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Craigslist Cracks Down on ‘Erotic Services’ - News and Analysis by PC Magazine
“More than ever, those who would misuse Craigslist to violate the law will find that Craigslist is a very inhospitable place,” he concluded.
This is good news for everyone. I’ve often wondered how much illegal activity was going to Craigslist. I’ve sold and bought from it and it’s a great service, but I can just imagine the shady stuff happening that most people don’t know about. From arranging hookups to outright prostitution, I’m sure it’s been done on Craigslist.
Probably the best thing to do to thwart internet crimes related to children and sexuality, is to raise the level of public exposure to those using the services. People are going to flock from a service that throws a spotlight on every potential user. Good stuff.
[...] Craigslist Crackdown [...]
… what?! This isn’t good news at all! This has just created a Napster effect. The demand for erotic services isn’t gone, it’s just been scattered so that it’s harder for police to track illegal activity (and help those who need help).
Don’t you think that this will make it more difficult for posters/consumers to commit illegal activities? What’s next? We legalize it so we can keep watch?
Don’t you think that this will make it more difficult for posters/consumers to commit illegal activities?
Did crushing Napster really make it more difficult for people to download music? The Internet isn’t exactly small.
What’s next? We legalize it so we can keep watch?
No, no, that’s not what I’m suggesting at all. Craigslist should be protected by Section 230 of the CDA — the safe harbours provision. Craigslist isn’t liable for the actions of its users in the same way that Ford shouldn’t be guilty if someone uses a Taurus as a getaway car. Rather, the guilty party — the user commiting a felony — should be the one who’s responsible.
I’m not suggesting that prostitution should be legal. But this is the digital equivalent of just pushing crime into the back alleys rather than punishing people for it.
(1) Craigslist wasn’t doing anything illegal, and (2) it happened to make it easy to spot people who were doing something illegal. Why not monitor places like Craigslist where dumb criminals advertise their illegal behaviour so that they can be punished for it? Rather than just pushing the illegal activity a bit more out of the public eye.
I hadn’t thought about it that way. I suppose it’s just another outlet, in the same way that Napster was an outlet for illegal music.
In the end, if law enforcement officials were to have used it as a way to catch criminals, then it’s plausible to believe that people would stop using the service for those purposes.
Thanks for the insight!
I’m kind of with Blaise on this. If Craigslist is making the decision to crack down, then I don’t see this as a bad thing. If the government is making them crack down then I get a little uncomfortable.
Craigslist can be a good tool for law enforcement to use to catch these evil people who are committing these horrible crimes.
I’m even okay with law enforcement using peer-to-peer software to catch people illegally downloading music, movies, software, ect. As long as they are using the peer-to-peer software to do it. I’m not okay with them getting some kind of court order to make the company give up the names and isp’s of all of their users. Now if the company wants to voluntarily give up certain user information in certain cases then that should be up to that company.
I just get a little uncomfortable when the government tries to regulate things. Like when they try to make drug store owners sell the morning after pill. If the store owner is against a particular product, he should not be forced to sell certain items.
It works both ways.
Yeah, one other dimension to the problem is that, often, these sort of blocks just serve to make politicians look good (”look at me stopping prostitution and child pornography”) while doing very little to actually solve the problem. It’s often political theatre, unfortunately.