Legal News

Craigslist, Once Important to the Prostitution Biz, May Now Be Less So

By Dan Slater

We think it’s a provocative enough question to kick off a Friday morning: Just what kinds of illegal activity should Craigslist be responsible for?

In March, the Seventh Circuit’s Frank Easterbrook affirmed a district court ruling that Craigslist isn’t liable for users who violate the Fair Housing Act by publishing discriminatory housing ads with restrictions such as “no minorities.” Easterbrook reasoned that Craigslist isn’t liable for its users since it’s “not the author of the ads and could not be treated as the ’speaker’ of the posters’ words.”

But ads posted by prostitutes apparently pose a different — if not more serious — problem. Yesterday, the classifieds site agreed to crack down on ads posted by prostitutes, responding to government complaints that the site has become a free clearinghouse for illegal sexual services. (Here are reports from the WSJ and the AP.)

In an agreement with attorneys general from 40 states, Craigslist said it will require posters of erotic-services ads to give a working phone number and pay a fee with a valid credit card. The site will then be able to provide that information in response to law-enforcement subpoenas, creating a “roadmap” that can be used to track prostitutes and sex traffickers. The deal was brokered by Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal.

Craigslist also said it has sued 14 software and Internet companies that help ad posters circumvent its safeguards against inappropriate content and illegal activity, Blumenthal told the WSJ. The company will provide states with information about those businesses for possible civil and criminal prosecution.

San Francisco U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello said his office regularly sees Craigslist ads in cases it brings against human-trafficking rings that engage women in prostitution. Craigslist is “very important” to the prostitution business, he said, both for prostitutes to find clients and “for pimps to recruit new members of the stable.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on November 07, 2008 (boomark / email).