Craigslist Sued as "single largest source of prostitution

[RawAlex]

Same old excuses by an online company "we pull the innappropriate ads when notified" is pretty much like saying "we ain't looking unless you rub our noses in it".

It never stops with the online world.

[Evil Chris]

Originally Posted by RawAlex

Same old excuses by an online company "we pull the innappropriate ads when notified" is pretty much like saying "we ain't looking unless you rub our noses in it".

It never stops with the online world.

Yup. Sounds a lot like "we will remove your content from our tube site if you tell us to...."

[softball]

Originally Posted by RawAlex

Same old excuses by an online company "we pull the innappropriate ads when notified" is pretty much like saying "we ain't looking unless you rub our noses in it".

It never stops with the online world.

What, exactly is your point and why should they stop? Its not like they are stealing content or doing anything more immoral than anyone posting here. Do you have a problem with craigslist or any number of escort review sites out there?
I certainly don't. The waste of time here is this sheriff. Blaming the messenger is like blaming a vehicle for a speeding violation.

[gonzo]

--arstechnica.com

The number of Erotic Services listings on Craigslist have gone down so significantly over the last 12 months that the company describes the results as "spectacular." The news comes less than a week after the Cook County Sheriff's Department filed a lawsuit against the company for facilitating prostitution, but Craigslist insists that it's doing more than enough to fight illegal activity.

Craigslist has seen a "spectacular" drop in Erotic Services listings since it began implementing various verification methods in 2008, the company said this week. In five major cities across the US—Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Seattle, and Los Angeles—the drop has ranged between 90 and 95 percent over the last 12 months, and the remaining ads are "much improved" in their compliance with both Craigslist Terms of Use and local laws.

According to a post made on the official Craigslist blog, the company continues to work closely with law enforcement across the country to arrest those engaged in "the horrific crimes of human trafficking and exploitation of minors." Additionally, the revenue generated from Erotic Services listings is earmarked for donation to charity, which Craigslist says will begin "soon."

The news comes less than a week after the Cook County Sheriff's Department in Chicago sued Craigslist for facilitating prostitution. Sheriff Thomas Dart said in a news conference that his department had been making arrest after arrest due to Craigslist, leading to his lawsuit seeking the closure of the Erotic Services section of the site, as well as a reimbursement of $100,000 for the costs involved in pursuing Craigslist-related prostitution cases over the past year.

Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster [pictured] said he was "mystified" by the lawsuit. He said that Craigslist had met in 2007 with the Cook County Sheriff's Department to discuss the purposes of the Erotic Services section, and that "inexplicably, Sheriff Dart apparently bypassed the Illinois Attorney General’s office, and filed this complaint through a private law firm." Buckmaster said that he planned to vigorously defend Craigslist against the lawsuit.

This suit was filed despite Craigslist's efforts to clean up its act, including a November 2008 agreement with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Attorneys General of 40 states to implement a number of protective measures. In addition to a new phone verification system launched in March 2008, Craigslist began requiring credit card verification for each listing in the Erotic Services section. These two measures were meant to make posters more accountable for their listings, as Craigslist could blacklist phone numbers or credit cards that had posted "inappropriate" ads in the past. As a result, the company has apparently seen a dramatic drop in Erotic Services listings, which, of course, was the goal.

Clearly, a drop of 90 to 95 percent in major US cities is a positive development, but it's not enough for those who want Erotic Services closed altogether. Those people seem to believe that if that section of the site is gone, prostitution listings on Craigslist will cease to exist—a faulty assumption, as the reason it exists in the first place is to pull those listings out of other, less-regulated parts of the site.

Craigslist is trying to make it clear to the public that it's working hard to reduce illegal activity as much as possible, though Buckmaster noted that the company can't be held liable for content posted by its users. This much is true: section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has protected Craigslist in the past when it came to discriminatory housing ads, and would likely protect it again over prostitution listings.

[gonzo]

--Kansas City Star

Federal prosecutors in Kansas City this afternoon detailed their first-in-the-country use of a commercial sex trafficking law to go after would-be customers instead of those selling minors for sex.

Seven men, including four indicted by a federal grand jury today, now have been charged since Operation Guardian Angel began earlier this year.

The men allegedly responded to online ads placed by investigators offering 11 and 15-year-old girls for sex. Authorities arrested the men after each traveled to an undercover location to meet a girl.

The operation is a partnership between federal agencies and Kansas City and Independence police departments as part of the human trafficking rescue project.

Those charged face minimum sentences of 10 or 15 years in federal prison and could face up to life.

The defendants include an active duty recruiter for the U.S. Navy, a local businessman, a truck driver and a finance manager at a Mississippi auto dealership.

The first indictments were handed down last month against three Kansas men: Steven E. Mikoloyck, 47, of Overland Park; Ryan S. Doerr, 33, of Silver Lake, near Topeka; and Jimmy “Steven” Johnson, 22, of Olathe.

The attorney representing Mikoloyck and Johnson did not respond to an interview request. Doerr’s lawyer declined to comment while the case is pending.

Shane A. Childers, 32, assigned to the U.S. recruiting office in Lenexa, was charged in a complaint filed Friday. The Mississippi man, Christopher M. Cockrell, 33, was charged Monday. Childers did not yet have an attorney, according to court records, and the attorney representing Cockrell did not respond to an interview request.

A grand jury indicted both of those men today along with two others: Steven C. Albers, 40 of Kansas City and Richard J. Oflyng, 31, of Ottawa, Kan.

Investigators said that after placing the ads on Craigslist they were “inundated” with responses.

According to court documents filed to support charges against Cockrell and Childers, undercover officers received e-mail responses allegedly from both within minutes of posting an ad last Thursday.

The documents detail e-mail exchanges and phone conversations between the men and undercover officers in which they discuss the ages of the girls, how much it would cost for various sex acts and where to go to meet them.

When the men requested photographs of the girls, authorities sent pictures of actual law enforcement officers when they were 11 or 15, according to the documents.

Childers, who was wearing part of his Navy uniform, was arrested Thursday after he arrived at undercover residence in Kansas City. He allegedly had arranged to have sex with the 11-year-old girl for $80.

After his arrest, he told police that he intended to “save the girl” and get her out of the house, but then admitted that he had intended to have sex with her, according to the court documents.

Cockrell allegedly agreed to pay $60 for 30 minutes with the 15-year-old and said he would pay an additional $20 if he didn’t use a condom.

Officers provided an address for him in Kansas City. On Sunday afternoon Cockrell parked his pickup truck in the driveway and was greeted at the door by an undercover investigator.

Once inside, he allegedly handed the officer $100 and told him to keep the change. After being arrested, he admitted that he had intended to have sex with the 15-year-old girl who he believed was a runaway who was being “pimped out,” the court documents allege.
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[forshadowing alert]
Guys who pimp out chicks in this business to pay their bills and perputrate their GFY "street cred" are closer than you think [/foreshadow]