Craigslist to Pull "Erotic Services" Section
On Friday, the online classified ad forum Craigslist announced that it will pull its controversial "erotic services" section. Craiglist had come under scrutiny by the national newsmedia and various state Attorneys General surrounding the crimes committed by the "Craigslist Killer," Philip Markoff, including the brutal murder of Julissa Brisman in Boston. The announcement, which was made by several state attorneys offices, including those of Connecticut, Illinois and Missouri, and was accompanied by a statement from Craigslist, stated that Craigslist would replace the erotic services category with an adult section which would be monitored by Craigslist employees. The category will be removed in seven days.
Craigslist had been threatened with criminal prosecution in several jurisdictions over its erotic services section, including by Henry McMaster, Attorney General for South Carolina. Tom Dart, Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, has called the site the largest source of prostitution in America, and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has referred to the site as "an Internet brothel." Sheriff Dart has filed a lawsuit against Craiglist to take down the erotic services section. AG Cuomo issued a statement following the announcement criticizing Craiglist's decision to act unilaterally instead of working with his office to prevent further abuses, and revealed that his office had informed Craigslist several weeks ago of an impending case which implicated the website.
Craigslist criticized what it viewed as sensationalist coverage in its statement, claimining that its classifieds were associated with far lower rates of violent crime than print classifieds. The site has also garnered media attention recently from a number of other incidents. In February, it was discovered that a Virginia man was running a prostitution ring involving 400 women across the country. Last month, a man and his mother in Tacoma, Washington, responded to a Craigslist ad for a car, only to be attacked by the seller with a hammer. And earlier this month, Margie Tannanbaum of Hauppage, New York, put a sexual advertisement on the site with the name and telephone number of a 9 year old girl, who was a rival of her daughter at their elementary school.
