Craigslist.com Pledges to Clean Up Online Prostitution Advertising
|
|
Craigslist is a huge network of online communities featuring free online classified ads. You can search for jobs, internships, housing. personals, things for sale, services, community events, gigs, resumes, and pets. They also have many forums on a variety of topics. While it is a useful and great service it has also become a breeding ground for prostitution through it’s “erotic services” feature.
Last Thursday Craigslist owners pledged to law enforcement across forty states to crack down and clean up ads for prostitution on its Web site. Craigslist owners have entered into an agreement with Attorneys General around the country. The agreement states that anyone who posts an “erotic services” ad will now be required to provide a working phone number and pay a fee with a valid credit card and Craigslist will provide this information to law enforcement if ever subpoenaed.
In a recent article written by Lexis-Nexis, Jim Buckmaster, Craigslist’s CEO, said the agreement made will now allow those legitimate escort services to continue advertising, but it also provides a deterrent to those escort services conducting business illegally. “We don’t view it as a penalty, we view it as raising the accountability,” he said. “A legitimate business should have no problem with that. They should have no problem providing a phone number or credit card credentials.”
It has been reported that Craigslist owners have filed several lawsuits this week against 14 software and internet companies that assist people posting erotic service ads.
Craigslist has also pledged to implement new search technologies in an effort to assist law enforcement and other authorities to find missing children and victims of human trafficking. This is really a great thing that Craigslist has pledged to clean up, as law enforcement across the country have been arresting people for using such web sites like Craigslist that advertise sexual services of women and children.
The agreement made by Craigslist and the Attorneys General was also joined by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The states of Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam also joined and signed the agreement.
