companies like Craigslist. Wise up! If you care for your child and not having them able to look at these type of offensive photos, then learn more about the blocking filters that are out there and that you an purchase to keep them from being able to see stuff like this….for crying out loud. Be a good parent.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:19 am
The forces behind the attempts to control Craiglist Adult Services clearly know little of the real world. To assume that removing the Adult Services ads would magically eliminate the abuse of anyone is absurd.
The FACT is that MOST of the people who post on Adult Services are of legal age and independent. I should know, I am one of those women.
I CHOOSE to do this, I am not coerced by anyone nor am I compelled by any tragic issues other than the need to pay my rent during this fierce economy.
I certainly do believe that human trafficking, especially of minors, is appalling and should not be tolerated yet there is no significant evidence of these crimes being perpetrated via Craiglist.
Miss Lyon is clearly an attention seeking journalist who has chosen to attack CL without thoroughly investigating the entire story.
The reality is that if Craiglist and the many other adult services sites were to be removed as an option for the many men and women who do need to make this choice for any reason they will be forced to the streets.
This is where the most abuse occurs. Pimps prevail and drug and alcohol abuse is rampant.
The men and women of CL Adult Services are more often independent people who can control who they see and how because these sites afford them the opportunity to have some autonomy in this work.
Sadly there will always be someone being used and abused in the world, sexually or otherwise. In regard to the selling of unwilling adults and children we also need to start to examine why there is a market for this not just who provides it. The supply is met because there is a demand.
Miss Lyon wreaks havoc on the world of many independent sex workers in the chase to be seen as some form of crusader of the innocent. She didn’t stop for a minute to consider the entire story and the negative repercussions that are possible for those of us who are just trying to survive right now.
I’m old enough to make my own choices, clearly of sound mind and right now I live in a bit of fear for what I will do next if this option is taken from me. I may be FORCED into far more dangerous and uncontrollable circumstances thanks to Amber Lyon and the misguided zealots she has chosen to believe.
September 1st, 2010 at 6:42 am
I compliment you on screening. Shows that you care about the many social institutions, such as American families and Marriages that are in jeopardy in our society.
September 1st, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Good call, policing yourself. Would that all businesses took responsibility for their actions. We would have less reason to expect government intervention in our lives and businesses. Less government, more liberty. Thank you.
September 3rd, 2010 at 5:22 pm
It is a shame that government throughout the USA does not have the balls to make brothels legal. This would take away traffic for adult services from various web sites that you’ve cited and in return, deliver a revenue stream that could be taxed rather than it being part of the “cash economy” that pays no income tax.
It is interesting to note that in cities around the world where prostitution is legal, there is little to no advertising for the services of girls in the adult services section of craigslist.
Oh, and in those places where it is legal, families and marriages function as normal. In America, it is illegal and the rate of divorce is the highest in the world.
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:08 pm
Nudity is nothing to be scared of nor should it be considered taboo to children. You can either shelter your kids so that they take as long as you did to see the world as it really is, or you can prepare them for it.
Prostitution has been around for centuries and it should be legalized. There are only reasons to legalize it, none to keep it as is.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:19 am
Will someone please explain to me how censoring Craigslist will stop adult services and the related abuses? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:23 am
I was pleased to discover the now censored adult services section on Craig’s 6 months ago but knew it was only a matter of time until it would be closed. If anything having the ads be public and specific would tend to cut down on the truly immoral activities of coerced prostitution or use of children. In other words the Craig’s List adult services section was a step in the right direction towards bringing the industry out of the shadows and into the realm of normal human behavior.
If we could only harness that fear and hatred of all things sexual by the politicians seeking favor with right wing voters or the neurotics who are afraid that their apparently unsupervised kids may someday see a naked person. Actually I get the politicians, they gain by having found an easy target. The outraged moralists are harder to understand. Think of how much progress could be made with hunger or the need for better schools and education if the time and resources spent hounding Craig’s were spent in those directions instead.
Craig’s I was sorry to see you cave like this.
September 4th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Craigslist has ironically lost any iota of respect it deserved by removing the adult services section. How pathetic that a site would cave in to such ridiculous and unfounded claims made by the paranoid, ignorant, hypocritical minority. No one supports child trafficking or child exploitation, but the fact of the matter is that any law enforcement case involving posts about children on craigslist were not posted in the adult services section! Talk about irony! They were heavily coded and posted in random sections like “household” and “garage sale.” It’s not much different from the way animal breeders (which are forbidden on craigslist) post not in the pets section, but in every other “for sale” section on the site! Craigslist has set a precedent of the most dangerous and worse kind by its most recent actions. Congratulations. I hope all those who are so adamant about the government intruding in our lives and who hold sacred the constitution and first amendment are happy now. You don’t even understand your own hypocrisy and ignorance enough to see you are fighting against your own best interests. What morons.
September 4th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
CL, Shame on you. Out of fear, you have backed down. Cl is not responsible for human trafficking, the traffickers are. We pay federal taxes and empower people to keep these types of things from going on.
Second, read Maria’s post. For all of the “responsible journalism” performed by Anderson Cooper and the like, how many users of the CL adult services section have they spoken with? People of America stop blaming the story of the week for our woes. CL is not the problem, prostitution is not the problem, the problem is that most of you allow your thoughts to be controlled by what you see in the media instead of doing personal, unbiased research into something and making you own decision. I had used it several times, and now as a result, I will use other services if I need to find a woman who is willing to exchange my money for her time. What we decide to do with that time is personal and not anybodys business except for me and her.
CL, you dealt a blow to freedom in the name of monetary gain. Shame on you.
September 4th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
I applaud Craigslist for holding out this long. Law enforcement should prosecute any juveniles that are on adult sites and come down really hard
on any adults that post juveniles on there.
I encourage CL to continue to allow consenting adults to enjoy their site. Other sites are not being targeted like CL is.
September 4th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
cl didn’t invent, nor did it enable trafficking.
20+ years ago, when i was a kid, my mother used to drill it into my head to never go anywhere alone because girls like me disappeared and were sold in the white slave market ALL THE TIME, NEVER TO BE HEARD FROM AGAIN.
cl gave the police someplace to find these victims.
before cl, there were no RESCUED victims of trafficking. EVER.
cl enabled RESCUE because the pigs would accidentally stumble across a few of these victims while looking for scantily clad women they could harass on cl.
when your teenage child disappears, the police just file a report.
anybody who has ever had a teenager run away knows the cops WILL NOT look for them. NOT AT ALL. .. they were not really looking for them on cl either… but FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, victims of traffickers were being found.
now they will be lost forever again but you wont hear their stories because they won’t be given a chance to tell them.
cl was the ONLY website that actually had measures in place to help le identify the people who were posting ads. …. i use a prepaid anonymous visa gift card on EVERY SINGLE ESCORT AD SITE but you couldnt use one of those on cl.
its a sad day. . the newspapers and the politicians care more about money then our children… not exactly a newsflash that will shock anyone, but still pretty sad.
it’s not like the newspapers are going to get people back to their classifieds section anyway…. it’s too late…. . they lost that revenue forever, due to their own greed but now, your children will be lost forever too… again.
because traffickers wont pay $150+ week to advertise in the newspaper classifieds and even if they did, the newspapers wouldnt be able to identify who placed the ad.
September 4th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
@amanda
how about you keep a close eye on your kid ?
craigslist isn’t being paid to babysit.
September 4th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Get ready for more of this adult advertisements to trickle down into “regular” topics such as “Strictly Platonic” “casual encounters” “women/men seeking women/men” we might even see them in “financial” as they will have financial problems now “lessons” sex lessons hmm “therapeutic” here comes the massage we might even be lucky enough to catch some in the “free” section.
I just want to say thank you CL for moving this stuff out of one controlled area into many uncontrolled areas. And if they move to the free section i thank you even more. On top of this i want to say thank you for making them damn girls get off the internet and back on the streets where they belong its about time someone does something. im tired of having to open up CL or Facebook to get a piece of ass I want to be able to walk outside and get it in public.
Also i just want everyone to know that it is a good thing to see everyone listening to the media and reporters now days because they are sworn to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth…you guys knew that right? and thank you CL for taking the time to work with the police on this matter because they were also getting upset that they could no longer blackmail women on the streets because well…they moved to your site…now with this officially shut down they can go back to free blackmail blow jobs that they deserve….it was hard, you know, them having to blow each other and all.
September 4th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Can we confirm that actual human and sex trafficking is happening on craigslist or other sites?
It looks like the people on craigslist are just women that are making money from escorting. They range in age from 21+ to 50+ if you look at the pictures.
It just seems that politicians are legislating morality. It looks like craigslist is easy sex for some people, so that has to stop according to the politicians.
And they masquerade it as human trafficking.
September 4th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Going after exploitation of minors, OK. Going after human trafficking, OK. Those are crimes where people are definitely hurt. But what craigslist has expunged, under pressure from politicians pandering to the social right, are ads for erotic services between independent, consenting adults. Despite what Jim would like to imply in this post, the ads that have flooded over to backpage have NOT been for exploitation of minors or human trafficking. It is a specious argument at best, and a blatant falsehood at worst.
Ideas like those in Janet Northway’s reply, above, are as misguided and naive as prohibition or outlawing abortion. It’s not going away — the only question is whether it will be safe or not.
Until recently, craigslist has been a haven of safety for these young women by allowing them to get off the streets and away from pimps and corrupt cops. Luckily, the Internet is still open enough that alternatives can easily crop up for this market. But the way craigslist has folded under this pressure does not bode well for the future of digital freedom.
I applaud craigslist for replacing the category on their homepage with the word “censored” instead of simply removing it. At least someone at your organization still has the guts to let it be known this is being done under protest.
Unfortunately this is what happens in election years in socially restrictive countries such as Saudi Arabia, China and the United States.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
I was here at the beginning. Thank you for that. But this is the end?
You caved. You should have gone offshore and told the USgov to stick it up their hypocritical killing machine asses.
In my mind C now stands 4 COWARDS!
September 5th, 2010 at 12:21 am
Are all 17 of us, er, um them, up for re-election this fall? Women are represented in what % of the states as AG? of these 17? Many women are tragically exploited, doubtlessly more so but in another way near election time. We can wait until after the vote for this to blow over with not one woman or child being any safer and no net loss in money made by exploiters or safe freelance sex workers.
September 5th, 2010 at 12:39 am
I am a woman who is NOT abused! By placing ads on Craigslist, I am an adult and fully aware of the risks I take. I am a business woman when it comes down to it. This silly jaunt into some ineffective foray that hurts women - punishes women like me - more than anyone else - is just a show of ridiculousness. Men who are going to abuse women and children are going to continue doing it with or without Craigslist. I have appreciated Craigslist for years as an open forum where, as a single mom, I could command respect in my profession. There is no point in taking this venue away from women like us or the gentlemen who enjoy the services we provide.
September 5th, 2010 at 4:16 am
Whatever happened to the first ammendment to our constitution? Anyone ever hear of Freedom of Speech? Although we should protect our young, CL has nothing compared to all the explicit websites from around the country and the world that no government seems to want to CENSOR.
I am very disappointed to see CL cave in to government pressures, rather than standing up for our rights to free speech, oh and also for some of us who frequented the adult services section, the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.
September 5th, 2010 at 10:40 am
I have not visited the adult services section (although I am on Craigslist daily) and do not intend to visit it. That being said, I sure hope they do not remove it. There is something very reassuring about Craigslist remaining true to its original and important Raison d’être as I understand it. PLEASE do not shut that section down, and please continue to put forward your ideas which align with many of us out here in the ethernet-with all the gov’t crackdowns and civil liberties disappearing without comment-you are one of the bastions of free-free speech, free to promote unconventional ideas-free for me to access and free couches! I was delighted to discover you years ago and remain delighted to be a proud Craiglister!
September 5th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Please don’t cave to the AGs, CL. Not sure it was the wisest thing to put up the censored tag — after, all, how will you be able to return to listing again, say that you got rid of the censor? — but you must keep sticking it to the right wing. We have no choice, or we will we will continue a 40 year drift rightward…
September 5th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
By closing the adult section, you have forced the pervs into the legit job and gig section. They are now over running the talent section which has been used all these years by real actors for real jobs. and if anyone remembers why craigslist was started, thats what it was about. getting gigs to actors. I now have to sift through such garbage, to find nothing. Just try look at what is being put on OC talent. Men offering rides, men offering to pay bills, men wanting blow job videos, men wanting to take women shopping as long as they video themselves in the dressing room! And craigslist, you are not doing anything about this! However, you removed my ad that I clearly wrote your policy with a link to your policy to remind others what is permitted. And guess what? you removed my ad! Yes! you removed your own policy from this page, and have allowed the adult section to take over and hide in talent! Thats just SICK! I dont care what others do, and believe it is safer to have an adult section to seperate from mainstream ‘family’ sections. PLEASE put the adult section back on and get them out of the sections I go to!
September 5th, 2010 at 9:57 pm
I reviewed the US Department of Justice (DOJ) site for information underlying the allegations made by Malika Saada Saar that 100 to 300 thousand American children are sexually exploited annually. There are no data supporting the allegation. Moreover the DOJ reports basically indicate that foreign born children and women brought into the country illegally are at risk for sexual exploitation in the US but are unable to provide numbers. It is shameful that Ms Saar and the 17 State AGs seem more intent on embellishing their reputations rather than addressing the much more important issue of the economic crisis for women choosing prostitution to sustain themselves.
September 6th, 2010 at 2:19 am
I would like to bring this VERY important issue up as well. Some of us do actual , real massage but simply advertise where we get the most responses. Also, it is now hard to get CL to even approve a Therapeutic Massage ad , such as mine are. So, it is hurting legitimate massage as well. I have been a real Massage Therapist for many years and CL advertising had helped me maintain my business. I am educated and furthering my education more, but now I am in danger of losing my car, my home and all I have been working for. I am also a single mom and never relied on anyone else to help me. I have advertised for 3 years on Cl and not once have I offered an illegal service to anyone, therapeutic massage only. I was a regular Cl advertiser and been celibate for years, so it is wrong to lump everyone into one group or label people.
I also agree with the others, this is a disaster especially during our recession.
People talk about divorce and the decline of marriages, this is not caused by CL either. Having regular, therapeutic only massage covers the human touch need that is missing in many marriages and in most cases regular massage saves many marriages and keeps men from going to hookers or having affairs with the secretary at the office.
Having real massage and other services actually keep the men away from children for the most part as well.
September 6th, 2010 at 5:42 am
Granted, I don’t want Pebbles growing up to be a prostitute. However, If I did not do my job as a parent and she did find herself in that line of work, I would want her to have a safe means of advertisement and put herself at minimal risk. Getting rid of the adult section of CL won’t stop prostitution in the least, but it makes things more dangerous for the people in prostitution.
September 6th, 2010 at 6:10 am
The 1st amendment is not a selective tool that those AG’s may “grant” at their whim. Either we all have it or none. The worst thing that happened to this country is that the Soviet Union fell, we are becoming what we beheld as anathema. The errosion of liberties and rights set forth by the founding fathers do not happen with guns and bombs as elsewhere in the world, but rather with a pen and a minor government martinet in a position to do something away from scrutiny. The outcry and objection should be loud and defense of CL jealously undertaken by all who use the site.
September 6th, 2010 at 8:29 am
So why don’t the 17 Attorney Generals just send in squads of vice cops and bust all the prostitutes in their jurisdiction? Sure they will be back the next day, but send in more vice cops and sooner or later they will make a dent in the trade.
All they are doing now is hiding the problem so their constituants are not calling any more to say, Hey, there are these ads here, go out and make some busts! No ads in their face, they are not needing to take action. Hide the rock. B/S.
September 6th, 2010 at 9:30 am
I hope nobody is nieve enough to think that if craigslist and even backpage and other sites stop having adult services sections it will quell the overwhelming rise in internet sex work. It will not. Anyone who thinks about that can see it wont. I believe craigslists intentions are overall good. I do believe they could do more but i also believe that in reality they dont need to do anything. No matter what they do they will be critisized for not doing enough or doing too much. Alot of people are angery and want to place blame. It is understandable that it is easiest to blame craigslist for everything after all it is far more difficult for them to accept the truth.
As far as child internet sex work is concerned it is unfortunate that their is such a thing that craigslist has to try and protect against. Parents should be more active in there childrens use of the internet. There are things you can download that block sites. But that is not a cure all. If you pay attention when your children are using the interent you can not only make sure that they do not become a child doing these things but also you can educate them at the right age and help them understand the internet and be aware of the bad and good within it. Helping them make the right choices as adults. If every parent was as attentive as that then this problem would not exsist for the most part. But the fact that craigslist is combating child trafficing in any way is very commendable, i am a parent and watch my children use the internet as well as restrict their amount of time on it and the sites they can go to. As they get older i plan to educate them about its dangers as well.
As far as trafficking goes, i do not believe there is as clear of a answer. Usually women who have a pimp dont post that for all to see. So i believe this is something craigslist cant do anything about except for to openly disagree with the trafficing of women and girls and to donate to programs that offer help for trafficked women and children. I believe as far as trafficking goes it is more of a police problem. It seems as though the people who always are getting into trouble are the trafficked women and sometimes the guys who pay for their services. It is rarely the pimp. There’s not a shortage of men out there who exploit weaker minded and more nieve and younger women this way. Which makes me wonder why all the blame for something like this is put on a person who has even less ability to control pandering as the police do.
I do believe that craigslist can do more to help with this. (ie…offer small rewards for tips that craigslist finds to be true that has to do with pimps, child sex workers, missing and hurt women, or women who may hurt others by putting ads in the adult services section.)
I dont think that craigslist should get rid of the adult services section cause if they do people will just go elsewhere to a place with less rules… as stated above with the spike in backpage use. I believe craigslist should try to get other large places such as backpage to take mesures like these if possible and advertise that unlike some other pages they are taking steps to do all they can to combat child sex work on their site and people who are looking for adult services who do not believe that children should be subjected to these things should use sites that try to monitor these things. I dont believe that craigslist is doing everything they can to stop these problems but i believe that they are making positive strides and that it is importaint to recognize them for that as opposed to expecting the unobtainable out of them.
Sorry for such a long comment. I really had alot to say. I also apologize for my bad spelling.
September 6th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
I am just kind of confused. What exactly made CL shut it down? The bad media they were getting? Was there maybe a court order or something? Was the police threatening to kidnap his children or raid his home and plant child pornography on his computer? I’m just confused why it would be removed.
Oh yea and thank you CL for recommending backpage.com not that I use this sex stuff, at least now I know where I can go to read non-gov filtered classifieds….Can you guys maybe do a URL forwarder of http://www.craigslist.org to http://www.backpage.com so I can still feel like im browsing CL just a newer/freeer version? THANKS!.. You can even like put the adults part back on your site but just link it to theirs =). That way you are still somewhat a coward but a coward that gives cowardly alternatives? Not just sticking your tail behind your legs and running away.
September 6th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Personally, I am appalled by this nonsense. But, if there is real legitmate concern the ads should just use the same advertising guidelines that http://www.erosguide.com uses. It isn’t that difficult to require photos of the person holding today’s newspaper so you can see the photo is current and requiring a photo of their drivers license, etc to see that they are free and legal. Being an escort is NOT against the law if the escort is 18 years of age. And anything else between consenting adults is there own business. Requiring tasteful ads is possible, as is requiring further information be provide on the escorts own website. If they choose to attack craigslist - then need to clean up all the HUGE money making escort sites like Eros Guide as well. If the Eros Guide legal team can successfully defend them against charges of pandering - Craigslist might want to find out who their legal team is.
September 7th, 2010 at 2:44 am
Craigslist should make the “Censored” into a real category called “Censored”.
September 7th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
wow, that was quick.
I guess we see the true integrity of your commitment to free speech.
September 7th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
I, too, am a woman behind the girl in the picture.
Until, our government is ready to separate church and state and take advantage of the tax base offered in the sex trade Craigslist was one of safest venues available, Anyone who does not consider how easily a violent or exploitive crime can be traced through email is a fool. It is ironic that the “Craigslist Killer” was caught because he choose a site like Craigslist. If he found his targets on the street more may have died.
Women in this trade anyone who would put a child at risk for financial gain is evil. In fact, it made discovery of those profiting from the inhumanity more expedient.
I doubt anyone grew up wanting to be a woman behind the girl in the picture. Yet despite photo depictions we are multi-dimensional human beings. For the most part the trade requires some intelligence and wit. Unable to find work and trying to meet medical bills I opted to offer sensual massage. Despite extensive training in field I simply could not get enough income without offering my services in this venue. While my work is not admired by most, I work with honesty and compassion.
Stopping the Craigslist adult section to stop prostitution is like making Big Macs illegal to prevent people from eating beef..Now I am simply looking for another site to advertise.
September 7th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
CL would like you to believe they are taking the “moral” high ground but it’s obvious they are simply allowing themselves to be bullied into doing this by the ever-repressive Christian community. I live right on the boarder of the US and Ontario Canada where prostitution is legal, and CL has made NO adjustments to its Personal Ads section there. They still have an Erotic section for the Canadians. So let’s not delude ourselves here, CL was forced into doing this, which is just plain wrong. If they need to monitor for nudity that’s fine but to completely shut down the section is in my opinion is completely spineless on CLs part.
September 7th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
All I have to say is screw you, all you censorship Nazis - Freedom of Expression doesn’t mean only expression of which YOU approve. If you don’t LIKE it, don’t LOOK - and if you’re concerned about your innocent little children, then PARENT them.
September 7th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Where are the numbers? Out of the thousands (millions?) of adult posts every day, how many women are there against their will, under age, or are a come-on to collect little girls? How many? Where are the numbers? And who is doing the calculating? I know several prostitutes personally and associate with them outside of their profession. In their combined 60 plus years of practicing the profession, not once have they been assaulted, abducted or practiced anything but safe sex. They are women just trying to make a living in a way that allows a suitable personal lifestyle. All would gladly pay taxes for the support of their government and its protection. Where are the numbers?
September 7th, 2010 at 11:04 pm
Thank you for fighting the good fight Craigslist. I hope that this is whole thing really is just a strategy to get some light on the topic, and that you didn’t allow some uptight, ultra conservative Attorney Generals, to back you into a corner.
Now the escorts can look for dates in some family inhabited neighborhood or main street as opposed to the little discrete section hidden in the personals called “erotic services” (or at least it used to be hidden away before the last round of harassment).
Craigslist I believe that you have done a fantastic job at doing everything within your power to curb child abuse and human trafficking and still allow a forum for consenting adults to communicate whatever messages they see fit, as guaranteed by the constitution.
Keep fighting the good fight, and don’t let these guys flex a legal muscle that doesn’t even exist.
September 8th, 2010 at 7:26 am
I commend you for protecting these children!
This is such an admirable step and an example to the many other websites like backpage that still turn their back on the misuse that goes on.
Thanks so much for leading the way in this. I love using craigslist and this makes me love you even more.
September 8th, 2010 at 10:52 am
It doesn’t seem to be a popular opinion so far here, but I wanted to weigh in and say that, while your manual screening was a good procaution, I think the situation warranted this new action of removing adult services all together.
it’s great that CL is taking responsibility for what gets put up on their site; this is awesome and i think it’ll keep more kids from being hurt.
September 8th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
I see CNN does not have the male sex organs; I hope I censored myself enough that PBS television does. It trips my mind that C L is being held responsible for the adult listings contributing to child or adult trafficking—what vapid reporting! You go Bobby,Yo Banana and any one else of like postings .Let me tell you a story that PBS did about two brothers from New Orleans trying to survive Katrina—two thirsty men, one would wind up dead ,it seems they were looking for water driving around in their car and were parked at a strip mall –thought there was a small market there.A NOPD was guarding the S .mall and got scared and shot one man in the back, I guess he could not figure out the guy was leaving like he was told to do and the cop shot one of the brothers . His relative drove his sibling to the school that was near by for medical help and they both got the %#&@ beat out of them for the trouble by the cops there, then they were separated and the shot gentleman was driven in his car by one lone ranger near a police station the cop then preceded to finish the poor fellow off by shooting him in the head and setting fire to his car. If it had not been for mutual relatives and the F.B.I. this story would still be a mystery. But no ,we have to be more interested in what two consenting adults are doing than murder! We Americans need to keep chewing our cud complacently while we are being loaded in to cattle cars.
,
c&
September 8th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Victims? Protect the children? CL is the enemy here? wtf are these legal hustlers smoking!? And all the idiotic parents out there lamenting the loss of their babes’ innocence - would you wake up and smell the coffee?!!! If you expect a web-site to do the policing for you, then it speaks volumes of your parenting. Stop being such whiny morons and learn to use internet filters. Its not rocket science! I agree with the comment above - its like banning Big Macs to prevent people from eating beef.
Oh and the ‘moral police’ that we have crying for blood are a bunch of losers that cannot stop sticking their ugly noses into other peoples’ businesses. This is a free country (or so I thought) and people have a right to do as they please - esp if they are ADULTS. So much for that, hypocrites the lot. And the media doesn’t really care, they are more interested in bashing CL since CL totally whomped their behinds in classifieds. Its so tacky that it would be funny if it were theatre. Sadly its all about the money and moral one-upness. These miserable nincompoops don’t really care, that ’so-called care’ is just one bloody facade.
Go CL! Put that section back on!
September 9th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
Obviously Mr. Newmark does not have the GUTS to leave the US and run this site from Sweden, Amsterdam, or the open sea.
September 10th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
Now the ladies and gents migrate elsewhere to pursue their business at hand. If people don’t like it they need to revert back to the dark ages. No, wait! It existed there too! lol
There is ALWAYS a way.
If we want to see more of it ON THE STREETS (VERY UNSAFE and in public view) on our drive with the kiddies to Mickey D’s, then just keep whining about it being on the internet and shrinking back to the point of pulling it down as a site owner.
Prostitution is a victimless crime. Arrest 2 people who are doing something privately agreed on between them, and hurting no one else???… And don’t get me started about the whole “cheating” thing. Men will find a way and at least a prostitute is not dragging on his ankle after, wrecking his home life. She is paid for her time and to remain discreet. she is regularly tested and practices safe sex. Go find THAT on a bar stool.
Most women men “pick up” elsewhere will want a relationship, (a baby will seal the deal she thinks)… she has probably had unprotected sex with a few or more men and there is always drama and she will blab.
Go ahead and beat me up for this.. most of you know it is true.
We are all entitled to our own opinions and this is obviously mine.
If you do not like to see it, then put your head back up into your anal cavity and DON’T LOOK!
September 10th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
A story from a random guy…
I used CL to look for nice ladies to spend time with.
I met a few really sweet ladies who were just trying to support a family. Thye were clean. they did not do drugs and they were able to raise kids and be there for them when they needed to be and work their own hours.
My life cosists of caring for my wife full time, who has alzheimers and cancer. I am with her pretty much all the time and I care for her every need with a little help from hospice, which, as things progress, will become more intense. I need an outlet sometimes. A treat, if you will. I DO NOT need anyone tracking me or trying to get into a relationship or ringing my phone, so I make a choice to pay a lady for an hour of her time and go my merry way. That, and a golf game now and then. So, sue me.
September 10th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
I am one of the ladies who made the choice to post on CL in the adult services section. I didn’t do this lightly. I am a mature woman, with grown children. Though I have only done this type of work for a couple of years it allows me a freedom I have never had in the work force before. I have no pimp, no management. There are no children involved in this and no one is being exploited. I offer a service to adult men who wish to hire me.
I’m sure the attorneys general from those 17 states feel pretty full of themselves that they were able to shut down the adult services section of CL.
As long as there has been humans on this planet there has been some sort of trade between men and women for the things they each want. The men will seek out what they desire and the ladies will find some way to advertise their services and the bottom line is that $45 MILLION dollars of revenue that was going to CL will now be going some other place.
I hope that CL figures out a way to allow the ladies to advertise their services, either through the legal system or increase the cost of advertising to fund a legal defense should the attorneys general decide to take the matter to court.
No one wants a huge legal battle but sometimes you have to take a stand rather than running away.
September 12th, 2010 at 9:44 am
I truly believe that CL should fight, not just for the rights of free speech, but for that of keeping an industry like this in the public eye. Let the evil doers post and leave not only an electronic trail, but a financial one as well. CL works with law enforcement and various agencies to provide a safer community for the sex trade industry.
As the world’s oldest profession, we know its not going anywhere. Making it legal is not an option nationwide, but doing our best to monitor it is something we can at least try. What better way than publicly, through community patrolled means in a trackable environment.
Furthermore, let the people decide. So far, I see nothing but support for CL, and nothing but hate from those misinformed and of political wanting. And how many of those politicians and lawyers have secerely used CL, or similar adult service sites, but publicly damn it.
Witch-hunt anyone?
September 12th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
Manual screening does matter. So just put adult services ads back in and manually screen them!
My wife made her flower and garden services business work thanks to Craigslist. This was free and my wife and I are appreciative of Craigslist.
So why should my wife be allowed to advertise a garden service and another adult providing a service to be someone’s companion for an hour or a day or however long they want not have the opportunity?
All because of some little punk making an ass out of herself on TV and some hare-brained politicians with embarrassing “secret thoughts” that they assume other people are afflicted with?
The COMMUNITY filters out frauds and human-rights violators. They do it because they are a lot more interested in the well-being of others than trashy little wenches with an addiction to being the center of attention and politicians interested in proving to the world that they have no sordid “secret thoughts” that “lesser people” might be burdened with.
I’m angry, and plan to keep yelling about unfairness
September 15th, 2010 at 4:02 am
I agree with Ms Maria. I also ran an escort service for years in Vegas and was myself in awe of the public being barraged by adult cards,fliers and pamplets practically forced upon any passerby,adult age or not. Yet we did not see cnn stalk the crews doing this. I have personally known escorts and was one myself for years by choice and it IS in fact true that among all of the internet sites we use for advertising,craigslist had the strictest guidelines and did their best to monitor these ads. Maria is right. Now the same procurers of youth can just find other avenues less mindful to make their $. A sad day,indeed, when our rights are taken due to media journalist’s sensationalist tactics. Fight back, Craigslist !
September 20th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
I was posting on the CL adult services and it was always next to impossible to get an add through even with only a face pic and phone number!! Other adult posting sites allow anything to go through, full nudity, sex acts, etc. At least CL made an effort, frustrating as it was. I think that Law Enforcement should find something better to do with taxpayers money then to waste time arresting 2 consenting adults meeting in private! Complete BS!
October 25th, 2010 at 11:35 am
In your terms of service, you state that offensive material is prohibited.
However, in “men seeking men” and “casual encounters” and “women seeking men” and “men seeking women” photos of genitals and photos of women semi-nude are posted with their phone numbers. To me, this is offensive, therefore you are not abiding to your own terms of service. Kids can see this stuff and may lead them to the people who post.
If Craigslist was a good site, they would not need these categories.
I want to start a class action suit against you for posting pornographic material which is easily accessible to kids on the street looking for ways to make money in prostitution.
You don’t need these categories.
You suck.
Craigslist can be a viable site without the sex categories.
If I were the legislation of every state, I would close down your site.