craigslist blog

Recently testified before the House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, as part of a public hearing on the sale of sensitive military equipment on the internet.

It was a great learning experience, and we look forward to working more closely with the experts to provide craigslist users with better information as to what is and is not allowed to be sold.

Intriguingly though, of the organizations represented in this hearing, including the Department of Defense (which sells military surplus online), Ebay, and craigslist, it seemed evident to the Members of Congress (and everyone else in the room), that craigslist was already doing the best job of keeping sale of the items in question at bay, despite our small staff.

Had occasion to touch on this during the opening statements:

“Contrary to what the GAO report implies, craigslist has more people actively engaged in its anti-fraud efforts than any web site on earth. In addition to our in-house anti-fraud team numbering a dozen or more staff members, and the automated blocking and screening routines we have developed, craigslist benefits from tens of millions of passionate users diligently reviewing every ad on the site, with each user having the power to delete inappropriate ads, which power they exercise to the tune of several million ads removed each month. To their credit, the GAO investigators did notice that questionable ads were actually being removed from craigslist as they searched the site, an observation they did not make about any other site in their report.”

When it comes to site moderation on a massive scale, it’s difficult for a centralized staff of any size to compete with the efforts of tens of millions of vigilant and empowered users.

ConsumerAffairs.com has a nice story today, covering our answer to the Connecticut Attorney General’s recent defamatory remarks regarding craigslist, here is an excerpt:

Craigslist is on absolutely solid ground and should be given an award instead of being threatened by political officeholders who are paid to know better,” said ConsumerAffairs.com President James R. Hood. “Craigslist provides an invaluable public service at no cost to the vast majority of its users, which is a lot more than the State of Connecticut can say.”

“Throughout the land, corporate interests and reckless politicians are trying to subvert the First Amendment rights of American citizens by stifling free expression on the Internet while the large media companies who should manning the barricades sit idly by,” he said.

“Internet sites provide a means for citizens to speak freely, providing an important and Constitutionally-protected balance to the constant barrage of corporate propaganda and government hogwash,” Hood said. “Those paid by the public to uphold the Constitution should do their jobs instead of putting the iron boot of the state where it doesn’t belong.”

The Connecticut Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, recently denounced craigslist to members of the media, for what he alleged were shortcomings in the “erotic services” section of craigslist for areas of Connecticut.

We were disappointed that he chose to ignore our recent progress in dramatically improving compliance with our terms of use, shocked at the bizarre assertion that we are “stonewalling”, and frankly stunned to hear craigslist recklessly slandered as “profiting from prostitution“.

We welcome feedback from any and all interested parties as to how we can improve, but craigslist will not be used as a punching bag for false and defamatory statements.

Unlike the telephone yellow pages, many newspapers, and countless websites, which for many years have profited from “erotic service” ads, craigslist derives no revenue (let alone profit) from “erotic services”, and in fact we incur significant costs in enforcing our terms of use regarding these ads.

Connecticut craigslist users are no doubt curious as to why their AG is spending time attacking freedom of speech and law-abiding companies that provide much-needed free services to the people of Connecticut, when there is so much actual crime left unaddressed. We don’t have the answer, but would be interested to know what it is.